1. Swap water out for Bailey's when you make brownies from a mix.
2. Add mayo to make your cakes scrumptiously moist.
Seems weird, right? Well, mayonnaise is mostly eggs and oil, so you're just adding more of the good stuff. Full recipe for a mayo-chocolate cake here.
3. Get a crunchier brownie top by whipping together eggs and sugar.
4. Add espresso and vanilla to chocolate cake mix to enhance the chocolate flavor.
5. Make super-easy cookies with a box of cake mix.
6. If you don't have unsweetened baking chocolate, you can substitute using cocoa powder and oil or butter.
7. Measure by weight instead of cups because it's more accurate and less messy.
8. Add instant pudding mix to cake mix to make it extra moist.
9. Don't poke holes to see if your cake's done; instead, press the cake lightly and it should spring back if it's ready.
10. Add simple syrup to revive dry cakes or to keep layers moist while you assemble and decorate.
Mix together and heat 1 cup water with 1 cup sugar. If you want to get fancy, you can store it in a simple syrup soaker bottle. Or you can brush it on. See more here.
11. Frost your cakes smoothly by dipping your spatula in hot water as you go.
The heat will help melt the frosting enough to easily frost the entire cake, and it'll also prevent it from sticking to the spatula.
12. For pastry-making, get some hella cheap marble slabs from Home Depot.
13. If you can, wait a day or at least a few hours to serve fruit pie, since this will allow the filling to completely set (no runny juices).
14. Effortlessly slide a cheesecake out of a springform pan using a hot knife or, if you have one, a blowtorch.
Using a hot knife to cut and serve slices works wonders as well. See how to make a lemon almond cheesecake here.
15. If you're a fan of incredibly yummy frosting, try this small-batch version of Swiss meringue buttercream.
16. Make two versions of ~royal~ icing: one thick for outlining and the other thin for "flooding."
The ingredients for royal icing are meringue powder (or egg whites), milk, confectioner's sugar, and food coloring. The first batch should be relatively thick (be careful with adding milk). Once you're done outlining the cookies, thin the icing with milk and use a piping bag to flood the inner portions of the cookies. Swirl some designs if you'd like! See more here.
17. Make super buttery, soft, and chewy cookies by adding half shortening and half butter to your recipe.
18. Check your oven's temperature to get the best results.
19. Keep butter in the freezer and then use a grater to shred it when you bake.
20. Perfect the art of bread with a crunchy crust by creating your own steam oven.
There are a number of tools you can add to your oven to ensure optimal crispiness. If you don't want to invest in a bunch of fancy stuff, you can pre-heat an empty pan and pour in a cup of hot water to create steam right before you put the loaves in the oven.
21. Prevent "cookie cutter" cookies from spreading when baking by chilling the dough beforehand.
22. Soak your raisins in rum before turning them into oatmeal raisin cookies for extra deliciousness.
Oh, chocolate chip cookies are your favorite? Think again.
23. Be mindful of how long you're mixing batter after you add dry ingredients: The longer you mix, the flatter the cake.
