Do you love eating desserts but get frustrated with baking? Making sure the measurements are just right and that you have all the ingredients and luxury appliances can be frustrating.
But what if baking didn’t have to be so hard? Baking may be considered an exact science by many, but there is a little wiggle room that can make things easier.
In fact, there are some great baking hacks for every part of the baking process – from finding ingredients to decorating!
Do you want to know what they are? Keep reading to discover 10 baking hacks that will change your life.
1. Microwave Brown Sugar to Soften It
Brown sugar is one of those ingredients that gets used often enough to keep in the pantry but not often enough to use it all up before it turns rock solid.
But don’t throw it away just yet! One of the most useful baking hacks is to simply microwave brown sugar for 20 seconds with a wet paper towel over it. It’ll soften up and be good to go!
2. Put Granulated Sugar in a Blender to Make Powdered Sugar
Have you ever been halfway through mixing ingredients just to learn that you were out of powdered sugar?
Don’t worry – you don’t have to rush to the store while you batter sits half finished at home. All you have to do is put some granulated sugar in the blender. Turn it on until you notice the granulated sugar turns into powdered sugar.
3. Use a Fraction Calculator to Cut Recipes
One of the hardest parts of baking is getting the measurements just right. If you’ve ever wanted to double or halve a recipe, you’ll know how hard it can be to figure out what new measurements are needed.
Using a fraction calculator is one of the best and easiest baking hacks to make sure all your cakes and cookies turn out perfect every time.
4. Use a Toothpick to Trace Letters and Designs in Icing
Alright, so you baked your cake (or cupcakes) and it turned out great! The hard part is over right? Well, don’t forget about decorating that cake.
If it’s just for you, you can get away with just slapping some icing on and calling it a day. But if it’s for a birthday or a special romantic date, you’ll need to be a little more detailed. One of the greatest cake hacks is to frost the cake, then use a toothpick to trace the letters or designs you want.
5. Use Cookie Cutters as Stencils
If you want to make sure your design is perfect, you can use cookie cutters as stencils! Just lightly place the cutter on the frosting (but don’t press down), and trace around it using a piping bag.
You can also use cookie cutters to create sprinkle designs! Just use a spoon to place the sprinkles in the cookie cutter. Pretty soon, you’ll have a beautifully decorated cake that you can show off.
6. Use a Ziploc Bag as a Piping Bag
You may think that these cake hacks won’t work without a piping bag – but think again!
You don’t need to buy a special bag to create a beautiful cake. Just take a Ziploc bag and cut a tiny hole in the corner. If you already have piping tips, you can attach them, or just use the plain hole to create straight lines.
7. Use Jell-O to Color Icing
Don’t start decorating that cake just yet. If you want to pipe designs or letters, you’ll need a different color icing – who wants white on white icing anyway?
If you realized you don’t have any food coloring, you may be able to make some. Jell-O packets are a great way to add some color to icing without also adding an overpowering taste.
You’ll probably won’t need the whole packet, so start by adding a little bit at a time until you get the perfect shade.
8. Grate the Bottoms of Burnt Cookies
Did you accidentally burn your cookies? It happens to the best of us. But, that doesn’t mean they aren’t salvageable.
If the tops of your cookies look perfect, you can use a cheese grater to remove the burnt bottoms. Just grate them lightly and watch the burnt crumbs come right off, leaving you with a perfectly cooked batch of cookies.
9. Wet Your Finger to Remove Eggshells
Are you looking down at your batter and seeing tiny white eggshells invading your favorite dessert mix?
You may try fishing them out with a fork, a spoon, and even your fingers and still come up with nothing. Well, all you have to do is wet your finger a little and try again. You’ll notice the eggshell comes out with ease!
10. Use Aluminum Foil to Shape Pans
One of the most important parts of baking is making sure you have the right pan. But who wants to go out and buy a special pan for a dessert they only crave once in a while?
The good news is that you don’t have to! One of the best money-saving baking hacks is to create your own pans out of aluminum foil. If you need some more support, try placing it in an oven-safe bowl, pan, or casserole dish and using balls of aluminum foil to fill in the gaps.
The Best Baking Hacks
Who says baking has to be difficult? You don’t need to spend tons of money on special pans and equipment to make the perfect dessert, and you may not need to do that sudden grocery store run if you notice you’re out of something.
Some of the best baking hacks include microwaving brown sugar to soften it, blending granulated sugar to make powdered sugar, using a toothpick to trace designs into icing, and using aluminum foil to great DIY pans.
Did you find this article helpful? Check out our hacks blog page for more great posts like this.
