Home Baking Uganda

The beauty of ribbons...

2012-01-30T15:47:00.001+03:00

Ribbons can be used for decorating cakes for almost all occasions,when i use ribbons my work of creating so many patterns on the cake is reduced,i find that the elgance of the fondant or sugarpaste icing is revealed more as you can see from this delicious anniversary cake

Working with marzipan.

2012-01-21T02:17:00.000+03:00

Marzipan is much like the fondant icing but made from the almond nuts,its much like an under coating for the fondant and i love it because it hides the imperfections that the fondant may reveal,its taste too is magnificent howvever i tend to use it with the clients that value rich cakes...

The black forest cake.....

2012-01-20T23:32:00.000+03:00

As a friend of mine once said,the moment you begin to get the taste of this cake it vanishes within your mouth leaving you crazing for several other pieces.

One thing i have noticed with several other cakes of this kind not made from here is that the buttercream is too wet and cannot withstand our African tropical climate hence forth during packaging they became messy with frosting sticking to the box.If you are in love with the whisked sponge cake another one of our niceties,all you have to do is jst do away with the cocoa powder and you will have your self my favorite cake!!

The cake making and decorating course

2011-11-20T13:17:00.001+03:00

Beneath a beautifully decorated cake is a perfectly baked cake,here's how to achieve baking success,at homebaking Uganda we have designed a simple cake course outline to help you get started.

Our cake programme is flexible to meet your working schedules,classes run for two and half to three hours we also have structured our course to meet those who are at different stages in cake making and decorating,however we prefer that if one is not so convinced about their knowledge on cake baking that they don't proceed with other stages as you will discover through our lessons.We have identified three stages in this course and that is baking which includes;

Identifying and learning the proper equipment for use
Making caramel
Fruit preparation
Mastering and learning how to bake a variety of different cakes

The second part is the icing and participants will be expected to learn how to make and use the different types of icing,it includes;

Identifying proper equipment for use
Making fondant or sugar paste icing
Making gum paste roll on
Making royal icing
Making butter cream icing
Making boiled icing
Making cake boards
Making sugar syrup

The last stage is the decorating,think of your cake as the canvas that your beautiful icing decorations will be presented.So its essential that it be free of crumbs and is smooth,under this stage will shall look at;

Icing consistency
Bag or pump positioning
Pressure control
Making carnations
Making roses and leaves out of royal icing
Making fondant roses and leaves

For more information regarding the home baking cake course do call us or send us an email,you will not believe our easier cake baking can become.

splendor of love...

2011-07-06T12:13:00.002+03:00

A taste for the sweet traditions of marriage lavishly indulged,elaborately expressed! Tier after tier is swagged with ribbon and shells to provide for a treasured moment.

Rich and fruity....

2011-07-02T09:37:00.002+03:00

This is what i call a complete fruit cake,you will only get a cake tasting like this in heaven and at our premises here at home baking,its great and fulfilling when a client spends to get something complete and rich.....the marzipan together with the sugar paste giving it that gummy taste,you can't leave out the blend of raisins with caramel all mixed in that will send you straight to heaven........

Don't wait any longer,order with us and book yo place in the heavenly kitchen!!

The basket weave pattern...

2011-06-19T11:10:00.002+03:00

You can now order this cake for your "kwanjula" or introduction,imagine this cake filled with an assortment of fruits and a handle at the top...and then you have your self a European basket....

Are you interested in learning how to bake and decorate...

2011-06-09T11:05:00.002+03:00

Cake baking and decorating especially is fun, satisfying and rewarding,after taking a course with us you will be able to make any cake look special even if you are a novice.

Here at home baking our number one priority is quality and we always achieve that by sticking to our home made diversity of recipes,our short courses can be tailored made to meet your program so do send us and email and lets get started........

The purple affair

2011-06-08T15:56:00.002+03:00

White wedding cakes are the theme for many weddings,however we tend to get out of the ordinary like this three tier purple affair....

The elegance and beauty of fondant flowers..

2011-06-06T23:42:00.007+03:00

Fondant or sugar paste flowers can look just as pretty as natural carnations,you can now learn how to make and buy these beautiful hand made petals from our workshop.

The African fruit basket

2011-06-03T11:40:00.002+03:00

You may almost miss it for a cake,this African cake fruit basket ideally is made from the rich fruity cake mixture that is firm and can easily support the weight of the variety of fruits placed at the top,as you eat this cake you will enjoy the different fruits of your choice.You are almost sure to get 200 servings from this traditional cake basket

Tasty and authentic

2011-03-11T09:22:00.003+03:00

A rich dark fruity cake with an African touch,baking cakes for introduction and other African cultural events has become one of our specialties,we will make it a point to give you whatever your hearts desire is and yet still maintain our quality.

