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

very keen to get my 5yo GD into baking - can you suggest some good recipes to start with?

I have a question about meringues I prefer them chewy to chalky, what is the best way to get this effect? and how do I stop them from going slighty golden? Also my mum used to swear by adding cornflour and vinegar - is this necessary

Whenever I make fruit cake my fruit sinks to the bottom. What am I doing wrong?

Hello. What things would you consider to be essentials for a baking storecupboard? I always seem to have at least one ingredient that's missing!

Hi Justin. I tried making a swiss roll for the first time at the weekend. The recipe said to whisk the eggs and sugar until they were pale and fluffy and had doubled in volume. I did. But the finished result was thin and tough not thick and light. What did I do wrong?

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

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

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

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!

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

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!

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?

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.

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?

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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?

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