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6 Tips to prevent butchering your baking

***Rachel Khoo would like to thank all the inspiring people who helped make the Khoollect studio a hive of creativity. Although the Khoollect studio’s doors have now closed, you can keep up with Rachel’s newest adventures on RachelKhoo.com and on Rachel’s Instagram and Facebook pages – and, continue to enjoy the Khoollect website’s stories and recipes, which will remain available.***

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Sure, we can all throw together a five-minute meal, a packet of pot noodles, or the most simple of starters, but what about producing drool-inducing baked goods, or perfectly-leavened loaves. For some, the struggle is real. Think melted meringues, turned-to-black toffee, a pancake-flat sponge, or failed flapjacks – sometimes, it’s just darn hard to grasp the knack. Three Ingredient Baking author Sarah Rainey offers up some tips to help prevent butchering your baked goods.

1. Take itty bitty baby steps

If your first bake is a five-layer ombre cake or a soufflé, you’re setting yourself up for a fall. Try a Victoria sponge, some chocolate chip cookies or a straightforward recipe for scones. Then build up your confidence.

2. Test your own patience

Baking is like alchemy [not butchery] – there’s lots of waiting and oven-watching involved. If a recipe tells you to whisk eggs for 10 minutes, do that, or if you have to leave something to cool in the oven, don’t try to cut corners. It’ll be worth it in the long run!

3. Dare yourself

Don’t be afraid to experiment. Sure, there are certain things you can’t change in a recipe – flour, eggs, sugar, etc – but when it comes to the flavour, or the filling, or the topping, let your imagination run wild.

4. Look to the ‘tried and true’

Get some motivation from old cookery books – and I mean reeally old ones – the sort that are thick with dust on the bottom shelves of charity shop bookcases and cost 10p. I love community cookbooks, too – the ones compiled by pupils at a school or by neighbours who live on the same street. These have the most heartfelt, authentic recipes in them, handed down from generation to generation and you know they’re going to work because they’ve been tested so many times.

5. Take inspo from the old

I love looking through my Grandma’s old recipe notes – she was an amazing cook and baker, and she jotted down everything in her neat, loopy handwriting. Like my mum, she also annotated recipes from magazines and cookery books, with ‘V good’ or ‘Needs salt’ written in the margins – and I love seeing her little comments and work-arounds.

6. Hop on Insta to see what’s happening

Instagram is like a bubbling pot of the most inventive and inspiring dishes – whether they’re served up in Michelin-starred restaurants or cooked up in someone’s kitchen. I adore Symmetry Breakfast (I’m obsessed with brunch food), Anna Jones, Sabrina Ghayour and Rosie Birkett.

Got some handy tips of your own to share? Tell us in the comments below…

Try an easy recipe

Make Sarah Rainey’s quick and easy Chocolate Praline Brownies using just three ingredients.

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Try an easy recipe

Make Sarah Rainey’s quick and easy Chocolate Praline Brownies using just three ingredients.

Try an easy recipe

Make Sarah Rainey’s quick and easy Chocolate Praline Brownies using just three ingredients.

Sure, we can all throw together a five-minute meal, a packet of pot noodles, or the most simple of starters, but what about producing drool-inducing baked goods, or perfectly-leavened loaves. For some, the struggle is real. Think melted meringues, turned-to-black toffee, a pancake-flat sponge, or failed flapjacks – sometimes, it’s just darn hard to grasp the knack. Three Ingredient Baking author Sarah Rainey offers up some tips to help prevent butchering your baked goods.

1. Take itty bitty baby steps

If your first bake is a five-layer ombre cake or a soufflé, you’re setting yourself up for a fall. Try a Victoria sponge, some chocolate chip cookies or a straightforward recipe for scones. Then build up your confidence.

2. Test your own patience

Baking is like alchemy [not butchery] – there’s lots of waiting and oven-watching involved. If a recipe tells you to whisk eggs for 10 minutes, do that, or if you have to leave something to cool in the oven, don’t try to cut corners. It’ll be worth it in the long run!

3. Dare yourself

Don’t be afraid to experiment. Sure, there are certain things you can’t change in a recipe – flour, eggs, sugar, etc – but when it comes to the flavour, or the filling, or the topping, let your imagination run wild.

4. Look to the ‘tried and true’

Get some motivation from old cookery books – and I mean reeally old ones – the sort that are thick with dust on the bottom shelves of charity shop bookcases and cost 10p. I love community cookbooks, too – the ones compiled by pupils at a school or by neighbours who live on the same street. These have the most heartfelt, authentic recipes in them, handed down from generation to generation and you know they’re going to work because they’ve been tested so many times.

5. Take inspo from the old

I love looking through my Grandma’s old recipe notes – she was an amazing cook and baker, and she jotted down everything in her neat, loopy handwriting. Like my mum, she also annotated recipes from magazines and cookery books, with ‘V good’ or ‘Needs salt’ written in the margins – and I love seeing her little comments and work-arounds.

6. Hop on Insta to see what’s happening

Instagram is like a bubbling pot of the most inventive and inspiring dishes – whether they’re served up in Michelin-starred restaurants or cooked up in someone’s kitchen. I adore Symmetry Breakfast (I’m obsessed with brunch food), Anna Jones, Sabrina Ghayour and Rosie Birkett.

Got some handy tips of your own to share? Tell us in the comments below…

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WRITTEN BY:
Bex Shannon

Hailing from far away New Zealand, Bex is into music, travel and everything vintage and retro. She h...

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WRITTEN BY:
Bex Shannon

Hailing from far away New Zealand, Bex is into music, travel and everything vintage and retro. She h...

READ MORE BY Bex Shannon

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Your dream holiday destination

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WRITTEN BY:
Bex Shannon

Hailing from far away New Zealand, Bex is into music, travel and everything vintage and retro. She h...

READ MORE BY Bex Shannon

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Your dream holiday destination

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With over 30 delicious recipes, this e-cookbook showcases wonderful new ways to cook with cocoa. This is not just a dessert book; within you'll find a whole range of recipes for every occasion from a decadent chocolate tahini caramel torte, to a confit cocoa cod with lemony white chocolate sauce. These recipes are featured in Rachel Khoo's Chocolate TV show.

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