Easy Baking Tricks That Every Baker Needs in Their Back Pocket

Baking the cookie mix is one thing, but then you have to go ahead and decorate the cookies – and that can be hard. Of course, some people go for the go-with-the-flow method and don’t really care what the end result looks like, but if you’re someone who likes a precisely decorated cookie, you might want to head to your medicine cabinet. Then, you’ll want to take out a clean syringe.

Everyone knows that banana bread always tastes better with extra-ripe bananas, right? This well-known fact has led many people to use their old bananas to make banana bread rather than waste them. But if you have a craving for banana bread and your bananas aren’t quite ripe enough, you can speed up the process by popping them in the oven. In fact, just a few minutes in the oven should do the trick. 

If you’ve ever tried to make your own biscuits, you’ll know that they’re pretty easy to bake. But if your homemade biscuits always seem to be lacking something, it might be a good idea to re-assess the recipe – especially if it calls for room-temperature butter. Although there’s nothing wrong with room-temperature butter, cold butter will work wonders and make for a much flakier biscuit mixture. And you’ll really notice the difference. 

Is there anything worse than a dry cake? No, we thought not. But no matter whether you use a store-bought cake mix or you make one from scratch, the possibility of having a dry cake is still there. And while there’s not much you can do to stop it going dry in the first place, you’ll be happy to know that there is a baking hack to help you fix a dry cake. 

Cookie sheets aren’t just for baking cookie dough, you know. These sheets are all-rounders that can help you bake everything from gingerbread men to pies. And while things can get pretty messy if you use a cookie sheet that’s not quite the right size for what you’re baking, you don’t have to buckle up and deal with it. After all, there’s a baking hack for that – and all you need is a small piece of tin foil! 

Nobody likes a dry cake, but would you ever consider putting mayo in your cake? Although it sounds like a one-way ticket to the town of stomach trouble, this hack is one that so many people swear by. In fact, it’s been noted that adding mayo to your cake mix will make for a super moist cake like nothing you’ve ever tasted before. But how much do you need? Well, the jury is out. 

Do you ever have a craving for cookies but don’t have the energy to whip up some cookie dough? Well, there’s a hack for that. It’s incredibly easy to prepare frozen cookie dough ahead of time, meaning all you have to do is get it out of the freezer and pop the cookies in the oven. To make your life even easier, you could also pre-portion the cookies and put each one into a cube of your ice cube tray.

Let’s be honest; baking goods can be a messy business. This is especially true if you use an electric mixer. As soon as you add flour to that bad boy, you’re going to be covered in flour and your kitchen will be covered in cake mix. And while this can lead to a long and painful clean-up process, you might be interested to know that there’s a very cheap and easy way to fix this problem.

Although we’d love to say that we’ve never had a baking disaster, that’s just not true. Even the best bakers in the business can sometimes take their eye off the ball, and those few minutes can be the difference between perfectly-cooked cookies and over-baked cookies. But if you over-bake a batch, don’t just throw them in the trash! You can repurpose them and use them to make a pie, instead. 

You probably don’t need us to tell you that cookie dough is one of the most delicious things in the world. In fact, we could quite happily eat raw cookie dough all day – but there’s no denying that cooked cookie dough is even better than that. But anyone who has ever tried to cut a perfectly cylindrical roll of cookie dough will know that it’s basically impossible to cut it without squishing it in the process.

Hands up if you’ve ever left ice cream on the counter for too long? You’re not alone. Although you can try and re-freeze the melted mess, re-frozen ice cream just doesn’t taste the same. So, why not bake a cake with it instead? Although it sounds rogue, using melted ice cream and flour is one of the best ways to make a cake. It’s already flavored, too, so you shouldn’t need to add anything else. 

What’s the difference between a homemade pie and a store-bought pie? Well, the store-bought pie always has beautiful decoration on the dough, and this results in an Instagram-worthy pie that looks (almost) too good to eat. But what if we told you that you could do the same at home? In fact, all you need to do to bring this baking hack to life is a corkscrew – and we’re sure you have one somewhere. 

Put your hands in the air if you love vanilla pudding? And keep your hands in the air if you love cookie dough? Well, we’re going to assume that everyone is still waving their hands in the air like they just don’t care, because both of these sweet treats are absolutely delicious. But what you might not realize is that you can actually mix these two things together to create the ultimate sweet treat. 

