UNCONVENTIONAL BAKING HACKS THAT WORK

Baking can be hard when you're just starting out. You don't have all the 'fancy' equipment and even if you did you're not quite sure you know how to use them. In this journey I have learnt to adapt to my situation and still make it work. I didn't let it stop me..I am always curious and constantly looking for ways of being innovative. I have picked up some weird hacks along the way that work and keep me baking 😄...

Clear bag for Piping

So you are a novice baker or you are just on a budget and cannot afford piping bags and all those different types of nozzles you see on YouTube or Pinterest.

You therefore seem to shy away from frosting with buttercream for fear of having a dull cake but that doesn't have to be the case, you can actually still have an interesting cake without any of those equipement.
All you need is just clear bags.
You don't even need a nozzle, your tip size is determined by how you cut the tip of the bag.
But now  plastic bags are banned in my country, I just use printing paper but it isn't quite grease proof. Parchment paper usually does the job if I have it.

Blending Ingredients

Just recently while on vacation at my grandparents' I needed to bake a cake for Christmas. The cake to be made was a blueberry cake which uses the same cake base as white forest and coconut cake. I realized I hadn't brought my mixer along with me and immediately thought of blending the ingredients since even when using a mixer the ingredients are mixed up together. I blended just till the ingredients were mixed, placed the batter in a tin then into the oven like i'd normally do. The cake came out surprisingly okay.. I was shocked.

Decorating Edges

Whenever i've made pies or worked with fondant on a cake, I don't look for any special equipment to decorate the edges. I've always just used forks, spoons, toothpicks, my nails, fingers, knives to create a pattern.. and still manage to get amazing designs. Just putting my imagination to work and going from there.

Steaming Fondant Cakes 

I've never bought a steamer but i've still been able to steam fondant cakes. I use a kettle.. just put in water and let it boil. Then when it starts producing the steam I place the cake next to it,  tilted and let the steam get to it..rotating to ensure the steam gets all over. Sometimes it takes a couple of switches to get it to produce steam after the water has already boiled but it works. A boiling pot of water also comes in handy at times as it produces the steam.

Sunken Cakes

I don't like to level cakes, I feel it reduces the size especially for cakes I make to sell. I like to use cake crumbs or if the cake required shaping, i'd use the trimmings to fill up. Coating them in buttercream first helps to keep them in place. I place them in the dip then I can ice the cake.

Separating Egg Whites from Yolks

Actually I got a separator back then and have probably just used it once... either I don't know how to use it or it's just not as effective. So what I do is just to break a very small hole on the egg then let the egg white flow out and I might need to pull it out gently at times. When it stops flowing it means that only the egg yolk is left since it's not able to pass through the hole.


So there you go.. 6 hacks you probably hadn't thought of that can help you stay afloat in the baking game 😉

#hack it