Baking isn't as hard as it seems - follow these simple, dummy-proof hacks for beginners! 🍰
We team up with Jie Hui, founder of local bakery Goobycakes, to bring you some simple, practical baking tips that'll give you an easier time in the kitchen!
Hack 1: Separating Your Egg
Separating your eggs without leaving a mess can be a acrobatic act - here's how to do it, sans the hassle!
Use a plastic bottle to suck up the egg yolk. Hold it just above the yolk, and give the plastic bottle a squeeze.
The egg yolk should go right up! Carefully pour out the egg white if any. Once it's in the bottle, place it in another bowl - you can keep it aside for baking sweet treats like custard or crème brûlée.
Hack 2: Removing Broken Egg Shells
There's an art to breaking eggs, and for those who've not yet mastered it, removing broken egg shells is a necessary chore that's almost instinctive.
To get it done and over, use a wet finger to remove the broken bit easily and quickly, instead of fishing around for it with your fork or spoon.
Hack 3: D.I.Y. Flour
Running out of flour? Instead of heading to the supermarket, why not try making your own flour? Using almonds, D.I.Y. gluten-free flour that'll taste just as good, if not, better!
All you have to do is use a food processor or a powerful blender to grind the almonds into flour - yup, it's that simple!
The almond skin will result in a more coarse flour that will give your bakes more texture; if you prefer your flour really fine, opt for skinned almonds.
Hack 4: Distribute Batter Evenly
To get perfectly sized cupcakes, distributing batter evenly is paramount. A foolproof way would be to use an ice cream scoop to get the same amount of batter into each liner.
If you're making mini cupcakes, piping the batter will help keep things neat and tidy - no mess.
Hack 5: Cutting Cold Butter
Just taken a block of butter out of the fridge? Chances are, you'll have a hard time cutting through that hard block. Cover it with a warm bowl for 10 minutes to soften the butter.
Now, you can cut through it easily!
Hack 6: D.I.Y. Butter
Make your own butter with whipping or heavy cream. Simply pour it into your kitchen mixer, turn it on to high and start whisking.
Once the butter has separated, wash it with cold water a few times before storing it in your fridge so you can keep the butter for longer.
Before washing it with cold water, pour out the buttermilk left in the bowl - perfect for making pancakes, or marinating chicken!
Hack 7: Dry Silicone Quickly
Silicone is a baker's friend, but drying the tiny water droplets off the silicone bakeware and utensils may take some time. To speed up the process, pop them into the oven for a while after you're done baking (when the oven is still nice and warm).
This article was done in collaboration with Bosch and Goobycakes. We used Bosch's new OptiMUM Kitchen Machine (MUM9GX5S21) to test out these hacks.