No cake would be complete without frosting, right? And while there’s nothing wrong with standard white frosting, this color can sometimes hold you back if you’re looking to decorate a cake in a very specific way. Of course, you can buy food coloring from the store – but why buy 20 different colors when you could just buy a select few and mix up your old colored frosting from scratch?

Although buttermilk is becoming more and more popular, most people still don’t have it ready to go in their kitchen. And if you don’t want to buy any, we have the perfect solution for you. If your baking recipe ever calls for buttermilk, just use a mixture of milk and vinegar instead! It’s the perfect replacement, and you won’t even be able to tell the difference between the two of them.

You probably don’t need us to tell you that most baked goods need eggs. But what you might not realize is that you’re actually doing your baked goods a disservice by using the wrong type of eggs. No, we’re not talking about lizard eggs (although that would be an intriguing baking experiment); we’re talking about using refrigerated eggs instead of using room-temperature eggs. After all, room temperature eggs are far superior. 

We used to think that cookie dough couldn’t get any more delicious. After all, it’s perfect on its own, right? But if you want to take your cookie dough up a notch and take advantage of both sweet and savory notes, this is your sign to top your cookie dough with flaky sea salt before cooking. This is especially important if you’re cooking chocolate chip cookies, and you’ll soon understand why.

If you’re trying to up your cake game with intricate decoration, you may have thought about buying piping bags. And while there’s nothing wrong with buying these straight from the store, these baking accessories can set you back at least $10 – and that might be $10 you don’t want to spend. So, why do it? You probably already have a perfectly good alternative sitting in your kitchen cupboard, and this is completely free. 

There are two kinds of people in this world: people who love gooey and chewy brownies and complete monsters. And while you may try to make your brownies as gooey as possible, it’s often hard to gauge when to take them out of the oven. That’s why you should always bake your cookies twice but for half the time. So, in essence, you split the cooking time across two different bakes.

Have you ever read a recipe that called for either unsalted butter or salted butter? There’s a high chance that you paid no attention to this and simply used the butter that you already had in the kitchen. But if you’re making cakes, it’s important to take these directions seriously. In most cases, you should always use unsalted butter when making a cake mix, as salted butter can affect the overall taste. 

Whether you want to roll out some pie dough or flatten your fondant icing, a rolling pin can definitely come in handy. But if you’re trying to save a few bucks and don’t want to buy anything new, you might be interested to know that you probably already have the perfect alternative in your kitchen. Yes, you can use a wine bottle as a rolling pin instead! It’s basically the same shape, after all. 

There’s always someone in your family who claims to bake the best cookies, but if you’re looking to knock them off their delicious throne, you might want to start freezing your cookie dough before baking it. This little-known hack can help you bake the perfect cookies you’ve ever seen – and that’s all thanks to the cold temperatures in the freezer. Without the cold temperatures, the butter can melt and warp before going into the oven.

There’s nothing quite like a warm apple pie and ice cream on a cold winter’s day, and it’s hard to go wrong when making an apple pie. All you need to do is fill the pastry dough with apples and bake it in the oven! But there is a way that you can make your apple pie taste even nicer, and that’s by caramelizing the apple filling before filling up the dough. 

If you’re a regular baker, there’s a high chance that you have a trusty set of measuring cups that help you through every recipe. But as they’re used for everything from sugar to milk and flour, it’s not uncommon for these measuring cups to become dirty and filled with leftover ingredients. This can not only take a lot of washing, but it can also affect your recipes. Because of this, you should aim to stop them sticking.

When you’ve put the time and effort into baking brownies, the last thing you want is for those brownies to get stuck on the sheet pan. It can ruin the brownies, and it can leave you with weird burnt bits on the bottom of them. But, thankfully, there’s a very easy way to stop that from happening. All you have to do is grab some parchment paper and line the tray with it before you bake your brownies.

When your cake mix calls for an egg, cracking it into the bowl seems easy enough. But even if you’re incredibly careful, there’s still a chance that small fragments of egg will make their way into the mixture and into your teeth when you bite into your cake. And while it may seem counterintuitive, the best way to combat this is to use half an eggshell as an eggshell scooper. 

