Baking 101: Equipment

I have received various queries on baking and also requests to post a basic cake recipe. In light of the various requests, I have decided to do a two part series on basic baking. For part one, I’ll tackle the various equipment necessary for baking.

Depending on the kind and quantity of cake being baked the equipment needed may be varied.

Baking is a science that involves a lot of chemistry just like in any chemical reaction, quantities are very important.

Different recipes give measurements in different ways. Whenever I’ve posted a baking recipe I have tried to stick to giving cup measurements. Others are given in grammes which I personally think are the best however there’s always the assumption that one has a kitchen scale. Ideally getting measuring cups and spoons goes along way in aiding the home baker.

The pack of measuring cups and spoons come in varied quantities from 1 cup, 1/2 cup and so on and so forth. I bought mine at a store on the corner of Biashara and Muindi Mbingu streeet, the store is called Walibhai Karim and they carry various baking equipment.

In case you are not planning on getting the measuring cups, you can get an ordinary cup like the blue cup in the picture above, and use it for measuring the quantities.

If you want to go all out, you can get a kitchen scale, mine  is digitized and can weigh weights of up to 7.5kg.

Now that we have the measuring out of the way, the next vital part of baking is the actual mixing of the cake batter. Again depending on the amount of cake, you can choose to rely on your elbow grease and mix with a wooden  spoon. I use this method quite often seeing that I never really like cleaning up the whisks from my mixer.

For easier mixes an electric mixer comes to mind. Mine was a wedding gift and it came with a stand and a bowl. You can purchase one from the leading local supermarkets. There are different types others are hand held and others come together with a bowl.

You can also mix using a food processor. I’ve tried it just once. Reason being, do you know the amount of effort that goes into assembling a food processor and not to mention cleaning up after? #icant

Another mixing tool that is on my wish list is a kitchen aid mixer.

Now that we have the cake batter all nice and mixed, the other piece of equipment are the baking tins.

Depending on your desired end result you can use a muffin or cupcake tin or use a cake tin. Cake tins come in different shapes and designs.

I hope this post has been helpful, in case you have any comments or questions, feel free to share them in the comment section below.

In exciting news the blog has been nominated for a BAKE award in the Best Food Blog Category *doing the dougie* To vote for Leo Tunapika? and other blogs go to http://www.blogawards.co.ke/vote/. Thanks.