As a printed baking cookbook writer, I’ve examined MANY baking instruments. And I’m joyful to advocate my absolute must-haves to fellow dwelling bakers. This record is a good place to start out if you’re a newbie baker, making a registry, or purchasing for a present for somebody who likes to bake (or desires to be taught). These important cake baking and adorning instruments will make your property baking, nicely, a bit of cake!
Since 2011, I’ve developed and printed greater than 140 cake recipes on my web site, along with cake recipes in my cookbooks. Testing, photographing, and filming video tutorials signifies that I make a number of desserts for each new recipe. I’ve made… a LOT of desserts!
From evergreen classics like chocolate cake and white cake, to reader favorites like lemon blueberry cake, carrot cake, and crimson velvet cake… I’ve even carried out a tutorial for a home made marriage ceremony cake!
With all of this observe (together with recipe fails!), I’ve realized which cake baking instruments are the BEST in my dwelling kitchen. I don’t find out about you, however I keep away from overloading my cupboards with pointless devices, so this record consists of the highest necessities. I’m not working with any of those manufacturers; these cake baking instruments are merely the objects I personal, love, and advocate.
Inventory Your Kitchen With These 10 Cake Baking & Adorning Instruments
The entire cake baking instruments on this record are objects I personal. I record 10 right here, however some embody greater than 1 merchandise. Use your greatest judgement on which objects you’d use based mostly on my descriptions. None of this submit is sponsored—really simply objects I like and am joyful to advocate to fellow dwelling bakers. A number of these hyperlinks are affiliate hyperlinks.
1. ROUND CAKE PANS
What I personal and love: Fats Daddio’s 9-Inch Cake Pan or Fats Daddio’s 8-Inch Cake Pan.
Amount advisable: 3
I started utilizing these pans in 2018 to bake layer desserts and instantly fell in love. They’re nice high quality for the worth! I like to recommend proudly owning 3. In case you personal fewer, you’re restricted to how a lot batter you may bake without delay. It’s greatest to bake cake batter suddenly, and when you personal solely 2 spherical cake pans, it’s a must to wait to bake that ultimate layer when you’re making a 3-layer cake.
Tip: Buy 2-inch deep cake pans or these labeled “deep dish” type—some spherical pans are just one.5 inches excessive, and you possibly can find yourself with batter spilling over. Take note of whether or not the cake recipe requires an 8-inch or 9-inch spherical cake pan, and modify your baking time accordingly when you swap one for the opposite.
2. QUARTER SHEET PAN & HALF SHEET PAN
What I personal and love: Nordic Ware Half Sheet Pan or USA Pan Bakeware Half Sheet Pan & Pyrex 3-Quart Glass Baking Dish.
Amount advisable: a minimum of 1 of every dimension
Half sheet and quarter sheet pans are among the most versatile and helpful pans a baker can have. Each of those manufacturers are wonderful high quality and have stood as much as very frequent use.
The 12×17-inch dimension of a half sheet pan (aka a jelly roll pan) is the right dimension for baking roll desserts, like this chocolate cake roll. I additionally use half sheet pans for baking cookies, scones, greens, potatoes, fish, meat, croissants, pastries, breads, pouring out toffee or chocolate bark, and a lot extra.
The 9×13-inch rectangular baking pan (aka quarter sheet pan) is simply the proper dimension for a one-layer cake, like this banana cake. It holds about 3 quarts and can be utilized for every thing from home made brownies to lasagna, vanilla sheet cake, casseroles, in a single day cinnamon rolls and extra. I desire glass as a result of it heats slowly and gradual warmth is ideal to evenly prepare dinner a giant cake.
3. PARCHMENT PAPER ROUNDS
What I personal and love: Comfylife Parchment Paper Sheets.
It doesn’t matter what dimension or model cake pan you employ, ensure you put together it appropriately earlier than you pour your cake batter into the pan. Today I ALWAYS use parchment paper rounds.
Right here’s how:
- Hint the underside of the cake pans(s) on a big piece of parchment paper. Lower out the parchment circle(s). Then, very frivolously grease the cake pans with butter or nonstick spray. I normally use coconut oil nonstick spray or “baking spray,” which has just a little flour in it. Place the parchment spherical inside, then grease the parchment spherical too. Sure, grease the pan AND the parchment. This guarantees an extremely non-stick surroundings on your cake.
- When the cake has cooled, run a skinny knife across the edge, invert the cake onto your hand or work floor, then pull off the cake pan. Peel off the parchment spherical from the underside of the cake.
4. ELECTRIC MIXER
What I personal and love: KitchenAid Tilt-Head Stand Mixer or KitchenAid 5-Velocity Hand Mixer.
