Baking is a mysterious science to me. A mixture of chemistry, ratios, and instinct, many people find baking to be very difficult. Sure, box mixes seem to simplify things, but even they can be finnicky. If only there was a way to make things easy…

There’s not.

However, there are a lot of tricks and tips that I have found, either through research or talking to some fantastic bakers that I know, that are making baking easier. Ways to make things go more smoothly, help the texture and even baking, and how to treat ingredients. That is why I thought it was so cool that our 52 Pounds cookbook contained a baking tips page… from 1885!!!

House-Keeping in the Sunny South provided these tips:

Cake making should never be attempted unless all the ingredients are quality and on hand.

Remove from your workspace everything not needed in making the cake.

Have a container for the empty eggshells and a pan of hot soapy water in which to throw every utensil, dish, and measuring tool as soon as you have finished with them.

Note if your recipe calls for all purpose flour or cake flour. Cake flour makes a finer cake texture.

Flour and sugar should be sifted.

Raisins should be seeded, currants stemmed. Slice any citron very thin.

Do not open oven door too often or for too long a time.

You can judge doneness by piercing the cake with a straw… if it comes out clean, take the cake from the oven.

Store cake by itself… cake imbibes odors almost as readily as does butter.

I have been trying to improve my baking for years. Yes, years. Beginning this bundt cake journey, I was truly hoping to improve my baking skills and knowledge so that I would be less intimidated by bakes. I would love for baking to be as much a daily activity for me as stovetop cooking. At only 4 weeks in, I can already feel some of my anxiety at baking beginning to fall away. I am beginning to see Fridays as just another day that I happen to bake on, instead of BAKING DAY. Baking isn’t just a special occasion ordeal but something fun and simple. It’s not quite relaxing yet… but we’ll get there.

I have also begun to amass some tips and tricks of my own:

Always leave your cold ingredients out long enough to bring them to room temperature, preferably overnight, to make mixing easier.

Tap your pans on the counter to get rid of excess air bubbles, especially if using an ornate pan. Do Not do this for cakes relying on air from aeration for leavening, however, like an Angel Food Cake or Genoise Sponge.

Prep your pan. You can use something like Baker’s Joy, or go old-school with butter and flour, but unless you want to eat the cake from the pan, you have to grease the pan.

Have everything measured and ready before you begin to assemble. Mis en place has always been something I found advantageous and it is no less important in baking. Yes, it makes more dishes. Yes, it is still worth it.

To promote even rising during baking, tilt your pan and create a ring of batter on the sides of your pan.

Break your eggs into another bowl first before adding to your batter. Shells… ‘nuff said.

So there you have it! some old tips that are just as relevant today (except maybe fill your sink instead of a pan) and some new thoughts to hopefully aid you as much as they have me. Do you have any tricks of the trade? Let us know in the comments on our page. Send us an email. Better yet, send us pictures of your best bakes! We would love to share them.