culinary review
   
   

Cake Baking and Pastry Tools

Last Modified: 03/15/08
First Published: 03/15/08
Views: 2770
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Views: 2770
If you are interested in starting to bake sweat treats, there are several kitchen products to look into. Often you can utilize the same equipment, no matter whether you’re looking to bake cakes, cookies, muffins or tarts. In order to decorate cakes and pastries, you don’t need too many different tools – once you have a basic set of products, you’re all set to go. So which products do you need in order to produce superior cakes?

Measurement Sets
You certainly need a set of measurement cups as well as measurement spoons. We like clean stainless steel models that work well, cleans easily and lasts for a long time.

Electronic Digital Scale
A scale is an invaluable tool when baking. Sometimes, recipes simply call for ingredients by weight, and not by volume. Either way, it’s good to get into the habit of always measuring your ingredients by weight in order to use an accurate amount.

Mixer

While a mixer isn’t a necessary tool for most cakes, it is very useful to have on hand, no matter whether you’re using it to mix the batter or whip a frosting together.
Mixers can vary somewhat in price. We recommend either a KitchenAid Artisan stand mixer for moderate baking, or a KitchenAid Professional stand mixer if you need a larger capacity bowl and more power.

Mixing Bowls
When baking cakes, it’s useful to have many mixing bowls on hand in different sizes. We prefer clear glass bowls as well as stainless steel bowls that clean easily and look nice.

Wooden Spoons
We prefer to mix our batter with sturdy wooden spoons. Keep a few well-constructed spoons in various sizes on hand for convenient baking.

Silicon Spatula
Silicon spatulas are very useful to have on hand when transferring a batter into an other bowl, or into a cake pan.

Rolling Pin
When making cinnamon buns, roll-up cakes and more, a rolling pin is an invaluable tool.
We prefer a sturdy wooden one-piece rolling pin.

Pastry Brushes
Whether you need to brush cinnamon rolls with butter, pie topping with egg wash or apricot jelly on a fruit tart, pastry brushes are extremely useful tools.

Off-set Spatula
When glazing cakes and applying frosting or icing it’s great to have an off-set spatula. It makes it so much easier to evenly apply the topping.

Parchment Paper

Parchment paper is the baker’s best friend. It’s great to have on hand when baking cakes or brownies since it helps to reduce sticking.

Non-stick cooking spray
Many times, it is much easier to use a non-stick cooking spray to grease your baking pan than using butter. Plus, it’s easy to use cooking spray under and on top of a parchment covered pan.

Cake Pans
There are a variety of cake pans which are useful to have on hand when baking. We recommend having these on hand:
- Two round 8” pans
- Two round 9” pans
- Tart pan with a removable bottom
- Brownie pan
- Muffin pans

Baking Sheet
Baking sheets are extremely useful to have on hand. We prefer sturdy, well-made baking sheets that will stand up to a lot of use.

Thermometer

A proper thermometer is an extremely useful tool when baking cakes. It allows you to check the internal temperature of the cake in order to see exactly when it’s done baking. We prefer a digital thermometer for this task.

Sheet Pan Racks

Once the cake is out of the oven, it needs to rest and cool. Place it on a wire rack to in order to air properly.