Pastry basics

The base techniques of baking, made in the Thermomix® TM7™.

Learn these and you can build almost any cake on this site: the batters that become every birthday cake and cupcake, the frostings that go on top, the cookies and icings for decorating, and how to add flavor and color to any of them.

The TM7 weighs, whips, warms the eggs and melts the chocolate at the exact temperature. The oven does the baking, and a few moments stay by hand on purpose, like folding flour into a sponge.

Cake bases

A tall golden sponge cake on a cooling rack, with one slice cut to show a light, airy crumb.

Pastry basics

Basic Sponge Cake

2 h 10 min

Pastry basics

Vanilla Butter Cake

2 h 5 min

A dark, moist chocolate cake layer on a cooling rack with one slice cut and a little cocoa dusted around.

Pastry basics

Basic Chocolate Cake

2 h 10 min

Frostings for cupcakes and cakes

A swirl of fluffy white vanilla buttercream piped on a vanilla cupcake, with a piping bag and star tip beside it.

Pastry basics

Classic American Vanilla Buttercream

20 min

Pastry basics

Swiss Meringue Buttercream

45 min

Pastry basics

Cream Cheese Frosting

50 min

Glossy dark chocolate ganache dripping from a spoon, a bowl of whipped ganache frosting and chocolate cupcakes beside it.

Pastry basics

Chocolate Ganache for Drips, Glazes and Whipped Frosting

1 h 55 min

Cupcakes topped with tall swirls of stabilized whipped cream and fresh berries.

Pastry basics

Stabilized Whipped Cream Frosting

45 min

A Puerto Rican birthday cake covered in glossy white meringue frosting with soft peaks and colorful sprinkles.

Pastry basics

Suspiro: Puerto Rican Meringue Frosting for Bizcocho

40 min

Cookies and icing

Cut-out sugar cookies in heart, star and flower shapes, some decorated with pastel icing, on parchment paper.

Pastry basics

Sugar Cookies for Decorating

2 h 30 min

Small bowls of pastel royal icing in pink, mint and lavender with piping bags, beside decorated cookies.

Pastry basics

Royal Icing with Meringue Powder

30 min

Round sugar cookies with smooth, shiny pastel glaze and sprinkles drying on a wire rack.

Pastry basics

Shiny Cookie Glaze

15 min

Which frosting?

Frosting	Texture	Best for	In the Florida heat
Classic American Vanilla Buttercream	Sweet, fluffy, crusts lightly	Piped cupcakes, kids' parties	Holds well
Swiss Meringue Buttercream	Silky, less sweet	Smooth cakes, elegant piping	Softens, keep it cool
Cream Cheese Frosting	Creamy and tangy	Carrot, red velvet, guava	Keep in the fridge
Chocolate Ganache for Drips, Glazes and Whipped Frosting	Rich and glossy	Drips, fillings, whipped frosting	Firm once cool
Stabilized Whipped Cream Frosting	Light and airy	Fruit cupcakes, tres leches style	Always in the fridge
Suspiro: Puerto Rican Meringue Frosting for Bizcocho	Glossy, like marshmallow	Puerto Rican bizcocho	Same day, avoid humidity

How to add flavor and color

These work with every cake base and frosting above. Add a little, mix, taste or look, and add more: it is easy to add and impossible to take out.

Flavor

Extracts: Vanilla, almond, coconut, lemon or rum extract go in with the butter or the liquids. Start with 1-2 tsp vanilla per batch of frosting and only 1/4-1/2 tsp almond, it is strong. Taste, add more and mix 10 sec/speed 3.
Citrus zest: Before you start, mill the sugar with strips of lemon, lime or orange peel (only the colored skin) 10 sec/speed 10. The oils go into the sugar and the whole cake or frosting tastes of citrus.
Freeze-dried fruit: Strawberries, raspberries, mango or passion fruit, freeze-dried and milled 10 sec/speed 10 into a powder: strong flavor and natural color with no extra liquid. Use 15-25 g (about 1 cup of whole freeze-dried fruit) per batch of buttercream.
Purees and jams: Fresh fruit adds water and can split a buttercream. Reduce a puree first, cook 15 min/100°C (212°F)/speed 2 with the simmering basket on the lid instead of the measuring cup, let it cool and add 2-3 tbsp at most. A thick jam can go in as it is.
Cocoa and chocolate: In a cake batter, swap 30 g (1/4 cup) of the flour for cocoa. In buttercream, mill 40-50 g (1/2 cup) cocoa with the sugar so it has no lumps. Melted chocolate goes in only once it has cooled to room temperature.
Coffee and spices: Dissolve 1-2 tsp instant espresso in 1 tsp hot water. Cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom and ginger go in with the flour or the sugar.
Latin flavors: Guava paste melted with a little water (5 min/80°C (175°F)/speed 3), dulce de leche, cream of coconut or a reduced passion fruit (parcha) puree: swirl them into the frosting at the end or spread them between the cake layers.
Soaking syrup: Sponge cakes love a syrup. Cook equal parts sugar and water 5 min/100°C (212°F)/speed 1, flavor it with vanilla, citrus peel, coffee or rum, and brush it on the cooled layers.

Color

Gel colors: Use gel colors for frosting and batter: a tiny amount gives a strong color and adds almost no liquid. The liquid drops from the supermarket only give pastel shades, and more of them makes the frosting runny.
When to add it: Add color at the end, a little at a time on a toothpick, and mix 10 sec/speed 3. In a cake batter, add it with the wet ingredients so you do not mix again after the flour.
Many colors, one batch: Make one white batch in the TM7, divide it into small bowls and tint each one by hand with a spatula.
Colors get darker: Red, black, navy and deep purple darken over 1-2 hours. Mix them a shade lighter than you want and let them rest covered. For black, start from chocolate frosting so you need much less color.
A whiter white: Butter makes buttercream ivory. The tip of a toothpick of violet gel cancels the yellow, or use Swiss meringue buttercream with clear vanilla.
Chocolate and candy melts: Water-based colors make melted chocolate seize and turn grainy. For white chocolate, candy melts and white chocolate ganache, use oil-based or powder colors.
Natural colors: Freeze-dried strawberry or raspberry (pink), beet powder (pink-red), matcha (green), butterfly pea flower or blue spirulina (blue), a pinch of turmeric (yellow), cocoa or espresso (brown). They are softer and can fade in the oven, so they shine in frostings.
Royal icing: Color royal icing before you thin it, keep every bowl covered with a damp towel, and remember the color deepens as it dries.