When it comes to baking, we all want to make cakes and pastries just like the ones served in the bakeries but only a handful of people are able to achieve that.
Well, worry no more because here are a few tips and tricks to improve your baking skills and make your cakes more professional.
Tip 1
When you have to add butter in any recipe, add it at room temperature and the mixing will warm it up.
Tip 2
Adding a touch of almond (1/4-1/2 tbsp) emulsion to your vanilla cake can really bring out the taste and you won’t be able to taste almond in it.
Tip 3
Baking soda and baking powder both are different and cannot be substituted. Baking soda is used when lemon or buttermilk is added in the recipe. Since soda is more strong, they must not be substituted equally.
Tip 4
Do not over beat the batter that you make from scratch. This can make the cake come out all wrong. Beating the box cake batter is fine but the batter you make from scratch must not be beaten for long.
Tip 5
When you are adding fruit bits or choco chips in your cake batter, cover them with flour before adding, this will prevent them from settling at the bottom of the pan.
Tip 6
Do not worry about getting the top layer of the cake flat. let the cake come out as it is and then you can cut off the dome shape for a more flat surface. Trying to get the flat surface while baking can mess with the texture of the cake.
Tip 7
Preheating the oven is most important, many of us forget to do it when it is the most obvious step. Check that the oven is properly preheated before baking the cake.
Tip 8
If the recipe demands cake flour and you do not have it, you can make your own cake flour by mixing two tablespoons of corn starch in two tablespoons of flour.
Tip 9
Do not play around with the recipe unless you are sure of the outcome. You do not change the ingredients because you could put off the ratios with that. You even do not want to change the mixing pattern unless you want a different texture from the recipe.
Tip 10
Do not open the oven, again and again, to check up on the cake. this will disrupt the proper baking of the cake and make it sink in.