When dipping profiteroles or choux puffs in toffee (when making desserts like a Gateau St Honore) they often end up with flat tops due to being turned toffee-side-down on baking paper for it to set... unfortunately, to some, this can look a little unrefined for such an impressive dessert. So, if you would like to retain the rounded tops of the profiteroles the best way of doing this to place them, straight after dipping, into (very) lightly oiled, half-dome silicone moulds and then leave them to set. There will be no flat tops here!

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When making a glacé or royal icing with pure icing sugar, don’t let it sit around uncovered as it will start to set on the top and add lumps to your icing when you stir it (as this one has!). If you aren’t going to use your icing straight away, remember to cover the surface closely with plastic wrap and/or the bowl with a damp cloth to prevent a hard layer developing on the top. This way, it will stand around very happily waiting for you for at least a couple of hours. read less

Some recipes will ask you to grease and dust your tin with flour if you are baking a delicate cake that is prone to sticking to the tin (like sponge cakes), when the tin is one that you can’t line (like a fluted ring tin), or one with an intricate design (such as a Bundt tin). The flour adds an extra barrier between the mixture and the tin to help stop the mixture from sticking. This butter and flour combination will give a cake a nice crust if done with restraint. You need to coat the pan thoroughly but not thickly - too much butter/oil or flour will leave a patchy coating on the crust of your cake. With ring and Bundt tins, just make sure you also coat the centre tube and pay special attention to any elaborate designs.

The traditional way to do this is to first grease the tin with melted butter or oil. Then add a tablespoon or two of flour to the tin and turn the tin, tapping it as you go, until the whole surface has a light, even coating of flour. Any excess flour should then be removed by sharply tapping the tin on a surface.

Alternately, you can combine both the butter or oil and flour and then apply it. For an average sized tin, combine 15g (½ oz) butter, melted (or 3 teaspoons oil) and 1 teaspoon of plain flour and then brush the tin with this mixture. This method is easier than the traditional method mentioned above, and is particularly good for Bundt tins with intricate designs that can be tricky to coat.

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Toffee is often used to embellish or complement bakes (think praline, spun toffee and toffee shards). But there is nothing more frustrating than when it crystalises and becomes a horrid grainy mass making it unusable.

The crystalisation of toffee starts when it contains a ‘seed’ which can be either an undissolved sugar crystal (like those that form as the syrup splatters on the side of the pan during boiling) or something foreign in the mixture like a small crumb. As the toffee cools and the molten sugar crystals become solid again, they are attracted to the ‘seed’ forming new lumps of tiny crystals – hence the grainy texture.

This can also happen if the toffee is stirred, or agitated, after it has begun to boil or on cooling (as happened with this pink-tinted toffee). This agitation not only helps in the formation of the ‘seed’ crystals but also encourages the cooling syrup to be attracted to them and hence the development of crystal clusters and a grainy mass.

So how do you stop crystalisation? There are three main rules to follow for smooth, glass-like toffee:

1. Stir the combined sugar and water over a low or medium heat until the sugar dissolves completely before it comes to the boil.
2. Once the syrup begins to boil, don’t stir it again while it cooks (although gently tilting the pan from side to side occasionally will be fine) or while it is coolsing.
3. Use a pastry brush that has been dipped in clean water to brush down the sides of the pan occasionally during cooking. This will dissolve any sugar crystals that have formed from splattered syrup.

 

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When making bread dough or biscuit mixtures, an easy way to ensure that your rolls or biscuits are all a similar size, so that they not only look even but will bake in the same amount of time, is to use your scales.

Firstly, weight the total amount, divide this by the number of rolls or biscuits you are making and then weigh individual portions before shaping and placing on the tray. It will take a little longer, but I promise your uniformity will be admired!

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Tweezers are not your typical baking utensil, but you’ll find them incredibly useful for delicate and intricate decorating work. Keep a dedicated pair of tweezers in your top drawer for all those times when your fingers are feeling a little awkward!

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It is sometimes hard to flatten a biscuit or pastry base of a slice. Fingertips often create an uneven surface and a roll pin is completely impractical once the mixture is in the tin. A straight-sided glass, however, is the perfect size and can be easily rolled over the surface to make it not only smooth but also very even.

