"The more I practice the luckier I get" - Arnold Palmer
That saying above is really true. In a span of 5 months, I had baked close to 100 cakes. It was quite a journey. Everything was self taught and I came up with some tips for your baking journey. Have fun!
Room temperature!
Especially for butter, eggs, milk and yogurt!
When is comes to creaming butter and sugar, having the butter at room temperature (30 mins or so) helps to break it down faster with the sugar.
Having eggs and milk at room temperature (30 mins or so) prevents the cake batter when curdling. If that happens, you may put in alittle more flour. Curdling does not affect the taste of the cake just that the texture will be different. It happens to me when I started baking and was in a rush to bake!
Every gram matters
I always feel that baking kinda like science. Every small details matters. I would strongly recommend using a digital scale when it comes to measurement. A mere of 10% will greatly affect the outcome of your bakes.
Don’t be afraid to take whisk!
Dry ingredients such as flour, salt, baking powder or soda do not need to be sift. They are already processed many times in the factory, so by dry whisking will be good enough. It’s a win-win. It’s quite a pain in the ass to wash the sifter.
Knowing when to use certain ingredients really makes a difference.
I discovered this when I switch between a French butter and local butter brand. It made the cake lighter, fluffier and less buttery. Which is good for cakes and loaves; not too heavy on the mouth when eating. However, if you are making butter cookies (the ones that your mum always bake with you when younger), then local butter brand will work well!
When it comes to vanilla extract, I highly recommend using an extract than to essence. Once you smell it you will know! Tip: This is extremely important for banana loaves.
Check your labels
Always check the fine descriptions of each ingredient on how to store it properly. Whether it needs to be store in the fridge or just a dry cool area such as the cupboard. I like to store my eggs in the fridge if I know I’m unable to use them within a week. This is to prevent Salmonella infection.
I also like to categorize similar items in airtight container. For e.g flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt etc. Chocolate chips and rainbow sprinklers. Almonds, walnuts and pistachios.
You have to take note of the expiry dates as well. Especially for leavening ingredients (aka baking soda, baking powder etc). This is for the best results of your bakes!
Pre-heating your oven!
Well, everyone would love their oven to be hot and toasty when the bakes are sent for baking. Always preheat the oven for at least 20 mins. I like to start preheating when I’m almost done with preparation of the ingredients.
Positioning
It took me a couple of bakes before realizing the best position is actually the mid rack. I started with using the bottom rack but my bake’s bottom is always kinda burn. If that happens, you don’t have to waste the cake, just trim off the burnt parts at the bottom.
Cleaning
It is really important to wash all your baking equipment thoroughly. I like to use boiling water to soak everything before rinsing them. And I will wash everything twice just to make sure they are not greasy. This helps in terms of hygiene and for baking moulds/tins so that your new cake batter will not be stuck on them due to past baking residues.
p.s Love to hear from you fellow bakers if you have any tips to share!
The Headless Baker
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