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BEGINNERS GUIDE TO CAKE BAKING (Essential tools you will need)

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If you are new to cake baking, and looking for a guide to achieve your cake baking dream, this post will guide you to a successful start. Here is a list of tools you will need, most of them are quite cheap and affordable, and are readily available at your local or online store

 12 ESSENTIAL TOOLS NEEDED

1.Measuring cups and spoon: these come in 1cup =250ml, 1/2cup=125ml, 1/3 cup=83mls,1/4cup= 62ml, 1/8 cup= 31ml. The spoons vary  also as 1Tablespoon, 1/2 Tablespoon, 1 Teaspoon, 1/2 Teaspoon etc. I prefer these to the calibrated measuring cups because with time due to wear and tear, the calibrations wipe off and so measurements can't be read accurately. These on the other hand lasts a lifetime because the measurement values are engraved on them.

measuring cups and spoons











2. Baking Pans/Muffin tins - The batter mixture is poured into these in order to bake the cake. Aluminum tins are mostly used because they are oven safe and retain their shape.  These can be purchased  at your local cake store or you can get some made for you by an alloy expert.
 They also come in varying sizes and shape.

cupcake tins











3. Mixing bowl- a wide, deep, preferably stainless steel  would be most appropriate

picture of mixing bowl
picture of whisk and spatula4. Spatula/Whisk/Palette knife- This is also readily available in your local cake store

5. Baking Tray - It comes attached with some oven cookers.
6. Wire Rack/Cooling rack - For cooling the cake before decorating
7. Baking sheets - Used to line the insides of the pan before baking in order to help the batter not to stick to the pan and allow for easy removal when cake is done.
8. A good Oven-  You can invest in a good oven and if you can't afford this, you can try my method of baking without an oven (see previous post for this). I used the method a lot when I started out as baker. But I won't recommend this method if you are thinking of a large scale cake baking business.
                                  9. Food-weighing Scale- Helps to make precise measurement for ingredients. It can also help for when a particular recipe is weighed out in "grams" and not in "ml" or "cups" where the measuring cups could have been used.
10. Baking Thermometer - Investing in one of these can help you gauge the right oven temperatures and for recipes like meringue which calls for a particular temperature for preparation.
11. Standard/Electric mixer :  Investing in a good mixer will help you a lot as manual preparation of cake batter can be very exhausting. Although I didn't have one when i started out as a cake baker but I have come to realize that its better to invest in a good one if you are thinking of venturing into baking.
12. Cake Board- These are cheap and affordable.They are platforms on which the cake is placed on for display. For beginners who just want to bake for fun or just for the family as a snack, they can improvise by making cake boards out of old cartons or hard-cardboard paper. But for bigger events, I recommend the ones sold in stores made out of wood as they are firmer.

  Read my next post for ingredients for Beginners guide to cake baking! Hope this post was helpful.
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