Baking Tips and Tricks

More Baking Tips

By Ness - Lakeview, NY

Here's some more baking tips I thought I could pass on. While the things I do while baking are habit to me, some may be new to you.

Here's what I came up with while baking recently:

1. You can cover any old pizza pan, cookie sheet (mine are old and BLACK from use!), tray, or even thick corrugated piece of cardboard to make a very nice holder for your cake. Doesn't matter how awful whatever is UNDER the foil looks like, as long as it is sturdy enough to hold a cake.

2. Instant pudding (stock up when it's on sale) makes a great filling for any cake. I use one cup of milk with one instant pudding box mix to make a thick filling. This will fill one layer of a 9 inch round or square cake nicely (with a little left over to lick off the spoon!).

3. You don't necessarily need 2 layers to fill a cake. One thick layer (that is, one 18.5 ounce cake mix baked in a 9" round pan, for example) can be sliced in half and then filled. This takes a little practice, but go slowly and use a long narrow bread knife or slicing knife to cut the cake into 2 layers.

4. You can enhance a can of generic frosting (or stock up when they are on sale) with a block of cream cheese beaten into it. However, if you FREEZE your cream cheese (like I do), once you defrost it, it does not "blend" as well and can become "grainy" in the frosting, so nuke it a bit first to make it *very* soft. (However, ex-frozen cream cheese is fine on bagels, however; just defrost & no need to nuke it!)

5. If you are "flouring" the cake pan so you can turn the cake out after it is baked, and the cake is chocolate, you can use a little cocoa powder instead of flour. Looks & tastes great!

6. You can use spoiled milk instead of the water called for in a cake mix, so no need to toss the milk that went a little sour; make a cake with it instead. You can also use the juice from any canned fruit when baking a cake mix, instead of the water the recipe calls for, as well as orange juice, lemonade, buttermilk, even beer or whiskey, etc. You get the idea. Each liquid gives the cake a subtly different and good flavor.

7. An inexpensive chocolate cake mix (again, stock up when they are on sale!), split into 2 layers, filled with chocolate instant pudding filling, and topped with about 1/4 cup of sifted confectioner's sugar can be a very elegant dessert with just a little extra effort. Yes, that's what I made recently, and it turned out so pretty (and tasty). It looks even prettier with a few fresh strawberries or some well-drained canned mandarin oranges to garnish the top.

Have fun baking everyone, I sure do!

About The Author: Ness, list mom of Frugal Friends in the Kitchen

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RE: More Baking Tips

Here is another tip. Instead of cutting a cake through the center with a knife, use dental floss. Cut a piece of floss longer than the cake is round.  Wrap it around the cake and tie a knot, continue pulling on the ends until it has cut through the cake. Clean, no crumbs and very easy. -  (05/10/2001)

By Judy

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Baking Tips

I was thinking about some of the ways I have learned how to make baking easier, less expensive, more creative, or more efficient. Here's my little list, learned from years of experience.

1. You can divide packaged cake mixes in half and only make half a cake at a time. If the original recipe called for 3 eggs, and you "half" the recipe, use 1 extra large egg instead of trying to fool around and come up with 1 1/2 eggs.

2. You can substitute applesauce (homemade or store bought) for most or even all of the oil in a cake or brownie mix, but it will make for a denser, lower-rising finished product. I think it works best in brownies.

3. You can save all your cookie crumbs and odd cookies, whiz them in the food processor or break them up with a rolling pin while in a sealed plastic baggie. Use the cookie crumbs as pie crusts (mixed with some butter to hold them together), especially for frozen or for pudding pies. Also use the crumbled cookies to add to brownie mixes for extra texture and flavor. Also you can freeze cookie crumbs and broken cookies in a ziploc bag until you have enough for whatever you are making.

4. Make up your own cake toppings to make a plain frosted cake fancier. Use coconut, chopped nuts (toast them for even better flavor), chocolate chips, chopped chocolate bars, sprinkles, small nonpareils, etc.

5. You can use any fruit jam as a filling between cake layers. The thicker the jam, the better. I especially like apricot jam as a filling for yellow cakes, and raspberry jam as a filling for chocolate cakes.

6. You can use any instant pudding mix for filling between cake layers, too. Just use a bit less than the recommended amount of milk to make the pudding thicker: if it calls for 2 cups of milk to the package of pudding, I use 1 1/2 cups.

7. When a cake recipe or a bread recipe calls for "water", I have substituted milk, spoiled milk, buttermilk, Half-n-Half, soy milk, even fruit juice. I do this to "use up" any little bits of leftover milk or juice I may have. If I don't have enough of the milk (or whatever), I make up the difference with water. All ingredients have worked nicely for me in the past, and give the cake a slightly different flavor (or a denser texture) each time.

8. You can mix different fruits in your fruit pies. For example, not just strawberry and rhubarb, but blueberry and rhubarb go well together. Apples and pears go well together. Peaches and raspberries go well together. Experiment!

9. If you don't have enough pastry to make a top crust on a fruit pie, make a crumb topping instead. You can make this topping many ways: with brown sugar, oatmeal, and butter; or crushed cornflakes, honey, and butter; or crushed graham crackers, butter, and sugar; etc. You get the idea.

10. You can almost never have too much cinnamon in a recipe. I almost always DOUBLE the amount of cinnamon in a baking recipe for added flavor.

Hope these little tips were helpful. I guess my all-time best tip would be to HAVE FUN when you are baking and don't be afraid to occasionally experiment. We all have a few "flops" sometimes, but the good"experiments" become tomorrow's tried-and-true recipes.

By Ness - Lakeview, NY

About The Author: List Mom of Frugal Friends in the Kitchen
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FrugalFriendsintheKitchen

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Keeping Track of Dry Ingredients

When measuring dry ingredients, I use a toothpick for each cup added. Really helps me keep track. (12/10/2004)

By Faye

Greasing Cake Pans

If you don't like getting your hands greasy to prepare cake pans and etc. just use a sandwich bag as a quick glove. (12/21/2004)

By Melanie

RE: Baking Tips

I enjoy making cakes and have several very good recipies that I use and I make them for my wife's work place for the birthday employees. We have recently purchased a new electric range and ever since I am having problems with my cakes falling in the center. Any suggestions? (03/17/2005)

By Phil

RE: Baking Tips

The cake falling in center is because it hasn't finished baking (09/13/2005)

By minymont

RE: Baking Tips

When you use applesauce instead of oil, do you use the same amount of applesauce as oil? A cup for a cup. Thank you

Editor's Note: You can replace oil with applesauce in equal quantities although I've heard it is good to put 1 TBSP. of oil in in addition. It might really depend on the recipe, if it calls for a lot of oil and you are not deep frying it (that takes lots of oil and applesauce really won't work for that!) add the little bit of oil. (05/13/2006)

By Mrs. G