10 Easy Tips For Beginner Home-Bakers

Baking tips

Sometimes a recipe you find online is just a recipe because it does not tell you what to look out for. You can follow it exactly, yet your bakes still fail. It might have given you the idea that baking is difficult, but really, it isn’t!

There are so many factors to consider, but here are the 10 most basic and important things beginner home-bakers should take note of and it applies to almost all types of bakes.

#1 READ THE RECIPE THOROUGHLY

People tend to overlook the importance of this. Read it slowly, take time to digest it. Read it as many times as needed! Make sure you are familiar with every step and every ingredient.There are instances where halfway through the recipe, we realize that we forgot to add som ething or miss out a step. Follow it step by step, the order and method of mixing it calls for because these make a difference in the final texture of your bake.

Baking Ingredients

#2 PREPARE ALL INGREDIENTS AND TOOLS

Before starting on your recipe, ensure you have all ingredients and tools within reach. You don’t want to be halfway through your recipe only to find out that you’re missing something crucial and waste your effort. Line your cake tins with parchment paper or grease it with oil/shortening and sprinkle a little flour all over. This prevents the bake from sticking after baking.

#3 USE THE CORRECT INGREDIENTS

If the recipe calls for a certain type of flour or sugar, use it. There are many different types of flour and each has a different protein level which will affect the structure of your bake. Of course there are possible substitutes if you cannot find what you need but that’s another story in itself.

Baking Essentials

#4 BRING INGREDIENTS TO ROOM TEMPERATURE (UNLESS CALLED FOR OTHERWISE)

Take out your cold ingredients like milk, butter and eggs from the refrigerator 1 hour before you start. However, do not fret if you forgot this step. To bring cold eggs to room temperature fast, I place it in a bowl with running tap water or a bowl of warm water.

As for butter, you can cut it into cubes, the increased exposed surface area will let it warm up much faster. Recipes do not tell you to do this and explain why this is important. I discovered that it affects the rise and final texture of the baked goods – especially in sponge cakes where we want it to be light and fluffy.

Preheat Oven

#5 PREHEAT THE OVEN

Before you start the recipe, preheat the oven so that by the time you’re done mixing the batter, it has reached the required temperature. We need to pop it in immediately. Most batters should not be left lying around after mixing the wet and dry ingredients together if not the cake will not rise as much, be hard or just be deflated.

Oven

#6 KNOW YOUR OVEN

This comes from experience. Every oven is different and it might take you awhile to get used to your oven. The temperature gauge might say 170degrees but in reality it isn’t. Which is why sometimes you realise that your bakes come out cracked or burnt on top. Or you might find that it takes much longer than stated to be done.

My advise is to invest in a oven thermometer. It does not cost much and it will save you from much pain! Even within the oven itself, heat might not be evenly distributed. For my mum’s oven, the heat at the back of the oven is much higher than the front and I correct it by using the fan-forced mode. So it might take you some tries to figure out what works best for you.

Measuring tools

#7 USE MEASURING TOOLS

Use measuring tools for all ingredients, be it wet or dry. For more accuracy, use a digital scale.

#8 SIFT DRY INGREDIENTS TOGETHER

This helps to prevent lumps of flour in your batter. No one likes to take a mouthful of cake only to find themselves eating a large clump of flour.

#9 DO NOT OVERMIX BATTER

Mix wet and dry ingredients until just evenly combined. Do not overwork the batter too much or it will be deflated and you will have a hard cake.

Opening Oven

#10 DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN DOOR

Many people always get very excited halfway through when they see their cake rising and tend to open the oven door to check. It is very tempting, I know that! But please refrain from doing that if you do not want a sunken, collapsed cake. When you open the oven door, hot air gushes out causing the temperature in the oven to drop suddenly. If the structure of the cake has not been formed completely, it will sink.


Shirlene is a self-taught home-baker who loves the sun, traveling, fashion, cakes and flowers – basically, all things pretty. Her passion lies in making her bakes taste as good as they look. You can look at more photos of her bakes and home cooked creations made in “Twirly’s Kitchen” at @shirlytwirly.