Exquisite!!

2008-10-20T18:04:00.000+03:00

This high rising cake with hand made fondant petals,flowing from top to bottom is adorned with satin gold ribbon against black. Random black dots on the cake and the golden leaves interspersed within the petals give it a good finishing. The carefully chosen colours of the ribbon and the thickness of each tier bring out the elegance of the cake.

Magic Cube Cake

2008-09-27T06:07:00.001+03:00

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The cake workshop has always been fun!
Holidays have always been great. These are times together will all my friends from school would get to contribute in making the work load in the cake workshop easier. We would have great fun packaging the eats, making muffins and other edibles that would go along with the wedding cakes.

How close can you get?
As you might have already noticed making cakes that are traditional in nature hasn’t been our specialty however with our determined team, we are always ready to make that one sacrifice for you

Magic Cube Cake: How-to
This is a novelty cake suitable for a child’s birthday party. The recommended cake for such an occasion would be a vanilla or sponge cake as this one

After mixing your vanilla mixture, divide the mixture between 3 greased deep 20cm square cake pans. Bake in moderate oven for about 45minutes or until firm; cool on wire racks.

Level cakes, position cakes on prepared board, join together with a little Vienna cream. Using a sharp knife mark 9 squares on the 5 exposed sides of the cube. Divide remaining cream into 6 portions, tint 5 portions with the different colors, leave 1 portion plain.
Carefully color in squares on cake with different creams You may cut licorice straps into 3mm strips to divide colors on cube.

Other novelty cakes now being made by essquibo bakers include;

-Spiderman, playing dice, beautiful butterfly cake, Dannie dinosaur, football pitch cake, caterpillar or a tractor cake , Barbie doll cakes or whatever the client may wish.This is a cake you would love to taste: combined with the unique design, great tasting fruits and additives, its rich aroma and tantalizing taste makes essquibo customers proud. You will not find this anywhere else in Uganda.So, please come and enjoy our unique designs, hospitality and above all the best great tasting eateries you will not find anywhere else.See you soon ;)

Customer Service: Customer is always King

2008-09-27T04:48:00.002+03:00

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When it comes to customer service, many times it is the little things that lead to a sale and great customer satisfaction.

Cake decorators compete on a lot of different levels, including price, design capabilities and convenience of location. But in today’s rush-rush world, perhaps the most important factor that potential customers use to determine to whom they give their business to, is good ol’ fashioned service.

A satisfied customer is the source of the best type of advertising; word of mouth. As a result, your customer service can have positive effects on your business, bringing in new customers who are looking for a better experience than what your competitors provide.

What constitutes good service?

A friendly greeting starts the transaction off on the right foot. Better is being able to address a customer by name, implying personalized service. Even surly customers can be disarmed if you “kill them with kindness”

Common courtesy isn’t so common these days, so a hearty greeting goes a long way toward reinforcing the image of good service, it has also been our culture to practice a good send off as well. It always makes a good impression on a customer as well. Not only does a “thank you” reassure customers that you value them, something as simple as walking them to the door, or assisting them to their car, can demonstrate a higher level of service.

Do this and whoever you serve, will always want to come back for me...

Soccer Cake

2008-09-27T03:22:00.001+03:00

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Do you love the premiership League or are you a football freak?

This cake will quench your thirst and provide the ideal deal for your birthday or any such occasion that entails an Association of members belonging to any football club, body or team, a football pitch a cake will also provide just the right thing for a young boy.

Utilities for making this cake are very vital, for any football cake to attain the right shape you will need the right cake pan, I always tell the clients who order such a detailed cake to go for it without restraint since it has a lot to do with their passion, its not just any other cake but it’s a cake that will drive almost any kid in love with them! The decorator’s pen is very crucial in designing the lines and small details on the pitch.

The cake can be made with all the colors of the different soccer teams as the customer may so wish. So, please stop by, and make that surprise for your son. He will leave to remember that day ;)

enjoy!

A TYPICAL INTRODUCTION CAKE

2008-07-28T12:22:00.003+03:00

This an introduction cake basket cake which has been very popularly ordered lately. People some times prefer almost everything about their occassion to be cultural in this part of the world and here at Essquibo we make sure we give them their heart's desire.

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The butterfly wedding cake.

