A little while ago, I made my best baking tips post and received good response for it. So, I am adding few more as second part. If you would like to check out the first part, click here.
Below are few more tips in no particular order.
Leftover Buttercream
If you are anything like me, you make more buttercream than you need. And then, you have with some leftovers. If this is your case too, You can store buttercream for 3 months in the freezer if you preserve it properly.
- If its large quantities, store them in airtight boxes and dont forget to date them.
- If its small amounts like 2-4 tablespoons, I like to store them in individual ziplocs. The ones you get for the snacks, that size is perfect. The ziplocs save you lot of space and different colors in same box but in individual bags. Here’s another trick – Spoon the frosting to the middle of the bag. That way, when I want to reuse them I can insert the piping tips on either ends of the ziploc bag or simply cut the tip of the end, if its just a simple border or writing letters. Another piping bag saved !!
Eggs at room temperature
Did you get everything ready to go for baking only to realize that you forgot to leave the eggs outside to get to room temperature?? I have done it many many times. But instead of fussing about it, Leave them in warm water for 5 mins and they are good to go into your baking dish.
Note: Make sure its not boiling water. Otherwise, you will have boiled or half boiled egg instead of the actual one.
Butter
On the same note of room temperature, if you forgot to leave the butter outside for room temperature- In a pinch, you can use 20-10-7 seconds rule. Let me explain, take the butter out of the fridge, place in microwave and heat it for 20 secs. Then flip it to next side and heat it for 10 secs. Finally repeat the flip and heat for 7 secs more.
Take it out of the microwave, and your butter will be soft and perfect at room temperature.
Please note that this method does not work for frozen butter and also it mostly also depends on the power of your microwave. But this rule should give you good softened but not melted butter which should let you proceed with your baking journey without wasting more time for softening butter.
Newspaper to the rescue (Or easy cleanup)
The newspaper or the ad papers you receive on Thursday or Sunday can be put to good use while baking. When baking, I always like to use the entire counter without constantly cleaning it up. I don’t mind the mess but the egg spills and oil/butter spills gets me. Even bad are the flour spills. It just gets everywhere and every spoon or item it touches. I can’t proceed without cleaning that mess first.
My solution – Place a newspaper on the area you are going to prep for baking.
With spatulas, measuring cups, oils, vanilla extract, sugar and what not, the mess will be definitely contained ONTO the paper. Once the baking is done, it will be a breeze to cleanup by rolling the whole newspaper into one single roll. Ddd-o-n-e.
Buttermilk
Anytime a recipe calls for buttermilk, I use the whey and yogurt mix from the homemade yogurt I make everyday. But on those occasions, where there is no buttermilk readily available, we can get similar results by below tip.
– squeeze 1 tbsp of lemon juice or White vinegar in 1 cup of milk and leave it for 10 mins.
Without going into whole chemistry class behind this tip, the addition of lemon juice or vinegar will make the milk to thicken and give you substituted buttermilk which can be used in baked goods or even cooking. Try it next time, and let me know how you like it.
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Smitha's Bake Love 