April 10, 2018

10 Baking Terms Explained!

Have you ever looked up a recipe to bake some delicious goodies but then realized you didn’t understand the difference between creaming and folding? Well, fret not because Bakex brings you a list of ten baking terms whose meanings you never knew. Till now, that is.

1. 1. Ingredients: This is the list of foods that are needed to make the dish. Make sure you look at it properly before you bake so you don’t need to run to the nearest kiosk in search of milk that you didn’t know you needed in the middle of your baking sesh.
   2. Whip: To whip is to stir quickly with a whisk (that wire looped thingy) to make the mix airy.
   3. Beat: Beating is the use of a spoon, whisk, electric mixer or food processor to carefully mix the ingredients. This makes the ingredient mix airy so the baked goods are light and fluffy, especially those delicious cakes you’ll be baking soon.
   4. Blend: When a recipe calls for something to be “blended”, just dump the ingredients into a blender and let it do its thing till everything is mixed well and is even and smooth.
   5. Combine: To combine means to stir the ingredients together just until it becomes a mixture. It does not need to be smooth like when blending.
   6. Creaming: If you’ve never sneaked some of that sugary butter combination, then are you really human? Creaming is just the process of beating sugar and softened butter till it becomes a light, airy creamy mixture, perfect for voluminous cakes. You can’t blame us for sneaking some of that golden goodness!
   7. Folding in: Once you’ve mastered the art of folding in, you can consider yourself a baking connoisseur. Ti is just the process of gently combining a light, airy ingredient, usually beaten egg whites, with a heavier one, such as the cake mix. Using a spatula, the light mixture is folded into the heavier one, as the bowl is turned slightly with each series of spatula strokes. It sounds complex but once you master it, you’ll have your batter at just the right light and fluffy consistency.
   8. Grease: Ever wondered why your cake got stuck to the pan despite you following the recipe word-to-word? It’s probably because you didn’t grease your pan. All you’ve got to do is coat the inside of your baking dish or pan with oil, butter or lard to avoid getting into this sticky mess. See what we did there?
   9. Icing/Frosting: Everyone’s favourite part of baked cakes. Icing, or frosting as Americans like to say, is the height of baking, which elevates the cake to a whole other level. There are different types of icing you can use to cover a cake:
      • Glaze icing (icing sugar + water)
      • Buttercream (icing sugar + softened butter)
      • Cream cheese icing (icing sugar + cream cheese + butter)
      • Fondant icing (a malleable icing made from icing sugar + water + glucose)
      • Royal icing (icing sugar + egg whites)
   10. Sifting: When baking, you’ll often be told to sift the flour, cocoa or icing sugar. This is simply passing the powdery ingredients through a sieve to remove lumps. Once sifted, your baked goodies will be smooth and delicious.

BONUS!

Softened

We have mentioned softened butter several times as we explained these ten terms. Softened butter is not melted butter, but instead, it’s brought to room temperature to make it usable by leaving it out on the counter.

These are only ten baking terms explained. Look out for future posts explaining more complex baking terms!