2008-07-22T11:18:00.000+03:00

Every thing about this cake was different, making a cake this high ,this detailed requires alot of thought and preparation well in advance , this cake was done not by one person but by our entire staff force mum guided us through the fondant work. One thing that really makes this cake different is the careful structure in which we made it, we had to divide the fondant and make little blocks fitting them together hence giving it that masters look! The little butterflies at the top are not edible but are really beautiful

2008-07-22T10:56:00.000+03:00

This is a rich fruity cake made in white and sky blue colors, the fondant ribbons were carefully placed at the sides of the middle tiers ,this decor was very simple most of the work was done in fondant apart from the nice intricate patterns done on the fondant. If your are looking for simplicity i guess this is the cake for you

2008-07-20T12:14:00.000+03:00

The Ivory Throb:a ten piece,three tier cake. Working in this color is very impressive for an elegant depiction of passion,ebroidered by gold satin ribbons and badged by a rich fondant of smooth ring roses mounted on both the round and heart shaped tiers.

Cake history

2008-01-22T11:44:00.000+03:00

The traditional wedding cake as we know it has been around for hundreds and hundreds of years. Although many variations on the theme have been sprung up since it first became popular; the tiered, white- iced fruit and rum flavored classic has stood the taste test of time. But how did all start?

Use your loaf!
In Antiquity, the very first cakes appeared. They were nothing but thin loaves made of wheat or barley- more like bread. The ancient Greeks, Romans and Egyptians would bake a bread cake in the shape of a bird or grain, and break it over the brides head as a symbol of her fertility, fruitlessness and good fortune. Guests then scrambled for the pieces of cake hoping to secure good luck for themselves

Oh sugar!
In Anglo Saxon times, sugar made its disappearance in the original wedding loaf, turning it into more of a sweetened bun, it became tradition for guests to bring these little cakes to the wedding and pile them up one on top of the other, as high as they could. The bride and groom could attempt to kiss one another over the tower without knocking it down, if they were successful, it meant a lifetime of prosperity.

Something’s up
From there the birth of the tiered wedding cake as we know it is somehow uncertain. The story goes that in the 1660s , during the reign of king Charles 11, a French chef was visiting London and observed the cake piling ceremony. Appalled at th haphazard manner in which the British stacked baked goods, often to have them tumble , he conceived the idea of transforming the mountain of bland biscuits into an iced, multi-tiered cake sensation. British papers of the day are supposed to have deplored the French excess, but before the close of the century, British bakers were offering the very same magnificent creations.

The icing on the cake
On we go with Renaissance as edible centerpieces (known as sublities) became popular. These centerpieces grew to extravagant heights amid the general extravagance of the edge. It became customary to build the wedding cake as a palace, iced with white sugar to symbolize purity, and replete with figures of the new “Lord and Lady of the Manor, ”miniature gardens and horses
Whiter than white

Purity was not the only reason white icing was all the rage; it was also a sure way to tell everybody you had more than a few pennies. White icing had to be made using only the most refined white sugar –a very expensive ingredient at the time; so the whiter the cake, the wealthier the brides family had to be.
Sweet dreams

As the modern age dawned with the 1700’s it became tradition to box up small pieces of cake for the maids and bachelors to take home and put under their own pillows. Before going to sleep a prayer was said, which, with the aid of God, the saints, angels or Venus, would allow the sleeping person to dream of their future marriage partner, Being by then a “civilized” Christian culture, no one openly called it a spell, but now we can safely say that’s exactly what it was!

A RECIPE FOR SUCCESS
Cake preparation bliss - from serving to preserving.It’s time to get creative….today, professional cake decorators can do almost everything under the sun, the sky- and your imagination – is the limit!!! With such a wide scope of options, choosing a wedding cake can be a daunting (but delicious) prospect, Inspiration for colors and styles is easy to find if you do your research. Start by flicking through this magazine and cutting out pictures of the cakes you like, and noting your favorite cake decorators.

LOOKING FOR MR.RIGHT
You may be lucky enough to find your dream cake in a magazine or a cake decorator’s show room, if it isn’t the case though, don’t despair!! Collect cut outs or take a photo of different ideas that take your fancy-an icing texture or color from here, a beautiful decoration from there. Just combine all these ideas and you’ll have Mr. Right!!

WANTED NOTICE
Design ideas are not enough though. To turn your culinary dreams into reality, you need to find a professional cake decorator,If you fell in love with a specific cake in a magazine or at a cake designer’s show room, choosing your cake designer might be as simple as a phone call. Just ring this person up and arrange an appointment. Even if your dream design was created by an interstate or overseas decorator, you may be able to arrange to have it couriered to you before the wedding.If you have yet to decide on a cake design, call three or four designers whose work you like to arrange an appointment. Take with you pictures of cakes you like, swatches of your dress fabric and samples of your flowers so the cake decorator grasps the theme of your wedding.

