I’ve just tripped over a great resource for home bakers seeking guidance on how to ensure optimum results. A viral Tik Tok video ensures perfect baked goods. Watch it a couple of times and you’ll ‘have it’ forever! Hint: You’ll be encouraged to bake more…
@benjaminthebaker how to tell when every dessert is done baking #baking #learnontiktok ♬ original sound – Benjamin the baker
He calls himself Benjamin The Baker and his on-screen style, easy gestures and common sense recommendations all blend to produce a resource you’ll cherish now and forever. What’s more, you’ll understand what he’s getting at intuitively.
In short…
It’s all about how the ‘over’ and under’ effects the ‘around’ and through’. That is, how under- or over-cooking can ruin your baking fun.
I don’t know how many times I’ve fielded questions about how to achieve chewy versus crispy cookies – versus cookies that are crunchy through-and-through. I’ve personally tried a number of techniques and hacks designed to ensure you get the result you’re looking for – most involving slight recipe ingredient hacks. Some worked for me. Some didn’t. Some worked inconsistently.
But until now, I’ve never found a simple, all-in-one reference I could live by.
I never trusted the recipe hacks involving changing the proportion of fats or moisture, changing out milk or eggs in favour of apple sauce, mashed bananas, yogurt or added oil or fat, or fiddling the flour used in batters or doughs, to achieve ‘perfection’.
All the variables accounted for
… But one you might not have suspected can make a cardinal difference in your results. That’s the colour of your bakeware – not, as you might have thought, time or temperature (within a reasonable range).
@benjaminthebaker cake pans make the biggest difference #baking #dessert #learnontiktok ♬ original sound – Benjamin the baker
Darker pans and sheets bake faster, may result in sunken edges on your cakes and brownies, and produce unwanted crispy edges (see photo, top of page). The colour of the bakeware will also effect the browning of the bottom of your baked goods. And darker pans may result in overbaking of the outsides of your projects while leaving the centres under-cooked. That’s great for Lava Cakes, but not so great for other recipes…
What more can I say?
I’ll hand it off to Benjamin, now – and recommend you stay on his page after the video to explore his other great posts!
~ Maggie J.