When you bake a sponge cake, timing really matters if you want that light, fluffy crumb. Most sponge cakes need about 25 to 30 minutes at 180°C (350°F), and you’ll know it’s done when a toothpick poked in the center comes out clean. Baking too long or too short can mess with the texture and…
You can definitely bake with plain flour, but you’ll want to know how it behaves in different recipes. Since plain flour doesn’t have any raising agents like baking powder, you’ll need to toss those in yourself if you want your cakes or breads to rise. This flour works well for loads of treats—think cakes, biscuits,…
You should skip self-rising flour when your recipe uses yeast or sourdough. Self-rising flour has baking powder and salt mixed in, and those can mess with yeast-based breads. This combo might make your bread rise unevenly or not at all. If your recipe asks for all-purpose flour plus separate leaveners like baking powder or soda,…
When a recipe tells you to set your oven to 170 degrees in a fan oven, it’s asking for a lower temperature than you’d use in a regular oven. 170 degrees in a fan oven is roughly equivalent to 190 degrees in a conventional oven, since fan ovens cook more evenly and quickly by blowing…
If you want to bake a cake, you’ve got to know the basics. The five main ingredients in a cake are flour, sugar, butter (or another fat), eggs, and baking powder. These essentials work together to create the texture, sweetness, and rise you expect in a good cake. Each ingredient has a job. Flour builds…
Knowing how long to let your cake rest after baking really changes its texture and taste. Most cakes need to cool for about 10 to 30 minutes in the pan before you take them out. After that, let them sit on a cooling rack for up to two hours. This simple timing trick helps keep…
So, you’re halfway through a recipe and realize you don’t have self-rising flour. Don’t panic. You can whip up a substitute with stuff you probably already have. All you need is all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt. That’s it. This quick fix keeps you baking—no need to abandon your kitchen for a grocery run. Grab…
If you’re out of self-raising flour, no worries—you can bake a cake anyway. Just mix baking powder into plain flour: about 3 teaspoons of baking powder for every cup of plain flour works well. Some recipes toss in a pinch of salt or baking soda along with the baking powder. That little tweak can help…
If you’re planning to bake your makeup, you’ll want to start with setting powder. Setting powder lays down a base so the baking powder can grip your skin and last longer. Skip this step, and baking just doesn’t work as well—your makeup might crease or fade faster. Baking means dusting loose powder over creamy concealer…
You can swap melted butter for room temperature butter in a lot of recipes, but it’ll change the texture—and sometimes even the taste—of your baked treats. Melted butter makes cookies and cakes denser and chewier. Room temperature butter, when you cream it with sugar, traps air and gives you lighter, fluffier textures. What you use…