IN GOOD HANDS
When making your final decision, it’s important to choose a cake designer with whom you feel comfortable, who listens to you and your ideas but offers his or her own suggestions and ideas. You need to feel that you can say what you like or dislike so that together you can come up with a gorgeous edible masterpiece.

MONEY MATTERS
Now that you have found your dream design find the dream designer to go with it, it is time to talk about a wedding biggie-your budget. Your cake can cost anything from 200$-2000$. The cake size will determine the basic cost –the more guests you will have, the more slices you will need; and the bigger the cake the bigger the price tag, if you want to serve your cake as desert the slices will need to be bigger than if served with coffee; so you’ll need a bigger cake!Adding tiers to your cake adds to the value, and as do unusual shapes such as hearts or hexagons , intricately hand crafted decorations such as sugar flowers, iced embroidery lace-work and icing sculptures will look stunning, but also add more to the bill. Hand painted cakes will also be more costly due to the time and skill required to create them.

TAKING THE PLUNGE
Cake decorators suggest you order your cake at least 12 to 16 weeks prior to your wedding, if your wedding is at a peak time like march or October. This allows your us to book you into our baking schedule and make time- consuming decorations.

SIZE IT UP
The size of your wedding cake will depend upon the number of your guests at the reception, the size of the slices you’ll serve, and whether you are keeping the top tier. Most cake decorators like us are experienced in determining how much cake you will need, and can design a wedding cake that will serve up to 500 guests. If you want to have your cake and eat it too we can design a showpiece cake and bake an undecorated and less expensive one to serve your guests

SPOILT FOR CHOICE
While around half of modern couples still go for the traditional fruitcake flavoured wedding cake , the options are many and mouth watering …flavours include dark or white chocolate, hazelnut torte, carrot, banana, tiramisu, orange-poppy seed, strawberry, coffee and hazelnut. Your choices really are endless. Talk to your cake decorator about alternate tiers- you could have one slab or mud cake, continental the next, and perhaps a vanilla cake on top

TRY BEFORE YOU BUY
The way your wedding cake tastes is just as important as the way it looks, so it is best to sample the cake before you confirm decorator. When you make appointments, tell the decorators you’d like to sample a few of their cake flavors. Most cake decorating businesses will offer a selection for you to taste, Some decorators may charge a small fee.

Having the right cake utilities makes a difference!

2008-01-09T12:29:00.000+03:00

MUST HAVE PRODUCTS
As an up coming professional caterer, I would think the most appealing cakes begin with the finest tools and supplies, here are a few that would really make your cake decorating more adventurous and as far as our clients are concerned worth the money!!

The New Fondant Work Matt
This Fondant work mat is marked with an easy to read measuring grid that allows you to roll out the correct size that will cover your cake. The Fondant Work Matt can be sprinkled with corn starch to ensure added release. The Fondant Work Mat can with stand temperatures up to 450F and is great to bake on. Check it out at www.atecousa.com

Fondant Ribbon
Fondant Ribbon is a welcome addition to the production decorator’s bag of tricks. The elegant look of rolled fondant is greatly enhanced with a border also fashioned from fondant. Cal-java has taken the work out of the process, enabling you to apply a fondant ribbon boarder in less time than it takes to pipe a border. Check out this new product at www.cakevision.com

Rolling platform
This platform allows easy rolling of fondant icing. It should be made out of simple wood covered with fermica for a smooth finishing, preferred colour should be white for best results.

enough for now...

Will

yumy-yumy cake varieties for our clients!

2008-01-09T11:15:00.001+03:00

<=This is a dark fruited birthday cake made to last for a period of 2 months and more, the uniqueness about this cake is its simplicity and style that portray the age bracket to which it was made for,i.e. an adult, the golden bead string running round the cake together with the beautiful hand made roses sliding down the edge of the cake have pretty much down the job.

=>
This also is a rich fruity farewell cake made entirely out of pink fondant icing sugar, it’s the regular round cake but this time the use of the fondant cutter and Embosser has come in handy

<=Barbie doll cake, specially made for children, this is a very light vanilla cake made with
lots of cherries, the use of royal icing here is very pertinent because of the nature of the cake

Introductions or Engagement parties are also our specialties; I guess you can see how a typical Buganda Introduction ceremony is like. For such occasions cakes in different forms such as baskets, drums ,hats and others are also ideal however in this case we went for the large round ordinary size pan to cater for the big number of people.

