If you’re anything like me, the smell of freshly baked items coming out of the oven is heavenly and the process of watching ingredients turn into a cake is mesmerising. But I know there’s also elements that can give you a love-hate relationship with baking, like a cake that’s sunk in the middle or buttercream that’s salty or runny.
In this post I’m hoping to shed some light on basic baking tips to help if you are just starting out with baking. These vital tips should help immensely to increase your chances of having amazing cakes, brownies and everything else!
1. Do not open your oven in the middle of baking
If you have ever taken your cake out of the oven to see that it has dipped in the centre, then this one is for you. This is because you have opened the oven up too early into the baking time. Opening it before it has finished baking allows cold air to rush into the oven, drop the temperature and affect your bake badly. I know how tempting it can be to check on your creation to see how it’s getting on, but really you’re only making it worse by checking!
Another useful tip that comes with this is trust the baking time on the recipe. You only need to open the oven when the time is up, or if you really have to, slightly before. However, it’s not the end of the world if your bake does dip! As long as it’s cooked, it will still taste perfectly fine (and you can slather it in toppings so no one will ever know).
2. Use quality ingredients
This is a difficult one to always implement as I know that sometimes you can have a budget. I definitely don’t always buy the best quality cocoa powder and I’m known to sometimes buy supermarket own chocolate; they are perfectly fine. It’s just knowing the ingredients that should be the better-quality ones. It won’t be too hard to tell which ones need to be quality, as you’ll realise this when you use basic items and they don’t go well in baking.
Vanilla Essence for me, Nielsen-Massey is the best brand to get. What I find from cheaper vanilla is that I end up having to use the whole bottle to get any taste of vanilla in there!
For food colouring it is an ABSOLUTE MUST to get a premium brand I believe. The supermarket own just doesn’t cut it; the colour never comes out right and you need to use lots of it which can turn the flavour of the cake. Wilton Gel Food Colouring is amazing and will last ages! Gel food colouring is what you want as the colour is very concentrated and works so well.
3. Don’t use salted butter… ever!
Unless the recipe specifically states it. All salted butter will do is, you guessed it, make your food taste salty! Always make sure you are picking up unsalted butter, however baking butter’s like Stork are perfectly fine to use in cakes and bakes, but don’t use it in buttercream as it’s far too soft and will make it runny.
4. Use the correct tin size
Follow the tin that the recipe says as this is how you are going to get the best bake. If you do not have a tin that size and shape, it’s okay to compromise with another, but remember that the cooking time will not be the same.
If you are using a different tin, make sure that you don’t overfill it. The tin should only be about half full and never more, this will heavily change the cooking time and could burn the top of the cake or spill over if you do.
5. Never forget to grease your tin
If you don’t, your bake will stick. It’s as simple as that. Greasing with unsalted butter or Stork is fine, just as before, don’t use salted butter. Believe me, trying to scrape your cake from the tin afterwards is unbearable.
Take a look at some of my behind-the-scenes photos of some of my bakes:
Whether you’re a new baker or an experienced one, these tips are always valuable and worth remembering. Happy baking!
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