Hello, I'm an amateur cake decorator in Ireland, and I have to admit that American recipes confuse me no end.
Firstly, the whole 'cup' business - when using this as a measure of weight, (ie not liquid) how do I convert it to oz? Can I convert it to oz? If not, how big a cup? (I told you I was confused...)
Flours - when staying 'cake flour' or just 'flour' in a recipe, do you mean plain or self-raising?
Shortening - I am assuming thats butter/ margerine?
Any guidance gratefully recieved. I would love to try more of the recipes but they wreck my head a litte. 
Hi! I'm not American, but I use lots of American recipes. There is this great website that will convert measures into all kinds of equivalents:
http://www.convert-me.com/en/convert/cooking
but I do find that with the US recipes, it's best to stick with how they are written for the best results! Do you have a large supermarket (Tesco, Asda, Morrisons etc), near you? If you have, go to the kitchenwares section (where you'll find the pyrex bowls, baking sheets, cake pans, jugs etc), and there you will find sets of measuring cups - a set of 4 held together by a key ring type ring - use those and you'll have no problems - promise!
Shortening is solid vegetable fat - White Flora or Trex would be your equivalents. My advice, don't make buttercream with it - it's the most vile thing that you could put in your mouth, stick to butter (or margarine for economy/practice), your liver and taste buds will thank you!
If a recipe says flour, use plain, if it says cake flour, use self-raising.
Hope that helps!
A cup is 8 liquid ounces. If you don't have a cup measure, take a container and mark off where 8 oz would be. Then use that marked container to measure out your 1 C dry ingredients.
Cake flour is different than regular flour. Technically, the gluten level in cake flour is different from regular flour. Self-rising flour is different as well (as a rising agent mixed in already). In Europe, you should have all three types of flour -- cake, regular and self-rising. These types of flour aren't unique to the US.
Shortening is not butter/margarine. Shortening aka Crisco is vegetable shortening versus lard which is animal fat. I believe it's called something else in the Europe. Do a search in CC and you'll find the brand that they use in Ireland.
I'm sure others have more knowledge on this subject, but hope above helps you a little.
Hi Clipper
I google the conversions. But a cup is 8oz. I only use plain flour if the recipe is using baking powder or soda etc. in it. Shortening is generally margerine I think because they usually specify butter if they are using it in the recipe. I googled Crisco and it's vegetable marg. so like Stork. A stick of butter is 4oz.
I hope this helps you out a little bit. Oh and corn syrup we don't get it to the best of my knowledge and the more I research it the more I find there really is not a replacement available for this, some say honey or golden syrup but these have quiet distinct flavours and from what I can gather (correct me if I am wrong Please guys) Corn syrup is flavourless.
What part of Ireland are you from? Hope you learn lots here! Good Luck!
Cake flour is different than regular flour. Technically, the gluten level in cake flour is different from regular flour. Self-rising flour is different as well (as a rising agent mixed in already). In Europe, you should have all three types of flour -- cake, regular and self-rising. These types of flour aren't unique to the US.
That's true, but our cake flour (or flour for sponges - I believe McDougals makes one), also has raising agent in it already, so self-raising would be fine to interchange - cake flour is finer milled and gives a slightly different texture to the finished cake - cake flour is much more expensive though!
I hope this helps you out a little bit. Oh and corn syrup we don't get it to the best of my knowledge and the more I research it the more I find there really is not a replacement available for this, some say honey or golden syrup but these have quiet distinct flavours and from what I can gather (correct me if I am wrong Please guys) Corn syrup is flavourless.
Glucose syrup is the best equivalent to corn syrup for us Europeans, available from chemists (including Boots), and cake decorating stores.
Hi Clipper! I'm in Cork too! (Midleton - whereabouts are you?)
Welcome to CC, you'll love it!
Shortening is white vegetable fat, not yellow like margarine. I second what bonjovibabe said though, buttercream made with shortening is nasty - stick to good ol' butter!
Cake flour contains less protein (and so has less gluten) than regular (plain and self-raising) flour. If a recipe calls for cake flour, use 2tbsp less of your regular flour (some say to replace those 2tbsp with corn flour, others not!)
I've seen sets of measuring cups in Tesco, though I think the measurements are in ml (1 cup = 240mls, not sure if its the same as the american cups!)
HTH
Kelly
All the conversion charts you'll ever need:
http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopicp-776021.html
I tend to weigh everything I can to get the most consistent results.
Less Greasy & Less Sweet Frosting:
http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-169691.html
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-2523-0-Julies-Less-Sweet-Buttercream-Frosting.html
Whipped B/C:
http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-213481-.html
Thread on various meringue based b/c's:
http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-102541-.html
Faux Meringue B/C:
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-2110-Marshmallow-Creme-Buttercream.html
Additional frosting recipes:
http://www.sweetcelebrations.us/recipes
HTH
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%