Baking can be a great pastime and a wonderful way to experiment in the kitchen. Sweet treats like cookies, cakes, and brownies not only make excellent comfort food for you, but they can also impress your guests when they come over to visit or make brilliant gifts for special occasions. If you are someone who does love spending time filling your home with the sweet smell of freshly baked goods nearly as much as you like eating them, here are some essentials you need to have in your kitchen!
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1. A Quality Mixer
If you do like to spend a lot of time baking, particularly larger batches of treats, then having a quality mixer is a must. It certainly beats doing this by hand, and while hand-held mixers will also be useful tools to have in your kitchen drawer, a larger mixer will make your life a lot easier. They come with various mixing speeds so that you can get the perfect cake batter every time.
2. Wire Cooling Racks
When you take your sweet treats out of the oven, it’s important to let them cool down before you bite into them or start decorating them with frosting. If you do the latter too soon, you’ll find that your frosting starts melting all over the place! Invest in a selection of wire cooling racks to place your cakes, cookies, and other treats on until they are at a suitable temperature to enjoy.
3. Cake Tin and Cookie Jars
You’ll also need a place to keep your cakes and cookies fresh until you have devoured every last bite, so every good home baker needs to have a variety of cake tins in different sizes in their kitchen cupboards. Cookie jars are also a must if this is something you enjoy baking regularly. These items will also be useful if you are taking any baked goods out of the house, such as to a friend’s house or a bake sale you are contributing to.
4. Decorating Tools
Of course, the texture and flavor of your cookies and cakes are important, but the way they are decorated can be the perfect finishing touch that impresses everyone. If you do enjoy this part of baking, then investing in some decorating tools for your cakes and other bakes will be worthwhile. These Halloween cupcake stencils are a great example, and you can get others for different holiday seasons, or general patterns and imagery to make your cakes look incredible.
5. Cake Stand
If you do like inviting friends and family over for dinner parties or afternoon tea/coffee dates, then purchasing a cake stand could be a worthwhile investment for you. They are perfect for dramatically displaying your cakes and other treats, particularly on special occasions like birthdays or anniversaries that you might be celebrating. They can also look cute for Instagram snaps if you’re trying to show off your skills to your followers!
If you are a keen baker and love to make sweet treats in your spare time, make sure you have invested in all of the above to make your experience even better.