Every technique, ingredient, tool and bit of kitchen science behind our recorded video classes, cross-referenced to the exact recipes that use it. Search a term, filter by class, or switch to the recipe view to see what each recipe asks a student to know.
A cake decorated with a flat, picture-like design (a character or scene) built from cut fondant pieces and painted details, rather than 3D figures.
Pro tip: Print the design, cut it out as a paper template, and cut each fondant layer from the template so proportions stay correct.
Finely ground blanched almonds. Gives Linzer cookies their tender, nutty, short texture.
Pro tip: Grind almonds with a spoon of sugar in short pulses; continuous grinding turns them into almond butter.
Stone-ground whole wheat flour including bran and germ. Used in whole wheat bread and wheat cookies.
Pro tip: Atta absorbs more water and gives a denser result. Add 1–2 tbsp more liquid per cup and expect a slightly lower rise.
Expressing each ingredient as a percentage of the total flour weight (flour = 100%), so bread recipes can be scaled easily.
Pro tip: For 500 g flour at 2% salt, use 10 g salt.
A chemical leavener containing soda and acid. Releases gas when wet and again when heated (double-acting).
Pro tip: Test freshness: a spoonful in hot water should fizz strongly. Old powder is a common reason cakes don't rise.
An alkaline leavener that needs an acid (curd, vinegar, cocoa, brown sugar, honey) to release gas. It also increases browning.
Pro tip: Too much gives a soapy taste and brownish-green crumb. Measure it exactly.
Adding moisture to the oven in the first minutes of baking (a tray of hot water or spraying the walls) to keep the crust soft long enough for full rise, then letting it crisp.
Pro tip: For French loaf in an OTG, place a tray of boiling water on the lowest rack while preheating. Remove it after 10 minutes.
Weaving three, four or six strands of dough into a plait, as in challah and stuffed braided bread.
Pro tip: Roll strands to equal length and thickness, and braid loosely. Tight braids tear open during proofing and baking.
Wheat flour with higher protein (about 12–14%) that forms strong gluten for chewy, tall breads and pizza bases.
Pro tip: If unavailable, add 1 tsp vital wheat gluten per cup of maida.
Sugar with molasses, which adds moisture, chewiness and a caramel flavour to blondies, cookies and cinnamon roll filling.
Pro tip: Pack brown sugar into the cup when measuring by volume.
The first rise, after kneading, when the whole dough rests covered until roughly doubled while yeast produces gas and flavour.
Pro tip: In Chennai's heat, dough can double in 40–50 minutes instead of 90. Judge by size, not by the clock.
Sugar cooked past caramel to a deep brown, then thinned with hot water. It gives Kerala-style plum cake its dark colour and slight bitter-sweet flavour.
Pro tip: Take it to deep mahogany, not black, and add the water carefully; it spits violently.
Dairy fat with about 80% fat and 15–18% water. Gives flavour, tenderness and the air for creamed cakes and cookies.
Pro tip: Use unsalted butter so you control salt. With salted butter, leave out the added salt in the recipe.
Non-stick paper used to line tins and trays, roll dough and set chocolates.
Pro tip: Crumple it and smooth it out again so it fits into round tins without creasing.
Small, soft morsels of sugar, fat, milk solids and butterscotch flavour, shaped like chocolate chips. They hold their shape in baking and melt when heated, with no nuts.
Pro tip: Bake into cookie, blondie, brownie or muffin batter, or melt into a sauce, ganache or fudge. Not the same as crushed caramel candy sold as "butterscotch crunch/bits" -- that's closer to praline.
Caramelised sugar, often with butter, cooked with nuts (usually cashews or almonds), then cooled and crushed into a hard, crunchy brittle. Unlike butterscotch chips, it always contains nuts.
Pro tip: It turns sticky in cream or the fridge, so add it close to serving time, or coat it lightly with melted white chocolate first.
A sturdy base, usually cardboard covered in foil or a drum board, that sits under each cake or tier so it can be lifted, moved and displayed without touching the cake itself.
Pro tip: Use a board 2–3 inches bigger than the cake, and hide the exposed edge with ribbon.
Trimming baked layers into a shape, such as the dome skirt of a doll cake or a figure for a 2D or themed cake.
Pro tip: Carve a chilled cake with a serrated knife, removing small amounts at a time, and crumb coat immediately after.
A cake scraper smooths frosting sides; a bench scraper divides and handles bread dough.
Pro tip: Warm the cake scraper in hot water and dry it for the final smooth pass.
A cake that collapses in the centre, usually from underbaking, too much leavening, opening the oven early, or batter left standing.
Pro tip: Measure leaveners exactly and don't open the oven in the first two-thirds of the baking time.
