Baking Guides

There's a question I get asked more often than I expected when I started writing about baking. Not how do you get crumpets to rise properly, or what temperature is right for a loaf — but a more fu …

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If you've ever pulled a tray of pale, sunken puddings out of the oven and blamed the recipe, the tin probably had more to do with it than the batter. A good Yorkshire pudding tin holds its heat throug …

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If you've got a glut of bananas going black on the side and you can't quite face heating the whole oven for one small loaf, the air fryer is the answer. It bakes banana bread beautifully — a prop …

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If you've ever pulled a loaf out of the oven and found the base pale while the top is already over-coloured, or wrestled a tin out of the cupboard only to find it's buckled on one side — you a …

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You do not need to go hunting for a special mini muffin recipe just because the holes in the tin are smaller. The internet makes it look as though every tin, tray and spoon needs its own separate re …

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There is something very satisfying about a dessert that looks like it came from a bakery, but did not require bakery-level effort. That is exactly why mini elegant cake pans are having a moment. The …

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Most homemade cinnamon rolls have the same problem: they’re soft all the way through. No contrast. No structure. Nothing that quite matches the bakery version with its golden edges and soft, ri …

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A 2lb loaf tin measures roughly 25 x 12.5 x 8 cm (10 x 5 x 3 inches) and holds about 1.5 litres of batter or dough — enough for a family-sized loaf of eight to ten slices. The "2lb" ref …

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Most trays fail early, not because they're terrible, but because people unknowingly damage them. A few small habits, repeated over months and years, quietly shorten the life of something that should …

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Mince pies are one of those things that should be straightforward. Pastry, mincemeat, oven, done. And yet every Christmas, the same questions come up: the filling boils over and welds itself to the t …

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A bundt cake is one of the most satisfying things you can bake. The tin does most of the decorating for you — that distinctive fluted ring shape looks impressive without any piping, …

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Yorkshire puddings don't rise when the fat or the oven isn't hot enough. The lift comes from cold batter hitting smoking-hot fat in a fully preheated oven — if either is too cool, you get flat, …

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