BakeTips
Clever and useful tips for your kitchen.
Don't Grease Tart Tins
When making a pie or tart there is no need to grease the tin before you line it with pastry – the high butter content in the pastry will naturally stop it from sticking to the tin.
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Don't Let Cake Mixture Sit Around
As soon as your cake mixture is ready bake it straight away. If a finished cake mixture sits for too long before going into the oven you won’t get the best results – especially cakes with egg whites
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Why Fresh Eggs are Best for Whisking
When whisking eggs for your baking it is always best to use the freshest eggs possible.
Here’s why: read more
Here’s why: read more
Utensils To Use When 'Folding'
When a recipe asks you to ‘fold’ (such as when incorporating whisked egg whites into a base mixture) the best utensil to use is either a large metal spoon or silicone spatula. Their clean ‘slicing’...
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Substituting Honey For Sugar
When replacing sugar with honey in your baking recipes use the same weight (not volume) of honey as sugar, but for every ½ cup (110g/4oz) of sugar reduce the liquid component (such as water, milk...
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Flour Your Fork
When pressing biscuits with a fork to flatten before baking make sure you dip the fork into a little flour and then tap it to remove any excess. The light coating of flour will stop...
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Not All Ingredients Weigh The Same
Remember when using your scales, generally no two ingredients weight the same. For example a cup of flour (150g/5½oz) doesn't weight the same as a cup of cocoa powder (105g/3¾oz), nor the same as a...
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Over-Whisking Egg Whites
Over-whisked egg whites are easy to recognise – they become a lumpy, curdled-looking mess and ooze excess liquid. Yep, not pretty, and unfortunately once they reach this stage there is no way to fix them....
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Blind Baking Small Tartlet Cases
Blind baking small tartlet cases can be a little tricky because of their size. Make sure you line them with greaseproof paper or foil rather than non-stick baking paper that can be a little ‘stiff’...
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Room Temperature Eggs
In baking, eggs are generally best used at room temperature when they are easier to incorporate into mixtures. Also, if whisking, you can incorporate greater quantities of air if the eggs aren’t chilled – important...
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What Size Is Your Tablespoon Measure?
In Australia, the standard tablespoon measure holds 20ml (¾fl oz) or 4 teaspoons. However, in the US, UK and New Zealand a tablespoon holds 15mls (½fl oz) or 3 teaspoons. More often than not it...
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Puffed Choux
The difference between a well puffed choux pastry and one that falls flat on its face is often due to how quickly you add the eggs to your butter and flour mixture and the quantity...
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Cookie Cutters
A small selection of cutters are always good to have on hand to cut out cookies / biscuits, scones and pastry shapes. Choose those with a sharp edge to make cutting easy without dragging through...
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What is 'Real' Vanilla
The word ‘natural’ is the key when buying vanilla. Avoid ‘imitation’ essence or extracts, which aren’t made from real vanilla and don’t have the quality or intensity of flavour that the natural ones do. A...
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Candied Citrus Zest
Candied citrus zest or rind makes the perfect finishing touch to any cake. Firstly, use a vegetable peeler to remove the rind in wide strips from your citrus fruit (1 lemon/orange or 2 limes is...
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Rolling Pastry for Small Tarts
When making small individual tarts it is best to roll your pastry into a log (rather than a disc) before chilling and resting. When you come to rolling out the pastry, cut the log into...
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Making Chocolate Curls
Simple super to create, chocolate curls make an effective decoration for your cakes, cupcakes and tarts. A wide block of good-quality milk chocolate works best when making chocolate curls (milk chocolate is less brittle than...
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How Should a Creamed Butter and Sugar mixture look?
How a creamed butter and sugar mixture appears can vary enormously between recipes and depends greatly on 3 main things: How long you beat the ingredients for The type of sugar you use The proportion...
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