Round, square, loaf, bundt, dome (for doll cake) and springform pans, plus cupcake trays.
Pro tip: Fill tins only two-thirds full. Light aluminium bakes more evenly than dark tins.
A rotating stand that makes frosting, smoothing and piping even.
Pro tip: Place a damp cloth under the cake board so it doesn't slide on the turntable.
Sugar breaking down under heat (around 160–180°C) into brown colour and complex flavour. The basis of caramel, praline and burnt sugar syrup.
Pro tip: Caramel goes from amber to burnt in seconds. Have the cream ready before you start.
Finely granulated sugar that creams faster and dissolves more readily than coarse sugar.
Pro tip: Pulse regular sugar briefly in a mixer jar. Don't over-grind or it becomes icing sugar.
Used on Black Forest cake, between layers and as the top garnish.
Pro tip: Drain well, and use the cherry syrup to soak the sponge.
Resting cookie dough in the fridge so the fat firms up, flour hydrates and flavour develops.
Pro tip: Chilled dough spreads less and holds cut-out shapes. 30 minutes is enough for most butter cookies.
White streaks (fat bloom, from poor tempering or heat) or a dusty white film (sugar bloom, from moisture) on chocolate.
Pro tip: Store chocolates at 16–18°C away from the fridge's humidity. Bring fridge-chilled chocolates to room temperature still wrapped.
Small chocolate drops made to hold their shape in the oven. Used in choco chip cookies and brownies.
Pro tip: Toss chips in a little flour before folding into soft batter so they don't sink.
Moulds for bars, bonbons and shapes. Polycarbonate gives the shiniest finish; silicone is easiest to demould.
Pro tip: Polish polycarbonate moulds with cotton wool before use for a mirror shine.
Crushed or chopped cream biscuits used in Oreo cookie cream brownies and biscuit bases for no-bake desserts.
Pro tip: Crush with the cream filling for a no-bake base; it acts as part of the binder.
Thin flakes or curls scraped from a block of chocolate with a peeler or knife; the classic coating on Black Forest cake.
Pro tip: Chocolate at slightly warm room temperature curls; cold chocolate shatters into flakes. Handle with a spoon, not fingers.
Acetate sheets printed with cocoa-butter designs. Melted chocolate spread or moulded over the sheet picks up the design when set.
Pro tip: Place the printed side facing the chocolate and peel only when fully set and cold.
The coloured outer peel of citrus, full of aromatic oils; used in the orange glaze blondie.
Pro tip: Zest only the coloured layer. The white pith beneath is bitter.
The natural fat of the cocoa bean. Determines how real chocolate melts, sets and shines.
Pro tip: A little melted cocoa butter brushed into moulds gives a high-gloss finish.
Ground cocoa solids with most fat removed. Natural cocoa is acidic and reacts with baking soda; Dutch-processed is alkalised, darker and milder.
Pro tip: Bloom cocoa in hot water or coffee before adding to batter for a deeper chocolate flavour.
Chocolate in which cocoa butter is replaced by vegetable fat. It melts and sets easily without tempering, so it is common in Indian home chocolate making.
Pro tip: Melt only to about 40–45°C. Overheating makes it thick and grainy.
Milk with water removed and sugar added, thick and very sweet. The backbone of eggless cakes, fudge, no-bake desserts and some chocolate fillings.
Pro tip: Reduce sugar elsewhere in the recipe when you use it.
Kneading sugar paste until warm, smooth and pliable before rolling or colouring it.
Pro tip: If it cracks, knead in a pea-sized bit of shortening. If it is sticky, dust lightly with cornflour, not more icing sugar.
How much cookies flatten in the oven. Controlled by fat temperature, sugar type, flour amount and oven heat.
Pro tip: Too much spread: chill dough, check butter wasn't melted, and add a spoon more flour.
A raised grid that lets air circulate under baked goods so they cool without getting soggy.
Pro tip: Cool cakes in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn out onto the rack.
Pure starch from maize. Softens cake crumb, thickens custard and fillings, and is used for dusting fondant work surfaces.
Pro tip: Replace 2 tbsp of maida per cup with cornflour for a softer, more tender sponge.
High-quality chocolate with a high cocoa-butter content. Has better flavour and snap but must be tempered.
Pro tip: Use for premium bars and bonbons; use compound for practice, drips and coating.
Rolling fondant to an even 3–4 mm sheet, lifting it over a firm, chilled, ganached cake, and smoothing it down the sides without pleats.
Pro tip: Measure the sheet: diameter + 2 × height + a few cm. Smooth the top first, then lift and ease the sides down instead of pulling.
Crisp savoury biscuits used as the base for crackers chocolate and cream cheese chocolate crackers.