=>
This also is a rich fruity cake, it has already been packaged however you can still identify the beautiful sugar paste roses made out of the new Wilton flower mold you will get to see from our tools. The large diameter of this cake has given room for the flowers/roses to be neatly spread out in an arch like shape, you can also notice the green leaves sticking out at the sides giving it that natural fresh look!

<=
This is a 4-piece contemporary elegant wedding cake, simplicity again and creativity have pretty much sealed the job. Here at Essquibo home bakery these are our fundamental beliefs for any wedding cake, we however can adjust to suit your preference but at the end of the day it is such a cake that will blatantly make your occasion a success. The fine soothing pink color has jelled in well with almost everything around the cake.

Keep your comments coming in, they are an encouragment on bettering our cake business.

Will :o)

See how good we are?!

2007-04-18T12:59:00.000+03:00

Welcome everybody to some fine samples of what we can do. How good we can make baking the in-thing at any occassion, such as; weddings, birthdays, engagement (introduction), graduation, parties, get-2-gathers, anniversaries, etc.

<= This here is a glamourous 9 piece collection of wedding cakes, all made with fondant icing. Its edges and sides have been detailed with the zig-zag intricate patterns that bring out the elegance of the cake and make you salivate before you taste it! Also notice the nice rosy fresh flowers on top of each individual cake. They have been carefully selected with their yellow green colour to give the cakes that fresh and enticing appearance yet blending in well with the green background. This is your perfect engagement cake, with a simple layout of a crystal cake stands elegantly standing out.
The cake has been professionally decorated with light blue ribbons that have been neatly worked into the sides of the cake. =>

The leafy decorations of silver have been paired at alternating angles of the cakes giving it a beautiful view. From the way it appears, its just had finishing touches applied to it, yet to be dispatched to its destination.

<= Here mum puts the final decorations to an engagement cake just before it leaves the workshop.

For more pictures, check inside our gallery,
here
full link, http://www.flickr.com/photos/kitongo/

enjoy :o)

Planning for that special wedding cake?!

2007-04-18T11:46:00.000+03:00

Long history...
Essequibo bakers, a name for our family cake business, has been in the baking business for over 20 years! We are situated in Lubaga, a Kampala suburb in Uganda. We come from a long history of bakers. My grand dad had a bread stall that sold bakeries to families in Guyana (Latin America) & grandma, Scot Williams, was a well known cake specialist who made cakes for a living. The trade was also taught to their children including my mum, mrs. Patricia Kitongo, who has passed it down to us, here in Kampala - Uganda.

Presently...
With the parents aging, togather with my sister, we are taking the project to greater heights here in Kampala. We have had extensive training from our mother since we were little, numerous baking books e.g. "Whats cooking in Guyana"; Wilton booklets on baking and through professionals that we have been working with my mum over the years.

How equipped are we?!
Kitchen aid: This machine has the capacity to cream many bakeries in a short time. It can 100 muffins in one round! It therefore is more efficient than the manual way of making bakeries.
Electric oven: This takes 4 or more tiers of wedding cakes in one round depending on the sizes.
Gas oven: Very important especially now that there is unstable & unreliable grid electricity (umeme). We exploring solar alternatives as well. It can handle 2 big wedding (tiers/steps) cakes at a time.
Cake pans: A collection of different cake pans from kids shapes/toys, for instance; cars, gun, lorries, dragons, teddy bears to the different wedding cake shapes.
Cake utilities: These enable us to be in position to make our own icing sugar, something called fondant icing sugar. This is a very unique icing sugar that allows you to work with it, just like clay, you can mould it to suit all your icing needs.
Carnations Kit: This is a modern equipment that is vital if you have make hand made roses/flowers for putting around wedding, engagement cakes, and also handy for decoration purposes.
Cake stands: A variety of stands ranging from glass to crystal in nature. We have stands that can comfortably support over eight tiers/steps of cakes.

We have 3 full-time cake professionals ready to handle cake orders whenever they come in. We are proud to bring the Latin American Culinary touch to Kampala.

Service..
We handle cake orders from all sorts of clients wherever they may be. We can receive orders via our contact phone numbers, email address and post office!

Reputable clients...
Calvary Chapel Kampala
Watoto Ministeries, Kampala
Save the Children, Kampala

Having an event coming up?...

2007-01-11T12:59:00.000+03:00

Full contact Address:

Kitongo William
Manager
P.O. Box 2626
Kampala, Uganda
East Africa.

Tel: +256 712 970994
+256 772 541525
+256 772 638874

Email: kitwllm@yahoo.com