Impress your friends and yourself in the process with our 5 quick baking hacks and tricks. From sugar cookies to cakes, Sweetini's is your trusted source for technical and fun baking support! Here goes!
Tip #1
Ever wonder why chocolate chips or other "inclusions" as we call them in the baking world, sink to the bottom of your banana bread or your cake batter? Try coating them lightly in flour before adding to your mix or batter, which will help suspend them in place and keep them from sinking.
Tip #2
Ingredient temperature is paramount for proper aeration and other functional and desired backing characteristics. Optimal ingredient temperature is between 65 and 68 degrees F. Decide to bake on the fly but forgot to take out the eggs? Eggs are key in creating a proper emulsion in your cake or cupcake batter. Run some hot tap water or heat up water in the microwave and place eggs in the warm/hot water bath for a few minutes. There you have it! Room temperature eggs in minutes.
Tip #3
Icing consistency can be tricky, especially in warmer months. Butter or meringue based icings, like my favorite Swiss Meringue butter cream, tend to lose their consistency with liquid additions. Summer is, however the time for fun, bold flavors! Instead of adding liquid flavors or fruit syrups, try adding dehydrated fruit powders. Walmart keeps stock of dehydrated strawberries which happens to be my sisters favorite buttercream flavor! Add a pop of flavor without worrying about your icing melting or sliding.
Tip #4
Bananas can be tricky, green one day and brown the next. I like my bananas more on the riper side, but that does leave a tendency for them browning before I can get to baking. Not to worry, simply wrap your bananas in plastic wrap and place in the freezer for when you have time to whip up some banana bread. Take bananas out a few hours before you are ready to bake that banana bread (remember our optimal ingredient temperature range is 65-68). Avoid food waste and enjoy a tasty, somewhat healthy? treat!
Tip #5
Sugar cookies are one of my most popular items. I find the best sugar cookie is crisp on the outside with the slightest bit of tenderness on the inside. Humidity and over changes in temperature in your kitchen can attribute to moisture changes in your cookie. Additional moisture will cause your cookies to soften given the sugar's attraction to moisture (which for some may not be a bad thing!). If you are after a good crunch, though, simply place a slice of bread inside your container with your sugar cookies. The bread will absorb the moisture instead of your cookies, extending the shelf life of your product.
A good baked product is never too far from reach. I hope you picked up a trick or two to try during your next baking adventure. Thanks for stopping by Sweetini's! Hope to see you soon.
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