Baking Tips For A Beginner Baker?
I'm just starting to actually enjoy baking. My most recent attempts have gone well.
I'm looking for tips and tidbits that aren't included in the recipes. Things like:
When do you attempt to flip a loaf/cake outof the pan? When it's warm or cooled?
What's best to keep stuff fresh the longest? Tinfoil? Tupperware?
When a recipe calls for butter do you assume it's salted or unsalted? (if it doesn't specify)
Anything else I may not know about. I usually make cookies, muffins, loafs but I tried my first cake last night. It's not iced yet but so far so good.
You know stuff like that. Things that are obvious to you guys but I don't really know about them 
Thanks!!
Well welcome to the fun world of baking. I have been baking for about 15 years and love it!
To answer some of the questions you have above here goes:
Always flip a cake out of the pan when it is completely cooled. To keep stuff fresh the longest make sure whatever you decide to use whether plastic, ceramic or glass, that it is sealed tightly.
I personally use unsalted butter for my cookies and they usually have a lighter texture.
When the cake pulls away from the side of the pan, it's ready.
You can pretty much freeze all cookie doughs to use later on. I love to have several batches of all different kinds available in the freezer, labeled and ready to stick in the oven when unexpected guests arrive or just to have handy for snacks.
If brown sugar hardens place the brown sugar in an airtight container with a slice of fresh bread placed on top. Seal and leave overnight. It should be soft and fresh again in the morning, if not just let it sit another day or two.
Toast oatmeal in the oven before adding to other ingredients when making oatmeal cookies-–delicious!
Add a pinch of baking soda to your frosting and the frosting will stay moist and prevent cracking.
Baking Cakes? Do you have a recipe for cake flour, but you only have all purpose flour on hand? Take your all purpose flour and sift the flour about 5 times!
Do you bake pies? Especially Meringue? To stop the meringue from shrinking away from the sides of the pies, be sure that when you put the meringue on top, you make sure it touches the pastry all around the edge. This way, it will bake onto the pastry and will not shrink!
References :
When using a cake mix, always add 2 teaspoons of fresh baking powder to guarantee the cake will properly rise (this is because cake mixes sometimes have old baking powder – this will not change the taste).
I don’t know about the non-salted butter (sweet butter) because many baking recipes call for adding salt to the recipe anyways. I personally like baking with the Crisco butter flavor and use that when something calls for butter. I just like the texture of using Crisco but that’s my personal preference. The only time I worry about this butter-flavored Crisco is when I’m making Buttercream icing and need a true white color – the Crisco butter-flavored makes the frosting yellow.
As far as keeping things fresh – I don’t like foil touching my food so I always put a slice of wax paper before I use foil on anything. So, either foil or Tupperware will work to keep things fresh and then you don’t want to put baked goods in hot places (like the top of the refridgerator).
And, that’s all I have for you right now…good luck! Baking is fun! It’s one thing you can do where you can eat your mistakes!
Good luck!
References :
Hobbiest cake decorator / former Wilton instructor.
To answer some of the questions you have above here goes:
Always flip a cake out of the pan when it is completely cooled. To keep stuff fresh the longest make sure whatever you decide to use whether plastic, ceramic or glass, that it is sealed tightly.
I personally use unsalted butter for my cookies and they usually have a lighter texture.
When the cake pulls away from the side of the pan, it’s ready.
You can pretty much freeze all cookie doughs to use later on. I love to have several batches of all different kinds available in the freezer, labeled and ready to stick in the oven when unexpected guests arrive or just to have handy for snacks.
If brown sugar hardens place the brown sugar in an airtight container with a slice of fresh bread placed on top. Seal and leave overnight. It should be soft and fresh again in the morning, if not just let it sit another day or two.
Toast oatmeal in the oven before adding to other ingredients when making oatmeal cookies-–delicious!
Add a pinch of baking soda to your frosting and the frosting will stay moist and prevent cracking.
Baking Cakes? Do you have a recipe for cake flour, but you only have all purpose flour on hand? Take your all purpose flour and sift the flour about 5 times!
Do you bake pies? Especially Meringue? To stop the meringue from shrinking away from the sides of the pies, be sure that when you put the meringue on top, you make sure it touches the pastry all around the edge. This way, it will bake onto the pastry and will not shrink!
References :
References :