What Is The Cranked Spatula Used For The Advocaat Cake?

Our answer

Nigella's No-Bake Advocaat And Ginger Cake is an easy layered dessert made with sticky gingerbread cake and layers of mascarpone that has been whipped with cream and advocaat and studded with nuggets of dried figs, crystallized ginger and chopped nuts.

Nigella uses a small, thin metal spatula to spread the mascapone cream over the cake layers. This is a cranked spatula but is also known as an offset spatlula, offset palette knife or offset cake decorating spatula. The thin, flexible blade of the spatula has two bends in it, one at a right angle downwards from the handle and a second again at a right angle that puts the blade parallel to the handle but slightly lower than the handle. This makes it easier to use the blade to spread buttercreams, cake batters and creams inside cake pans or tins, bowls and containers, though the spatulas also have other uses. The spatulas usually come in larger and smaller sizes, large ones being 20-25cm (8-10 inches) and small ones about 15cm (6 inches). For this cake any size can be used, though we prefer to use a smaller size of cranked spatula if that is available.