4 Common Baking Mistakes

Even the best bakers are likely to make small slip-ups. For most, these slip-ups can mean the difference between a great dessert or bread and an inedible food item. It is not unheard of, however, that a mistake, like a wrong added ingredient, does not affect the outcome of your cooking. If you know how to fix your mistakes then your finished product can still turn out okay in the end.

Here are four of the most common, yet entirely fixable, baking mistakes:

Your cake or bread falls apart or sticks to the pan after baking
First of all, you have to resist the temptation to take your finished product out of the pan or off of the baking sheet until they cool. If it is still warm it will lead to half of it sticking to the pan and the other half coming off. Allow sufficient time for your dessert to cool so that the whole dessert picks up cleanly and easily. A second reason why you might fall victim to this mistake is that the pan that it was baked in was not a non-stick pan or was not lined with oil, flour, or butter. This simple step in the beginning of your baking process is necessary to ensure a successful final product, so always remember to follow through with it.

You have a sink in the center of your baked goods (and they are not doughnuts)
This can be caused by a number of mistakes, the first of which is continuous opening and closing of the oven door. If you want to check on your dessert look through the oven window until baking time is nearly completed. The constant open and close exposure to cold air will make your dessert fall. Another reason you might have a sink in your dessert is that there was too much liquid in the batter for your dessert. A cake that has too much liquid will not rise as it normally should, leaving you with a wet mess.

Your cake is undercooked in the center
When you take your cake out of the oven, if it is well cooked on the outside and undercooked in the center, then it is likely that you used the wrong oven temperature. Before you place your dessert in the oven, be sure that you are setting the oven temperature to the appropriate setting. If your oven is set to 450° instead of 350° you have created too much heat for your cake. Putting your cake back in the oven will only lead to a burned cake, so the solution to this problem is to double check your temperature settings.

You misread the recipe for your dessert
Sometimes, we are just not as focused on baking as we should be. For even serious bakers it is possible to misread a recipe and add too much flour, or too few eggs. These mistakes are part of human nature. However, it is important to double check your work when baking. This means that if you think you have read a 1/2 cup of milk, pour the milk in the measuring cup, but before you add it to your mixing bowl look back at your recipe for verification that indeed it calls for a 1/2 cup. While this might seem to take an extra second or two, you will be glad when your final product comes out identical to the recipe and no doubt delicious.




Criss White is an article writer and baking enthusiast who enjoys baking decorated cookies and other holiday cookies. Criss also enjoys hosting parties when not writing.

5 Critical Baking Utensils for the Serious Baker

A serious baker typically will have gadgets and utensils that most other kitchens in America don’t. These bakers can be skilled in various disciplines from cake baking, to pastry making and cookie cutting, or all of the aforementioned skills. It is crucial that a serious baker fill their kitchen with serious utensils, so that they can bake with ease and their final product is spot on delicious. The following five utensils are critical to every successful baker’s kitchen:

Measuring cups and spoons
Whether you are baking from a recipe, or from memory, there is always going to be the need to have the exact measurement of a particular liquid or solid. An extra cup of flour or even an extra teaspoon of salt can ruin the entire finishing product you are baking. For that reason, it is important to use measuring utensils to obtain the exact amount of the ingredient you are adding. A serious baker will have measuring cups in at least half cup increments and measuring spoons with a teaspoon and tablespoon increment.

Mixing bowls
Mixing bowls are necessary for the preparation stage of any great baker’s dessert. Your bowl should be large enough to accommodate all your ingredients and with room to mix without spilling easily. Some bakers prefer the use of stainless steel bowls and others prefer plastic, the choice is entirely personal. Smaller mixing bowls can also be useful for sorting out egg whites or mixing icing, this will keep your ingredients separate until you need them put together. A serious baker will need mixing bowls to put together each ingredient for their baking.

Plastic spatula or wooden spoon
Plastic spatulas are great for mixing everything from cake batter to icing a cake. Plastic spatulas are also great for scrapping the side of mixing bowls or pots without scratching the surface of the container. It is to the baker’s advantage to have more than one spatula, in different sizes, so that there is no need to wash between mixing ingredients. For those that are not fond of the spatula a wooden spoon can also serve the same purpose. A serious baker will need some sort of spatula or spoon to thoroughly mix together the dough or ingredients of their masterpiece.

Baking Pans (baking sheets and muffin tins)
Clearly, every great baker needs a tool to bake in. Depending on your needs this can be a baking sheet, a baking pan or even a muffin tin. To make your job easier it would be to your benefit that your baking apparatus is non-stick, as this will save the time of ensuring your finishing product does not stick. At the least your pan should be 9” x 13”, and you might even opt for an 8” or 9” round or square pan. A serious baker will have multiple baking pans to cook in so that they can bake anything quickly and when they desire.

Rolling pin
A serious baker understands the need to have uniformity in items like cookies, pastries and such. Large and small rolling pins are useful for various needs, and the most common kind is wooden. A rolling pin will allow a baker to evenly spread out their dough so that it can yield the most cookies or doughnuts possible.




Criss White is an article writer and baking enthusiast. To check out some decorated cookies or some other holiday cookies, visit My Baby Shower Favors.