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When folding two mixtures together it’s important to always add the lighter mixture (like whisked egg whites) to the heavier mixture (like a chocolate cake base) rather than the other way around. This will not only make the folding action more efficient it will also minimising the air lost when combining. Also, remember that if the heavier mixture is also thick, it’s always a good idea to fold a large spoonful of the lighter mixture through it first to ‘loosen’ to make it easier to incorporate the remaining mixture.

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When whisking egg whites and sugar to make meringue mixtures it is best to whisk on medium or medium-high speed, NOT high. It will take a couple of minutes extra for you to create your meringue but the final mixture will be made up of tiny, even air bubbles – which is exactly what you are after! It will be smooth, thick, and glossy and have a shaving cream-like consistency which will give you a crisp meringue that won’t crack when baked. Meanwhile, a meringue whisked on high speed will end up with large, uneven air bubbles and a frothy consistency which will often rise and crack when baked. So, remember to whisk on medium, or if you are a little impatient, no higher than medium-high when making meringue.

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Yeast doughs need to be left in a warm, draught-free place to prove after kneading, and usually again after shaping. Proving is important as it ‘exercises’ the strands of gluten, making them stronger and helping to develop the structure of the bread. It also develops flavour. Yeast is at its happiest between 24–28°C/75-82.5°F. This means, depending on the weather and the temperature of your kitchen, you may need to create a warm micro-environment to prove your dough, particularly on very cold days. There are a number of ways you can do this:

1. Pour some hot tap water into a saucepan and place the dough in a covered heatproof bowl over it, making sure the water doesn’t touch the bowl and replacing the hot water as it cools.
2. Place the dough in a covered bowl in the microwave oven with the door closed (or in a sealed Styrofoam box) with a small jug of boiling water. Replace the water when it cools.
3. Turn just your pilot light on in your oven to
 heat your oven very gently. Place the dough in a covered heatproof bowl on the middle rack, close the door and leave to prove.
4. Place the dough in a covered heatproof bowl on a wooden board on top of a preheated oven.
5. Place the dough in a covered heatproof bowl in a sunny windowsill or a spot outside in dappled sunlight (as long there is no draught).

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When baking individual tarts place them on an oven tray before putting them in the oven, especially when using tins with a removable base. It will make it a whole lot easier and more efficient (and far less fiddly) when you need to take them from the oven to remove the blind baking beads and to add the filling.

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I often get asked how long should you beat butter and sugar when creaming it. There is no actual time that you need to aim for as there are a few variables that can affect how long it will take, including how soft your butter is, the proportion of butter to sugar, and the type of sugar you are using.

The best thing to watch out for is for how the mixture transforms as it is beaten. The more you beat it the paler in colour and lighter in texture it will become, but it will get to a point that it won’t change any more and this is the stage that you will know you have creamed it ‘enough’. If you are unsure of what you are looking for it is a good idea to take a small sample of the mixture at intervals as you beat and it will soon become clear.

This image shows a creamed butter and sugar mixture at five stages (from bottom to top): the first one is just combined, with the following samples taken at intervals of beating every 1-2 minutes. The final two samples (at the top), with no difference between them, indicate that the mixture has been creamed enough.

So remember, when creaming, it isn’t a matter of time, just a matter of transformation.

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When whisking eggs for your baking it is always best to use the freshest eggs possible.
Here’s why:

Eggs, when fresh, are acidic and this acidity means that the egg proteins are tightly knit. You can see this egg is fresh because the yolk is plump and round and the inner white is clearly defined and is holding onto the yolk tightly – an indication that those protein bonds are keeping it from spreading on the plate.

As an egg ages, it becomes more alkaline and the proteins start to pull away from each other, causing the yolk to lose it's form and the white to become thinner and more likely to spread on a plate when cracked. 

So why is this important when whisking eggs? Less fresh eggs will whisk to a foam more quickly than fresher ones, and you’ll achieve a slightly greater volume, but the resulting foam will be less stable than one made with fresh eggs. A fresh-egg foam will be more stable thanks to the strong protein bonds and therefore more likely to holds its shape and retain the air you have incorporated through whisking.

Pic: @neelashearer 

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