Drawing of a slice of cake on a plate

How To Bake

Learning how to bake is good for your wallet: if you make all of your own treats and desserts from scratch, you will save a ton of money. It also gives you total control over the ingredients in your baked goods: you can guarantee that your dessert is nut-free, or that there is no saturated fat in your treat. It's all under your control. Finally, it's also a pretty impressive skill with which to impress your friends. (Or a potential spouse!)

So, how do you do it? Learning how to bake (or to bake well) requires PASO. This stands for: Planning, Accuracy, and Slavish Obedience. To be specific:

Planning: don't just decide you're going to bake something right now. Plan ahead (preferably 24 hours ahead). This way you avoid some nasty surprises. For example, many recipes work best if all the ingredients (especially the butter and eggs) are at room temperature. It takes about 3 - 6 hours for some ingredients to come to room temperature—depending on the temperature of the room and the size of the ingredient. (Note: you can't soften butter in the microwave, because the microwaves start to cook the milk solids; then the milk solids separate out from the butter fat, and this ruins the consistency.) So ALWAYS plan ahead.
Accuracy: don't just "guesstimate" amounts. Use standard measuring cups and measuring spoons. For example, if a recipe asks for one teaspoon of baking powder, don't just use a teaspoon from your regular flatware set. Get some standard measuring spoons and use the 1 teaspoon measure. Not only that: you need to hold it level and scrape off the excess with the back of a knife, so that you end up with one level teaspoon. (Or 5 ml, if you're going metric.)
Slavish Obedience: to the recipe. If the recipe says to use buttermilk, don't use regular milk. If the recipe says to wrap up the dough in plastic and put it in the fridge for an hour, do it. Don't skip steps. The person who wrote the recipe knows what they're doing—you don't. (If you do, why are you reading this page?) So, do exactly what the recipe says.

Now that you have the three basic guidelines, here are some specifics:

Introduction to the Oven | Equipment for Baking | Preparation for Baking | Ingredients for Baking | Easy Recipes

Oven

Location inside the oven

The best place to bake something is in the middle of the oven. An oven comes with one or more racks. Before you turn on the oven, check out how the racks slide in and out of the oven. Set one of the racks into the oven so that it is halfway between the top and the bottom of the oven chamber. Only bake on this middle rack. Don't try and use two (or more!) racks and bake several batches of something. If it doesn't fit on one rack (in the middle of the oven), bake it in two batches.

If you ignore this advice, and try to bake on several racks, you will probably burn the bottoms of the baked items on the lower rack.

Also place the pan(s) or cookie sheet(s) so that it/they have plenty of room around them for the hot air to circulate. Don't jam so many cookie sheets onto the rack that the cookie sheets are touching the walls of the oven chamber. This gives you uneven heating and a bad result.

Preheating

Always preheat your oven. This means that you should turn it on and set it to the temperature that you will be baking at well before you put your cake (or muffins, cookies, etc.) into the oven. I suggest turning it on and setting it at the baking temperature about 25 - 30 minutes before putting a cake (or whatever) into the oven.

Most ovens have a little light next to the oven temperature dial; this light will come on when you first set the temperature. When the light goes off (which can be as soon as 10 - 15 minutes after you set the temperature), it is a signal that the air inside the oven has reached the desired temperature. However, as soon as you open the oven door to put the cake in, a lot of that hot air escapes, which lowers the temperature dramatically. Then, it takes a while for the oven to heat back up to the desired temperature. This is not good for a cake: a cake likes a steady, constant temperature.

However, if you let the oven keep heating for another 10 - 20 minutes after the light goes off, the walls of the oven start to retain the heat. Then, when you open the oven door to put the cake in, although some hot air escapes, it doesn't take as long for the air to heat back up again.

So, always preheat your oven for a minimum of 25 - 30 minutes before putting a cake (or whatever) in it.

Oven temperature

Ovens are variable. Although you may set the temperature to 325° F (160° C), the oven may actually heat up to 350° F (175° C) or even 375° F (190° C). Or only to 300° F (150° C). The only way to know for sure is to buy an oven thermometer (see photo at right).

Oven thermometers are not very expensive; you can usually get one for less than $20.00. Once you've purchased it, put it inside your empty oven, on the middle rack. Then set the oven to a given temperature—say 350° F (175° C). Wait half an hour. Then put on some oven mitts and take the thermometer out of the oven. What does it say? If there is a difference of more than 10° F (or 15° C), you have a problem. Try it at several temperatures and see what happens.

If there is a big difference between what the oven says and what the oven thermometer says, you may need to make an "oven chart". This is a chart that shows what temperatures you need to set your oven at, to get the desired result. Here's an example of an oven chart that I use, because my oven is MUCH hotter than it says it is:

Temperature requested in recipe	Temperature I should set my oven
OVEN CHART (for my overly hot oven)
300° F	250° F
325° F	275° F
350° F	300° F
375° F	325° F
400° F	350° F
425° F	375° F

Your oven chart (if you need one) should, of course, be set up to compensate for YOUR oven.

Timing

Always time your baking. Most ovens come with a timer built in. Photo of a classic wind-up kitchen timer

If your oven doesn't have a timer (or if you just can't figure out how to use the timer your oven comes with), get a simple windup timer (see photo at right). You can usually buy one of these for less than $10.00. Alternatively, if you are likely to be working on your computer while your treat is baking, you can download one of many free timer apps; a couple of good locations are: http://www.thebestapplications.com/ or http://www.tucows.com/downloads.

Whatever you use, always set a timer. It is FATALLY easy to forget that something is in the oven until it burns. As soon as you put your cake (or whatever) in the oven, set the timer.

If a recipe says "bake for 30 - 35 minutes" (for example), set your timer to the lesser time (30 minutes) and test the cake for doneness when the timer goes off (see below on how to test). Then, if it needs the extra 5 minutes, put the cake back in the oven, and set the timer for 5 minutes. Then test again (see below). Keep doing this, and re-setting the timer, until your cake tests done.

Testing for doneness

For this you need some wooden toothpicks, or a cake tester. I've never used a cake tester (because I'm so cheap), but they are slightly easier to use than a toothpick (because they're longer) and most cake testers cost less than $5.00.

When you suspect your cake (or whatever) is done, you quickly poke your tester into the middle of the cake. Quickly withdraw it, close the oven door, and look at your cake tester. If there are crumbs and bits of cake clinging to it, the cake isn't done yet. Bake it a little longer. Wipe off your tester (or use a new toothpick) for the next test. When the tester comes out clean, your cake is done.

You usually don't do this for cookies, because they are so shallow (except for cake-like bar cookies, which are deep enough). With a regular cookie, you typically want them to be golden or light golden brown in colour and with firm, slightly crisp edges. Cookies can burn VERY easily. If you suspect they might be done, it's safer to take them out of the oven and let them sit on the baking pan for 5 minutes; they will continue to cook a little during this time.

Now that you've checked out the Introduction to the Oven, I suggest you go on to look at Equipment for Baking.

Other sections of the "How to Bake" website:

Preparation for Baking | Ingredients for Baking | Easy Recipes

Other sections of the "Most Helpful Hints" website:

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Disclaimer: while these recipes are the result of years of experience and/or lots of research, in the end they are just my personal preference. If you try something I suggest and it doesn't work for you, please don't sue me — I guarantee nothing. Best of luck!