Whether you’re an experienced baker looking to finesse your technique or a novice hoping to boost your confidence, any hack that makes baking just a little easier or faster is worth giving a try. So we turned to our team of experts to get their smartest hacks – ready for you to try in your next baking session.
These tips will make baking easier, more efficient and just that little bit more foolproof, helping you achieve more professional results. And with the Great British Bake Off final just around the corner, there’s never been a better time to sharpen your baking skills.
Read on to discover our very best baking hacks, complete with explanations and ideas for when to use them. With these hacks up your sleeve, you can achieve greater results with less stress and more enjoyment, whether you’re baking a classic lemon drizzle, chewy cookies or showstopping celebration cake. Happy baking!
1. Crinkle your baking paper for a perfect fit
Do you often find yourself struggling to get baking paper to sit neatly in a tin? Lining cake tins or trays with baking paper can be fiddly, especially when it springs back or refuses to stay put. The solution? Scrunch up your baking paper into a tight ball, then unfold it and smooth it out before lining your tin. The creases make the paper much more pliable and easier to tuck into the corners and curves without springing back, resulting in a neater lining and less risk of your bake sticking or losing its shape.
Try this hack when lining cake tins for a Victoria sponge or traybake recipes for a fuss-free set-up and easier removal after baking.
2. Spoon trick for sticky ingredients
Measuring out honey, golden syrup or treacle can be a sticky business, with half of it left clinging to the spoon, making it tricky to measure accurately as well as wasting precious ingredients. To stop this, dip your spoon in hot water first or measure out a little oil before the sticky ingredient. This creates a thin barrier, making the syrup slide off easily and ensuring you get the full amount into your mixture. It also means less mess to clean up.
This trick is especially helpful in recipes for flapjacks, sticky toffee pudding or any recipe that calls for syrup, treacle or honey.
3. Bring eggs to room temperature quickly
Many cake recipes call for eggs at room temperature as they blend better with other ingredients and help create a lighter and more even texture. If you’ve forgotten to take your eggs out of the fridge in advance, put them in a bowl of warm (not hot) water for about five to 10 minutes. This brings them up to temperature quickly, helping your ingredients combine better and allowing you to get on with your bake without delay.
Use this hack for classic sponge cakes, meringues and cupcakes.
4. Make your own buttermilk in minutes
Buttermilk is a key ingredient in many bakes, from scones to pancakes, adding a subtle tang and helping bakes rise. But it’s not always in the fridge. The good news is there’s no need to dash to the shops; to make your own, add a tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar to 250ml of milk in a jug, mix then leave it at room temperature for five to 10 minutes until the milk has thickened slightly.
It won’t thicken as much as traditional buttermilk, but it’s a great substitute when making soda bread or fluffy pancakes (you can also use it as a marinade for fried chicken or for salad dressings). Don’t worry if the mixture looks curdled or has small white lumps in it, it will be fine once cooked.
5. DIY brown sugar
Run out of brown sugar halfway through a recipe? No problem. For a quick substitute, mix one tablespoon of molasses into 200g of caster sugar. Stir well until the mixture takes on a sandy, caramel colour and texture. This quick fix gives you the same rich, full flavour and denser texture needed for chewy cookies, fruit cake or any recipe where brown sugar adds depth of flavour and moisture.
6. Blitz up your own icing sugar
No icing sugar in the cupboard? Instead of dashing to the shops make your own at home by whizzing granulated or caster sugar in a food processor, blender or spice grinder until it turns into a fine powder. Sieve before using for the smoothest finish.
How fine you can get your sugar will depend on the efficiency of your equipment. A powerful blender will give a much better outcome than an ordinary one. It will also depend on what type of sugar you start with. Granulated sugar will give you a more even grind, but it’s unlikely you’ll be able to make quite as fine a powder as commercial sugar, so don’t expect it to be as smooth if you use it in icing, for example.
Use your homemade icing sugar for buttercream, dusting or royal icing, or use to make this lemon drizzle traybake or iced blueberry & lime cheesecake.