Amount advisable: 1
An electrical mixer is a should when you bake so much. I take advantage of my hand mixer greater than my stand mixer. If you’d like each, positively get each. Once I’m working with an unlimited quantity of dough/batter or making one thing that requires a number of minutes of blending (e.g., fudge, bread, Swiss meringue buttercream) a stand mixer is essential.
For newbie bakers, a hand mixer is ideal. Extra inexpensive, implausible high quality, and works splendidly for mixing collectively cake batter.
5. DIGITAL FOOD SCALE
What I personal and love: OXO Good Grips Stainless Metal Meals Scale.
Amount advisable: 1
For extra correct measuring, positively choose up a meals scale. This OXO meals scale is the one I take advantage of. A gram is all the time a gram. An oz. is all the time an oz. A cup is NOT all the time a cup, and subsequently weighing is essentially the most correct option to measure. My crew and I embody weight measurements in all my recipes.
A kitchen scale can also be helpful for making layer desserts. I typically weigh the pans once I’m including the batter to them, to verify I’m getting about the identical quantity of batter in each/the entire cake pans, assuring the layers might be uniform and bake evenly. (This solely works when you’re utilizing a set of the identical cake pan since all of them weigh the identical.)
6. SIFTER/FINE MESH SIEVE
What I personal and love: Cuisinart Sieve.
Amount advisable: 1 set
Sifting dry substances is usually a step in lots of cake recipes… and it’s simply as typically ignored or skipped. That step isn’t just for enjoyable or to make your life tough; it aerates the substances and rids any lumps so your recipe seems! You’ll be able to’t make angel meals cake, French macarons, vanilla sheet cake, or this cake flour substitute with out one. You additionally use a sieve to mud treats with confectioners’ sugar or cocoa powder, akin to star bread and tiramisu, and even to pressure seeds/lumps out of raspberry sauce and pastry cream for Boston cream pie.
This set conveniently has 3 totally different sizes with good lengthy handles. They’re straightforward to wash (simply use soapy water and rinse off) and have lasted me years. I take into account a sifter/sieve a vital kitchen device and even advocate them on this 14 Kitchen Instruments Each Baker Wants record.
7. ICING SPATULAS
What I personal and love: Ateco 10-Inch Straight Spatula, Ateco 4.5-Inch Straight Spatula, & Ateco 4.5-Inch Offset Spatula.
Amount advisable: 1 of every, however that depends upon the kind of adorning you do
I take advantage of a massive straight icing spatula for adorning massive layer desserts like this chocolate peanut butter cake. A small straight spatula is helpful for operating across the edges of a cake to take away it from the pan or to unfold frosting on a smaller cake. And I desire utilizing a small offset spatula to brighten sheet desserts which are served contained in the pan.
8. CAKE TURNTABLE OR CAKE STAND
What I personal and love: Revolving Cake Turntable Stand and Marble Cake Stand.
Amount advisable: 1
I’m not a cake adorning professional; I have a tendency to stay with primary strategies for ending off my desserts. A cake turntable could be useful once you’re frosting a layer cake. In case you don’t wish to serve the cake on the cake turner, you may fastidiously elevate the cake off of the cake turntable onto a serving plate or cake stand, with the assistance of a pair skinny flat spatulas and a buddy.
9. BENCH SCRAPER
What I personal and love: Ateco Bench Scraper.
Amount advisable: 1
A bench scraper is tremendous helpful for smoothing out the icing across the sides of a layer cake. In case you’ve by no means used one earlier than, you may watch me use it in my vanilla cake video (and you may see that I don’t even use a cake turntable there, I simply use the marble cake stand linked in #8 above). This bench scraper works for any dimension cake.
10. CAKE CARRIER
What I personal and love: Sterilite Cake Server or XL Cake Provider.
Amount advisable: 1
Truthfully, this must be #1 in at this time’s record. Cake carriers are an absolute lifesaver for storing and transporting desserts. Have you ever ever wanted to refrigerate a layer cake and masking it with aluminum foil or plastic wrap fully ruins the icing? Retailer it in a cake provider! Have you ever ever wanted to journey with a embellished layer cake? Use a cake provider! I even put pies on this factor.
I additionally advocate this cupcake provider for storing and transporting frosted cupcakes, too. And never simply cupcakes/muffins—this provider can also be wonderful for transporting 9×13-inch desserts, spherical pies, and extra.
Value their weight in gold!
Even Extra Cake Baking Instruments & Suggestions
Baking desserts can really feel intimidating as a result of they’re normally for a particular occasion or event… and the stress is on! Let me assist take the worry out of cake baking. Have you ever seen my cake baking ideas video but? Right here it’s:
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