Basics of Baking /Essential to buy before baking

Before I start about basics post let me tell you how I got in to baking . I am not well orgainzed and generally  was not comfortable making things which were a little complicated. I still remember my first cake, it was simple banana cake. Like everyone else I started out by googling for banana cake then found a recipe and tried it. Cake was  awesome and I was so happy that I made something totally different from my every day dishes, and it was big hit with my family. I did not bookmark the recipe and next time when I tried to do I ran into trouble. So I started keeping track of ingredients and measurements.


First time I was about to bake a cake I needed certain ingredients which were not in my pantry. Also I did not have an idea on what would be needed or how to go about baking . This precisely is the reason why I am writing this post for baking beginners.

Patience is very essential for baking any kind of dish ,with that you can get a fantastic outcome.If you are baking it for the first time follow the recipe verbatim. After you get comfortable with the recipe you can tinker with it. Initially I was under the impression that cakes will be fluffy and moist only with butter and eggs. Recently I baked avacado based cake and it was super moist .For a list of substitue ingredients for your cake search here...


Essentials things for baking(What to Shop before you bake ):

• Baking powder.
• Vanilla essence.
• Flour(wheat /all purpose ).
• Nuts /dry fruits (making a nut cake).
• Butter(can be substituted with avacado,banana etc).
• Fruits (fruits like bluberry ,strawberry) - For flavored cakes.
• Sugar(brown /white).
• Baking tray.

With all the above ingredients you can make so many combinations of cakes...

 Replacements for baking ingredients  :

1. Butter can be replaced with mashed bananas (mostly in cakes /muffins ) this will  reduce the fat content  and supply some nutrients and natural sugar to the cake. You can even reduce the amount of sugar while using bananas.
2. Butter can be replaced with avacado which supplies many nutrients and iron. If you have high cholestrol then reduce the avacado level .
3. Baking soda can be replaced with baking powder in cake baking (I guess this works for cookies too, not very sure though). Use twice the amount of baking powder in place of baking soda .                
4. For example if the recipe asks for 1 tsp of baking soda use 2 tsp of baking powder .
5. If you use baking powder you can avoid dairy and citrus ingredients like curd  and lemon called for in the original recipe.

Things to keep in mind while baking:

In General:

1. If you use eggs they have to be at room temperature.It helps to make the cake fluffy and ensures even mixing of the ingredients to get even texture. Tip: To quickly get egg to room temperature dip the egg in luke-warm water for 10-15 min.
2. Cool the cake down completely before closing the lid or storing it otherwise it will become mushy .If you are using bananas /milk the shelf life will be less. If the weather is hot cake will have even shorter of a shelf life. Plan accordingly

For Muffins :

1. Its easy to make  muffins and cakes without butter and egg because you dont need hand mixer .

Eventhough I have only a few recipes on baked goodies I have baked many .Some of them I failed to note the recipe, some did not turn out well, Some i failed to take pictures ...Some successful attempt  are listed below.

Check my  cake ,muffin ,cookie recipe
christmas cake
avacado-cocoa cake 
 banana oats muffin
oats cookie