7. DIY piping with a ziplock bag
If you don’t have a piping bag or nozzle to hand, simply fill a sturdy ziplock or sandwich bag with your icing then snip a small corner off. You can cut a small or large hole depending on the effect you want. This simple trick lets you pipe neat swirls, dots or lines with control and minimal fuss.
This hack is perfect for decorating cupcakes, biscuits and cakes or filling éclairs.
8. Grate butter for faster softening
Softened butter is crucial for creaming with sugar, but waiting for fridge-cold butter to reach the right consistency can be time-consuming. Speed things up by grating cold butter on a box grater. The thin small shreds will soften much more quickly at room temperature and will blend more easily into your mixture.
This is a real timesaver for classic bakes, from cakes and scones to biscuits.
9. Dip your knife in hot water for clean slices
For neat, professional-looking slices of cake, brownies or traybakes, dip your knife in hot water and wipe it dry before each cut. The heat helps the blade glide through the icing and sponge, reducing crumbs and preventing the icing or ganache from smudging. Make sure to wipe and reheat the knife between slices for the cleanest results.
This is especially effective for rich chocolate cakes, cheesecakes and sticky traybakes.
10. Use an ice cream scoop for even cookies
For perfectly uniform cookies, use an ice cream scoop to portion out your dough. This ensures every cookie is the same size, helping them bake evenly as well as looking more professional. This hack is ideal for chocolate chip cookies, oat biscuits or even for portioning cupcake or muffin batters.
What if you don’t own a scoop? If your cookies have spread too much when they come out of the oven, use a pastry cutter or glass larger than the cookies and shuffle them inside it to make them perfectly round. Then leave to cool on the tray.
11. Slash bread with a razor for decorative crusts
To achieve those beautiful, artisan-style patterns on homemade sourdough, use a sharp razor blade or baker’s lame to score the dough just before baking for clean, precise cuts. The cuts allows the loaf to expand in the oven and prevents random cracks, as well as giving your bread a professional appearance.
12. Use dental floss for cutting dough
Have you ever tried cutting dough with dental floss? Next time you’re thinking of baking cinnamon buns, try using unflavoured dental floss to slice through the dough like butter for clean cuts every time. This hack works for cake, too – to neatly slice a sponge into layers, wrap a piece of thread or unscented dental floss evenly around the circumference, then pull the ends tightly to cut through.
Give this hack a go with our cinnamon bun recipes, from caramel apple cinnamon buns and sourdough cinnamon buns to our cinnamon pecan sticky buns.
13. Use cake strips for flat, even sponges
If you’re after perfectly flat cake layers for stacking, try using cake strips. These are fabric strips soaked in cold water and wrapped around the outside of your cake tin before baking. They help the cake cook more evenly, preventing domed tops and reducing the need for trimming. This trick is especially useful for celebration cakes and layer cakes.
14. Mark out pavlova on baking parchment
Achieving a perfectly round pavlova can be tricky if you’re just guessing the size. For even, consistent results, use a pencil to lightly draw a circle (or the desired shapes) on the non-stick side of your baking parchment. Flip the parchment over so the pencil marks are underneath, then pipe or spoon your mixture within the lines. This simple hack guarantees your pavlova will be perfectly round and your other bakes will be uniform in size – essential for professional-looking results and even baking.
It’s especially useful for showstopper desserts, and also makes it easier to portion and present your bakes beautifully. It also works for identically sized macarons, eclairs and profiteroles.
One more meringue hack: freeze for ease
Older egg whites create more volume when whisked than fresh ones. To break down fresh egg whites, freeze them, then defrost. Or, use frozen egg whites you have left over from another recipe that just used the yolks.
15. Flatten domed cupcakes with a glass jar
Cupcakes rising with a domed top is a common issue, especially if you’re aiming for a smooth surface to decorate with icing or fondant. Instead of trying to slice off the tops (which can get messy), grab a clean glass jar while the cupcakes are still warm from the oven. Gently press the base of the jar down onto each cupcake for a few seconds. The gentle pressure flattens the dome, giving you a perfectly even surface that’s ideal for icing and ensures every cupcake looks uniform and neat. This hack is particularly handy if you’re planning to pipe buttercream swirls or want to create a flat canvas for more intricate decorations.
Try it next time you bake chocolate, red velvet or vanilla cupcakes.
