47 Pro Tips That Guarantee Better Bakes
Spring Bake is here, and it’s time to break out the flour, sugar, and butter for all the ambitious baking you’ve been meaning to tackle. We’ll be rolling out new recipes each week, but to truly make great cookies, cakes, pastries, and breads, you need guidance too. Below we’ve rounded up a handful of essential (and sometimes surprising!) tips from pro bakers, cookbook authors, and Epicurious editors—all of which will take your baking chops to the next level. Whether it’s finding the best substitute for heavy cream or the secret to a perfectly swirly Swiss roll, this list of little pro moves can make your spring baking even more fruitful.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Kaitlin Wayne1/47Floss Your Cinnamon Rolls
Using this simple, inexpensive, ubiquitous dental hygiene product is the answer to perfectly shaped cinnamon rolls. Unlike a knife, dental floss lets you portion the rolls into pristinely clean, squish-free slices. Just be sure not to use the mint-flavored kind.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Drew Aichele2/47Add Cream Cheese to Your Pie Dough
Cream cheese is a rare ingredient that simultaneously promotes and inhibits gluten for a crust that’s both flaky and sturdy. Plus, it adds a delicate, tangy flavor that’s “incomparable,” according to expert baker Rose Levy Beranbaum.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Rebecca Jurkevich3/47Start That Cake in a Cold (Yes, Cold) Oven
Nope, don’t preheat that oven. Instead, trust cookbook author Cheryl Day’s “low and slow” method. The gradual increase in heat and extended cooking time yield a pound cake with a deep, flavorful crust and a buttery cloud-like interior.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Kaitlin Wayne4/47Fire Up the Instant Pot for Fruit Curds
Double boiler? Don’t know her! Counterintuitive as it may seem, you can make perfectly delicious fruit curds in your Instant Pot.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Susan Ottaviano and Stevie Stewart5/47Get Perfect Swirls in Your Swiss Roll, Every Time
Rolled cakes like Swiss rolls are prone to cracking, especially during the rolling process. But this method can save you from all the misery.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Micah Marie Morton6/47Cover Your Cobbler With Hot Water
It sounds counterintuitive, but adding boiling water to your cobbler actually makes it crispier, rather than soggy. The sugar and water bake into a crunchy, shiny, crackly top layer, firm enough to smack a spoon against without breaking but that shatters easily when you plunge a utensil in—a bit like the torched lid of a crème brûlée.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Judy Haubert7/47For Perfect Layer Cakes, Embrace the Sheet Pan
Yes, the same pan you use to roast your broccoli is the answer to the perfect layer cake. The sheet pan allows you to bake the layers evenly, quickly, and all at once. No domes or cracks, only perfect stacks.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Rebecca Jurkevich10/47Add Coriander to Boost Your Blueberries
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Kaitlin Wayne11/47Master the Reverse Creaming Technique
Creaming butter and sugar together before all else seems like a cardinal rule of cake baking, so doing the opposite may feel a little sacrilegious. But according to Rose Levy Beranbaum, author of The Cake Bible, it’s a faster and foolproof way to mix cake. Starting with the dry stuff then slowly adding room-temperature butter before bringing the remaining ingredients into the mix coats the flour in fat making it hard to overmix the batter.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Kaitlin Wayne12/47Listen to Grandma and Use Mayonnaise In Your Cake
