All you bakers out there, this one’s for you! I have compiled a list of 20 different simple and easy baking hacks that you’d wish you had known sooner and trust you’ll love them and you can thank me later!
35 baking hacks for easy and smooth baking:
1. You don’t have enough eggs
If you don’t have enough eggs, all you need to do is add in 1 can of any soda (flavoured one if it’s a vanilla cake) and there you have it, a perfectly baked cake. 1 can of soda will substitute 2 eggs in any cake baking recipe.
2. Butter substitute –
When swapping out butter for avocados, a 1:1 ratio will work perfectly. Replace 1 cup of butter with 1 cup of pureed avocados.
3. Enrich a chocolate cake flavour with coffee
In any chocolate cake recipe, if it calls for water, substitute the water with instant coffee or hot brewed coffee in your recipe, to enrich its flavour.
4. Spruce up your frosting color
Add in some rainbow-colored sprinkles into your frosting mixture and then pipe it over your cakes, cupcakes and cookies, for an extra tinge of colour of course.
5. Don’t have cake pan spray
Substitute refined flour with cocoa powder in a chocolate cake recipe to coat and line your baking tin if you do not have cake pan spray.
6. Your cupcakes are all oddly shaped?
All you need to do is fill your cupcake mould/liner with just ¾ full batter and bake for 25 minutes at 325 degrees.
7. Don’t have powdered sugar ?
The next time you need to finish a bake with powdered sugar, put this simple trick into practice, combine 1 cup of sugar and 1 tbsp cornstarch in a blender, food processor or coffee grinder and blend until the sugar is superfine.
8. Your hand isn’t steady to write on a cake
Simply mark the letters using a toothpick as a stencil to help guide you to write the words perfectly and steadily.
9. Buttermilk substitute –
1 cup of butter milk will substitute a cup of milk mixed with two teaspoons of vinegar or lemon juice. Mix and leave it for 10 minutes to curdle before using it in your recipe.
10. Your wet ingredients stick to your measuring cups
Simply spray some baking spray over your cups before measuring your wet ingredients so that the contents will come out easily.
11. To soften hardened butter
Fill a glass of water and heat it in the microwave until hot. Then empty the water and place the heated glass over the brick of butter for a few minutes and soon it would have softened.
12. Want fluffier cakes?
Mix ½ a cup of sour cream or buttermilk instead of milk into your cake batter mixture for softer, fluffier and lighter cakes.
13. You need room temperature eggs
If your eggs were in the refrigerator and you need room temperature eggs for your recipe, simply place the cold eggs in a bowl of water, water for 5 minutes to bring them to room temperature before using them.
14. Cookie cravings too often?
Well, make a double batch of cookie dough and freeze half the batch to make and save it for a later date when you’re craving some homemade cookies.
15. Whipped cream doesn’t come out perfect?
Chill the bowl you’re going to whisk the whipped cream in before hand and this will let you get perfect whipped cream in no time.
16. Bake perfect cheesecake
Baking your cheesecake in a water bath is the best way to ensure cheesecake success. Don’t worry—you don’t have to buy any special equipment or a fancy bathtub-size baking appliance!
Method 1 – Boil water and You need enough to fill your large roasting pan with about an inch of water. Place the foil-wrapped springform pan with unbaked cheesecake in it, inside your large roasting pan.
Method 2 – Place your cheesecake on the middle oven rack. Pour boiling water ( about an inch) in a large pan and Immediately place the large oven-safe pan on the bottom oven rack. Quickly shut the oven door, and bake the cheesecake.
17. Gluten free baking
If you want to make gluten-free cookies or brownies, oat flour is a wonderful option. Just blend your regular oats into flour. You can also Blend together 1/4 cup white rice flour, 1/2 cup brown rice flour, 1/4 cup tapioca flour and 1/4 cup potato starch together. Store in a secure container in a dry place. But in general, use in place of all purpose or whole wheat flour in a 1:1 ratio.
Recipe 2 – 500 gms white rice flour, 300 gms potato starch and 200 gms corn flour. Mix and store in a air tight container.
18. Enhance spice/fruity flavors
If you’re supposed to add fruit zest or spices in your cake mixture, beat them along with the sugar and butter to help enhance the flavor and distribute it more evenly.
19. Bake prefect bread
Use ice cubes to bake the perfect load, the trick with this method is, once you have placed your dough onto the hot pan for baking, you need to place a metal pan filled with ice cubes into the bottom of the oven. The ice cubes will turns into steam that gives the bread the prefect crispy crust.
20. Get Perfect Flat Cake Layers
You will never had to trim cakes again with this hack o get prefect flat layers of a cake you are baking, soak paper towels or fabric strip in water and wring them out. Wrap the wet fabric around the outside of your baking pans. The moisture from the wet towel will keep the temperature of your cake more even, allowing the layers to rise more evenly.
21. Whip Cream Faster — Add a few ice cubes or chill your bowl and beaters before whipping. Cold tools help cream thicken faster and stay stable.
22. Clean Cake Slices — Dip your knife in hot water and wipe between each cut. You’ll get neat, bakery-style slices every time.
23. Extra-Flaky Pie Crust — Use frozen butter and swap a few tablespoons of cold water with vodka. The alcohol evaporates quickly, creating less gluten and a tender, flaky crust.
24. Crunchy Casseroles — Sprinkle breadcrumbs or crushed crackers mixed with melted butter on top before baking for a golden, crisp layer.
25. Soften Brown Sugar — Add a slice of bread or apple to the container overnight. The moisture softens the sugar without altering flavor.
