A word about bakeware

The countdown is well and truly on. It's just four days until the Sydney Royal Easter Show kicks off for another year and that means just four days until I have to make a heap - and I mean a HEAP - of cakes to be judged in the perishable cooking competition. The Sunday before the Show is a difficult day. You're very keen to get started but it's too early to bake anything as yet. All you can do is a lot of pesky prep work to make sure that when it is finally time to switch on that oven, you've got everything ready to go.

For me that means setting up a folding table so that I have somewhere safe to store each cake as I finish it and tick it off my list. Yep, the list the other thing that has to be ready to go. Not only do you need to keep your paperwork handy, you also have to go back to the Show Schedule and double and triple check every specification. Some cakes have to be in a 20cm round pan, others have to be in a loaf, some are iced and some aren't... the list goes on. Always check. Always! Baking the perfect cake in the wrong tin will still be enough to have you disqualified, so get it right.

I've also got a small pile of cardboard cakeboxes ready, and a small trolley to stack them in. It's looks like a cake store in here. The cardboard boxes do make life so much easier and I highly recommend buying some if you can get them. I used to use Tupperware like almost everyone else at the Show, but once you've submitted all your baking and you're free to enjoy the day at the Show, the last thing you want to be doing is dragging around (and losing) all your best plastic ware. Go easy on yourself, it's the one day of the year where you have to do whatever you can to make it easier for yourself. You have enough stress already.

It's also possible to do a little bit or prep in the kitchen. A few days before the event I like to prep an orange puree for the orange cake, boil and drain the pumpkin for the pumpkin scones and prepare a few different cake flour blends. You will be eternally grateful for anything you're already done that will save you time in the 48rs before the Show deadline.

You can also prepare your bakeware. Now if you're anything like me and Nigella Lawson, you've probably got an enormous collection of cake tins. Ah Nigella, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways... But I digress. I've seen Nigella showing off her huge cake pan collection and I have the same pan fascination, anything from vintage and cast iron to modern day anodised aluminium. All beautiful. but for Show Day, only the anodised aluminium gets a go.

I cannot stress this enough. These amazing pans will help you producer a Show winning cake, without doubt. The heavy gauge tin will accept and spread the heat around your cake in a way that no other tin can. I was totally converted after I bought a couple at a cake show and I've never looked back. The rise is even and the crumb is cooked perfectly.

Silicon pans will NOT give you a Show winning cake crust. They simply don't get hot enough to allow a golden crumb around the outside of the cake. Old thin tins will give you that crust, but they don't conduct the heat in the incredible and even way that the new anodised tins do. You should certainly still use them, I have some beautiful ones in the shapes of stars and hearts, but they are for home cooking and not for Show cakes.

Mine are by Little Venice, but you can use any brand you like. Make the investment. You can get some inexpensive ones online, but if you get a good one it's definitely worth it.