Baking tips!

I've been baking since the summer of 2007- when I started making chocolate chip cookies and taking them to the office for everyone to try. I learnt how to make brownies that summer too. Since then I've learnt some tips that make the entire baking process easier.

When you know you're going to be baking, keep the butter out hours before (especially if it was in the freezer) so that it has enough time to get to room temperature.

Make sure you have an enough amount of bowls in your kitchen as it's always easier to measure out everything first and organize them in a line according to what goes in the mixture first.

When measuring ingredients, measure the sugar, flour, and other dry ingredients on your scale first. If you put butter in first, and then measure the sugar, the sugar grains will stick to the grease in the bowl of the scale. Or you'd have to wash the bowl between the butter and the sugar and thus waste time.

Add sugar into the mixer bowl first and then add the butter. You can always use a butter knife to further incorporate the butter into the sugar while mixing.

Use an electric mixer whenever you can for beating the butter and the sugar. But don't let the bowl stay in the mixer and rotate electrically. Manually use the electric mixer with your hand to speed up the process and properly cream the butter and sugar.

Clean up as you go! It really helps!

Have a plate next to your mixer where you can keep knives, spoons, and the like... as well as egg shells.

If egg shells get into the batter while cracking them, then carefully remove them from the batter before you beat.

If the recipe calls for eggs to be beaten prior to mixing them in the batter, use a hand whisk for that.

Make sure the cakes/cupcakes/cookies do not have a trace of oven heat on them when you apply the icing as the icing will melt.

Make the icing only when the baked object is cool as it hardens quite fast.

Dedicate a little section in your kitchen to baking for easy access to everything when you need it ASAP.

-

So here are some of my tips that I've learnt with experience.

Spontaneous Euphoria

xx