20 Clever Baking Tips That Will Make Your Sweet Tooth So, So Happy

Whoever said that breakfast is the most important meal of the day clearly hasn’t had dessert in a while.

I don’t know about you, but right after I eat something savory, I need to satisfy my sweet tooth. If that means eating a chocolate bar right after stuffing my face with pizza, so be it. But as much as I love sweets, I should probably just come to terms with the fact that I’ll always be better at eating them than I am at making them.

Or will I? If you’re like me and you could benefit from a healthy dose of confectionary know-how, adding these 20 tricks to your arsenal could give you a new lease on sweet, sugary life.

1. Add instant pudding mix to cake batter to up the decadence factor.

2. Dip your frosting spatula in hot water as you go to keep your icing game on point.

3. Use tin foil to make a smaller baking dish.

4. Pipe frosting text and decorations onto wax paper, freeze them, gently peel them off, and lay them on top of your cake to avoid making mistakes.

5. Lighten recipes by replacing butter with avocado.

6. Put a large marshmallow or a slice of bread in the bag with your brown sugar to keep it soft.

7. Use dental floss to cut perfect cake layers. Check this out for more details!

8. If your recipe calls for oil and you want to make it a little healthier, unsweetened applesauce is a good alternative.

9. To make a box cake taste like it was made from scratch, add one more egg than the directions call for and replace vegetable oil with butter.

10. Having trouble stabilizing your whipped cream? Add some marshmallow fluff to the mix!

11. If you run out of confectioner’s sugar, throw granulated sugar in the food processor and pulse away until it’s finely milled.

12. It sounds weird, but adding a dollop of mayonnaise to cake batter can keep things nice and moist.

13. If you love chewy brownies but want a little crunch on top, beat sugar into some egg whites, layer that on top, and bake as usual.

14. Swap out water for Baileys in brownie batter.

15. Add espresso and vanilla to chocolate cake mix to deepen its flavor.

16. You know why wedding cakes taste so good? Three words: Swiss meringue buttercream. Most recipes are designed for wedding-sized portions, but this one will guide you through making a perfectly small batch.

17. For chewy cookies, replace the full measurement of butter with equal parts butter and shortening.

18. Keep those cookies soft by storing them with an apple slice or a bit of orange peel.

19. Add a little color and flavor to icing by throwing in some Jell-O mix. Click here for a recipe!

20. Making great pie crust is all about keeping the chunks of butter cold, so freeze butter beforehand. Grate it into the mixture for finer pieces that’ll help you get your hands out of there sooner.

Well, I’m going to try all of these. It’s in the name of research, okay? Don’t be a hater.

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