Pastry can be fiddly, which is why so many people choose to buy store-bought pastry rather than make it themselves. But if you’re a purist who wants to make their own from scratch, might we suggest using pie weights? These pie weights are essential when you’re blind baking your pastry as they will give you an even bake. You don’t have to spend a fortune on legitimate pie weights, though.

Did you know that eggs mix better with other ingredients when they’re at room temperature compared to when they’re refrigerated? Because of this, it’s always a good idea to use room-temperature eggs when you can. But if you forget, you don’t have to put your baking task on the back burner. You can speed up the process by soaking your eggs in a bowl of warm water for five to ten minutes.

People with a sweet tooth will know that cravings can hit you at any moment. And if you’re not prepared for those moments, it can be pretty depressing. So, next time you get a hankering for cookies but aren’t sure what to put in there, why don’t you experiment with some kitchen sink cookies? These cookies are a complete free-for-all, and it’s down to you what you put in them.

Many families have argued over cookies. When one person gets a bigger cookie than the other, it results in a full-on war! But if you want to restore peace and harmony to your home, you’ll be happy to know that there’s a very easy way to ensure every cookie is the same size as the next – and all you need is a utensil you probably already have in your cutlery drawer. 

No cake would be complete without frosting, but anyone who has ever frosted a cake before will know just how strange this ingredient can be. Although it tastes delicious, the texture can often be quite strange – and it can very quickly become hard and crusty. If you want to keep your frosting as soft as can be, all you need to do is add half a teaspoon of vinegar. 

When spreading your cake mix in the cake pan, there’s a high chance that you just spread it out evenly. But this always results in a cake that fluffs up in the middle, right? To combat this, what you need to do is NOT spread your cake mix out evenly. Instead, you should spread the cake batter higher on the sides, so when it bakes in the oven it evens out.

Baked goods always taste good, but there’s no doubt about the fact that some baked goods taste better than others – and that’s all down to the ingredients. If you want to ensure that your cookies and cake mixes taste as fresh and as fluffy as can be, experts would always suggest using farm-fresh eggs rather than eggs from the grocery store. After all, you have no idea how long they’ve been sitting there. 

Who wants hard, crispy cookies? Not us! Gooey and chewy cookies are the best, but many people struggle to find the balance between chewy and crispy. A good way to ensure you’re getting the best cookies possible is to under-bake them slightly. Of course, you don’t want to be eating raw egg, but under-cooking them by a minute or two can make a really big difference when cookies are involved. 

If you’re a wannabe baker, there’s a high chance that you spend your days baking the same kind of things. In fact, you probably have cakes, pies, brownies, and cookies on rotation. But sometimes, it’s good to step outside of your comfort zone and try something new, and we love this next baking hack – especially as it involves crushed graham crackers. Yes, this is a cake with a graham cracker crust. 

The general assumption when you have overripe bananas is that you should make banana bread, but what happens if you don’t really like banana bread? Instead of throwing your bananas away, there is another way to use them – and it involves cake mix, some chocolate, and your bananas. In fact, overripe bananas work perfectly in chocolate cake and add a layer of moisture and depth that you wouldn’t get without them. 

If you’ve made bread before, there’s a high chance that you’ve bought yeast to speed up the rising process. But back in the day, yeast wasn’t used for such a thing – so why don’t you take a leaf out of their books? Although yeast can certainly help with bread making, it’s not as essential as you’d think, and you can let the dough rise without using this often-expensive grocery store product. 

There’s nothing more irritating than mixing most of your cake mix together before realizing that you don’t have one very important ingredient. At that moment, you have to decide to either abandon your baking dreams altogether or put a pin in your task and head to the grocery store. But this could all be avoided if you just prepared all of your ingredients before mixing anything at all. Just get them all ready on the countertop.

In the U.S., it’s common practice to use measuring cups to measure the ingredients for a cake mix or pie dough. But what you might not realize is that this isn’t as common across the pond. In the UK, for example, keen bakers weigh their ingredients on weighing scales to ensure they’re using the right amount. This is something you could also do if you want to make sure you’re 100% accurate. 

Everyone loves banana bread, right? And what we love so much about this baked good is the fact that banana bread is so simple. The few ingredients in this sweet treat really stand their ground, and there’s very little you can add to it to make it even better. But have you ever tried sprinkling the top with coconut flakes? If you haven’t, you might want to give it a go.