Bread, cake, doughnut, pudding. Baking Q&A with Justin Gellatly

Hello Justin I have visited your stall in Borough Market and there are so many delicious things on there. I have to say the doughnuts looked absolutely incredible. But...I hate custard and cream. Do you ever make them with other fillings? What else works well (determined to try making myself)

Jam, jam and more jam?

Justin's doughnuts are huge - i think it would take most of a pot to fill one and not sure even I could eat that much jam. Though I am willing to try

I love doughnuts. Justin is there a way of making them a teeny bit healthier? By which I mean less calorific. I live in hope

Hi, My daughter has just become allergic to eggs, I love baking as much as she used to love eating my cakes. Is there any advise/help you can give me. Thanks

Two chicks, it's a pasteurised egg white only. It's usually only the yolks the allergy is to. But do check!

I really want to try sourdough baking as I love the taste.
My attempts at making a starter have been worse than disastrous .
Are there any commercially available?

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For years I've had an Rayburn but we moved and I now have to bake with a modern fan electric oven. None of my cake recipes work although I've tried reducing the cooking temperature by 10degrees and various shelf positions.

Any suggestions?

As it seems very fashionable to add nuts to everything at the moment I wondered if they could be just left out without effecting the final taste of cake or biscuit? Also when ground almonds are used instead of flour would it be ok to replace the same amount of ground almonds with flour and would this be plain or self raising? Many thanks.

As it seems very fashionable to add nuts to everything at the moment I wondered if they could be just left out without effecting the final taste of cake or biscuit? Also when ground almonds are used instead of flour would it be ok to replace the same amount of ground almonds with flour and would this be plain or self raising? Many thanks.

I love to bake but I get confused by oven temperatures in recipes and sometimes this affects the results. Usually books give F or C but most don't give fan. I was told that if using a fan just take 10% off the C - but am not sure if that is right as someone else just told me to take off 10 degrees. Which is correct?

Another question about measurements. I have an American book which does the ingredients in cups. Are American cups and UK cups the same thing? And is there an easy way to convert into grammes? I imagine that it would vary for different types of ingredients. Very confused!

A recipe I want to use specifies "cake flour". I don't know what this is. Can you help? Nothing I can see in the supermarket

Presumably it just means ordinary flour as opposed to the strong (higher gluten content) flour used for bread making. I once found 'sauce flour' in - of course - Waitrose. It didn't make a better roux than plain flour!

Granniefranny, I found a very useful cup measure in Lakeland. Mine is transparent but this one looks equally useful.

I would like to try decorating some cakes etc for a summer party with edible flowers. What should I use and where can I get them?

I would love to build up to making wedding cakes now that i've retired, and recently tried making a two tier cake for my sister's birthday. unfortunately the whole thing was a night,are from start to finish and although i did bring the cake i was miserably embarrassed by it. The cake was dry and crumbly (madeira, as i had read that any other type wouldnt stant the weight of the cake on top) and the whole thing was wonky anf lumpy under the icing even though i have a special cake leveller - large crumbs broke off creating a kind of pock marked effect. i gave my sister a wonky, pockmarked crumbling cake that tasted of sand (can you tell im bitter - my cakes usually turn out very well, i promise). i would be ever so grateful if you have any ideas as to where i went wrong...i dont have much experience with madeira cake as i prefer a lighter sponge

I would love to try making tuiles (too much Masterchef watching) but don't know where to start - can you help?