BAKED by Blair's Top 8 Baking Tips

Everyone loves a good baking hack to level up their baking game. Here are my top 8 baking tips to scale your baking confidence!

Tips:

1.    DIY Cake Flour

• I almost never keep cake flour in my house. Cake flour is imperative for certain recipes – for example my vanilla cake recipe with oil. Instead I make DIY cake flour! To make cake flour you will need all-purpose flour and cornstarch. Find the full tutorial here.

2.    DIY Buttermilk

• You will need whole milk and white vinegar or fresh lemon juice. For every one cup of buttermilk needed, mix one cup of whole milk with one tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice. Allow them to sit for 10 minutes before using in your recipe.

3.    Measure Your Flour Correctly

• a. This step is crucial to preventing a dry cake. Do NOT use your measuring cup as a scoop to get your flour out of the bag or container. Instead, spoon your flour into the measuring cup and then level off the top. When you use your measuring cup as a scoop, the flour gets packed down and you will end up with far too much flour resulting in a dry cake

4.    Use an Oven Thermometer

• Each oven is just a little bit different! It’s important to use an oven thermometer to make sure that when you set your oven to 350 degrees F, it actually is 350 degrees F inside. I hosted a virtual private cake class recently where we both made the exact same cake and put them in the oven at the exact same time, but our cakes were finished at different times. This is because my students oven was actually hotter inside than what she had plugged her oven in to be!

5.    Use simple syrup to flavour your cakes and increase moisture!

a.    Simple syrup is a combination of granulated sugar and water with a flavouring. It is my favorite way to enhance flavour in the cake and it also helps maintain moisture! To make simple syrup, combine ½ cup granulated sugar and ½ cup water plus the flavouring of your choice (vanilla, early grey tea, etc). Heat in a medium saucepan over medium to high heat for about 3-4 minutes. Allow to cool before using. Use a pastry brush to brush over your cake.

6.    Don’t over-mix your batter. 

a.    NEVER let your mixer run while stepping away from the mixing bowl. We always want to mix our batter until it is just combined. If you over-mix your cake, you run the risk of ending up with an extremely dense cake. 

7.    Prepare Your Cake Pans Properly to Prevent Sticking

a.    To prepare your cake pans to ensure your cake comes out without hassle, spray the sides of your pan with non-stick spray and then place a parchment round on the bottom. Spray the bottom of the pan with the parchment paper in it.  You can purchase premade parchment circes or you can create your own by tracing around your cake pans on a piece of parchment paper and cutting them out. 

8.    Crumb Coat Your Cake!

a.    This is a simple but necessary step and one of my favourite baking tips to prevent crumbs from accumulating in your frosting. There is nothing worse than baking a delicious cake, making beautiful frosting and then ending up with a crumb filled disaster. Click here to find out what a crumb coat is and how to do it! 

I hope my top 8 baking tips help you bake the perfect cake! If you try any of them out and love them, make sure you comment below.

BBBxx