Top Baking Questions Answered

Updated September 12, 2012

Credit: Will Dickey

Our resident how-to culinary expert, Marge Perry answers the most-asked questions about baking cakes, cookies, pies and breads.

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Adjusting Recipe Yield

Credit: Oxmoor House

Adjusting Recipe Yield Tout

When you want to increase yield in recipes for cakes, muffins, cookies and other baked goods, you should be mathematically precise when you double (or triple) the ingredients, but not the cooking times. When you double the batter....

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Type of Pan

Type of Pan Tout

Baking in a glass is different than baking in metal. The heat distribution in a glass pan is very uniform, but metal conducts heat better, so...

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Layer Cakes and Sheet Cakes

Credit: Annabelle Breakey; Styling: Karen Shinto

Layer Cakes and Sheet Cakes Tout

A 13 x 9-inch baking ban is just about equal to two 9-inch round cake pans in volume, so the amount of batter should be about right for a sheet cake pan. If you double your recipe you will have enough batter for two 13 x 9-inch sheet cakes.

The depth of both size pans is about the same (2 inches) so the baking times will be fairly similar...

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Leavening Agents

Credit: Becky Luigart-Stayner; Styling: Cindy Barr

Leavening Agents Tout

Baking powder and baking soda are both leaveners: that is, both help baked goods rise.

Baking soda (bicarbonate of soda) is four times as strong as baking powder and is actually...

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Sinking Cakes

Credit: John Autry; Styling: Cindy Barr

Sinking Cakes Tout

A cake that puffs up as it bakes and deflates as it cools has usually had air beaten into the batter too quickly or vigorously. Here are a few tips to prevent sinking cakes...

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Sinking Berries

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Sinking Berries Tout

For cakes, muffins and other quick breads, and tarts that have fruit, toss the fruit with just enough flour to coat it well before you add it to the batter. Also, the lighter the pieces are, the less likely they are to sink through the batter...

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Chocolate Bloom

Chocolate Bloom Tout

Don't be worried about that gray–white cloudy covering on your chocolate called "bloom." It's simply the result of being stored for a while at a somewhat warm temperature...

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Melting Chocolate

Credit: Evan Sklar

Melting Chocolate Tout

To keep chocolate from burning, take it away from the heat before it's completely melted, and keep stirring until it is. When you melt chocolate on the stovetop, place it...

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Chocolate and Cream

Credit: Ellen Silverman; Styling: Toni Brogan

Chocolate and Cream Tout

When you add warm melted chocolate to cold cream, it instantly hardens. Either melt the chocolate with the liquid...

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Substituting Chocolate

Credit: Beau Gustafson; Styling: Mindi Shapiro Levine

Substituting Chocolate Tout

Unsweetened chocolate, as its name indicates, contains absolutely no added sugar, while bittersweet chocolate has anywhere from about 10% to 50% sugar. Because of the difference in sugar content, these two types of chocolate are not interchangeable in recipes...

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Freezing Cookie Dough

Credit: Ryan Benyi; Styling: Lynn Miller

Freezing Cookie Dough Tout

Nearly all kinds of cookie doughs freeze well for up to three months. Form the dough into a log, wrap it tightly in plastic...

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Chilling Cookie Dough

Credit: Becky Luigart-Stayner; Styling: Cindy Barr

Chilling Cookie Dough Tout

Most cookie dough can be refrigerated, well-wrapped, for three to five days before baking. If you want to make it farther in advance, freeze the dough...

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Oil, Butter, and Margarine

Credit: Johnny Autry; Styling: Leigh Ann Ross

Oil, Butter, and Margarine Tout

Before substituting oil for butter in a cake, cookie, or pie recipe, it's important to understand what each does and does not contribute to the outcome.

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Self-Rising Flour

Self-Rising Flour Tout

Self-rising flour is all-purpose flour with baking powder and salt added. To make your own, combine 1 cup of all-purpose flour with 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon of salt...

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Eggs

Credit: Lee Harrelson; Styling: Ana Kelly, Mindi Shapiro

Eggs Tout

When you're making quick breads and muffins you can use frozen egg substitute: one-fourth cup of egg substitute is equal to...

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Honey and Sugar

Credit: Will Dickey

Honey and Sugar Tout

To use honey in place of 1 cup of sugar, use 2 tablespoons less honey, add 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda and reduce another liquid in the recipe by...

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Top Baking Questions Answered

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