Kitchen Hacks

Homemade baking can be rather complex and these hacks are intended to help make your baking process more effective and efficient. 1. If a recipe calls for buttermilk and you don’t have any, no point in running to the grocery store. All you have to do is combine 1 tablespoon of vinegar with enough milk to equal 1 cup and let it sit for 5 min and then stir together and Valhalla. 2. Cut cakes and brownies/bars with a warm knife, simply heat chef’s knife in hot water and then wipe off excess water and cut. The heat from the knife will leave you with clean, neat slices, repeat heating process for each perfect slice. 3. Crumb coat! To prevent crumbs from showing on your cake when decorating, apply a very thin layer of icing to your cakes to “set” your crumbs in place also known as “crumb coating”. Then place the cake in the fridge so icing gets cold for a little then apply regular amount of frosting to finish decorating with no crumbs getting in your way! 4. If you want your cake to come out of the pan in one piece I suggest preparing your pans! If available use room temperature butter and grease all of your pan then apply correct size parchment paper to baking pan, butter again and then dust with flour. This will allow your cakes to come out of the pan with no problems or any cake being left behind. If room temperature butter and parchment paper isn’t available, then use “baking pam” to spray your pans! 5. To remove an eggshell from the bowl wet your finger and place next to the shell and it will gravitate towards that finger. You can also take the larger half of the shell and use that to scoop out the smaller shell. 6. If a recipe calls for cake flour and all you have on hand is all purpose flour you can make it work! For 1 cup of cake flour take a level scoop of all-purpose flour and remove 2 TBSPS and replace with 2 TBSPS of cornstarch. Now you have cake flour without going to the store. 7. To have an even distribution of batter when making cupcakes, use an ice cream scoop when filling cupcake liner. This will allow an even amount of batter in each cupcake. I hope these tips help with your homemade baking process!

To get the perfect shaped cookie, use an ice cream scoop!