Pro tip: Use fresh, crisp crackers; soft ones go chewy under the chocolate.
Soft, mildly tangy fresh cheese. Base for red velvet frosting, cheese-cream brownie swirls and cream cheese crackers.
Pro tip: Use it at room temperature and beat until smooth before adding sugar, or the frosting becomes lumpy.
Beating softened butter (or fat) with sugar until pale, light and fluffy. Sugar crystals cut tiny air pockets into the fat, and those pockets expand in the oven to give a soft, even crumb.
Pro tip: Butter should be soft but still cool (about 18–20°C, dents when pressed). Melted or oily butter cannot hold air and gives dense, greasy cakes and flat cookies.
A thin first layer of frosting that seals loose crumbs to the cake before the final, smooth coat goes on.
Pro tip: Chill the cake for 15–20 minutes after crumb coating. The final coat then goes on clean with no crumbs showing.
Paper or foil cups for cupcakes and for presenting chocolates (like Ferrero gold cups).
Pro tip: Use grease-proof liners so oil doesn't stain through.
Volume measurement (cups, spoons) varies with how ingredients are packed; weighing in grams is consistent.
Pro tip: Standard reference: 1 cup maida ≈ 125 g, 1 cup sugar ≈ 200 g, 1 cup butter ≈ 225 g.
Cultured milk that adds acidity and moisture. Activates baking soda and tenderises the crumb in red velvet, rava and eggless cakes.
Pro tip: Use fresh curd. Very sour curd gives a tangy flavour and can over-activate soda.
A thick vanilla cream cooked from milk, sugar, egg and/or custard powder and cornflour. Fills custard donuts and forms the pudding cake layer.
Pro tip: Whisk constantly as it thickens, and press cling film directly onto the surface to stop a skin forming.
Shaped metal or plastic cutters for cookies, donuts and fondant shapes; plunger cutters stamp and push out small fondant designs.
Pro tip: Dip cutters in flour or cornflour between cuts for clean edges.
Cooking proofed donuts in oil at about 170–175°C so they puff, colour evenly and cook through without absorbing oil.
Pro tip: Oil too cool makes greasy donuts; too hot browns the outside while the centre stays raw. Fry 1–1.5 minutes per side.
Dried, finely grated coconut. Used in coconut cookies, choco-coconut brownies, coconut chocolate bars, Raffaello-style balls and honey jam cake.
Pro tip: Toast lightly for a nuttier flavour, or use as-is for the white Raffaello finish.
Measures ingredients by weight for consistent, repeatable results.
Pro tip: Use the tare (zero) button to weigh each ingredient straight into the bowl.
Pressing fingertips deep into focaccia dough before baking to create the classic pockets that hold olive oil and toppings.
Pro tip: Oil your fingers and press right down to the tray. Shallow dimples disappear in the oven.
A thin, pronged tool for dipping and lifting truffles and centres out of melted chocolate.
Pro tip: A regular fork with the middle prongs bent works at home.
Pricking dough with a fork or docker so steam escapes and the base bakes flat without large bubbles.
Pro tip: Dock pizza bases that are par-baked, and puff pastry bases where you want a flat bottom layer.
A cake that rises into a peak and cracks on top, usually because the oven is too hot or the batter is too stiff.
Pro tip: Lower the temperature by 10–20°C, or wrap the tin with wet cake strips.
A heatproof bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water, used to melt chocolate gently.
Pro tip: The bowl must not touch the water, and no steam should reach the chocolate.
The weight of water as a percentage of flour weight. Sandwich bread is around 60–65%; focaccia can exceed 75%.
Pro tip: Higher hydration gives a more open, airy crumb but stickier dough. Use wet hands, not extra flour.
Plastic or wooden rods pushed into a lower tier of a stacked cake so the weight of the tiers above is carried down to the base, instead of resting on the cake itself.
Pro tip: Cut dowels to exactly the height of the tier, levelled against each other before inserting -- uneven dowels make the tier above tilt and crack the fondant.
Raisins, dates, figs, glazed cherries, orange peel and tutti frutti used in plum cake, fruit cake and fruit n nut bars.
Pro tip: Toss soaked fruit in a spoon of flour before folding in so it doesn't sink.
Running cooled ganache over the top edge of a chilled cake so it falls in controlled drips down the sides.
Pro tip: Test one drip first. Too hot and it runs to the board; too cold and it stops in thick blobs. The cake must be well chilled.
Lightly coating the work surface, rolling pin or moulds with cornflour (or icing sugar) to stop fondant sticking.
Pro tip: Brush off excess cornflour afterwards with a dry brush; it leaves white patches on dark fondant.
A sticky liquid used to attach fondant pieces. Made from tylose and water, or a little water brushed lightly.
Pro tip: Use very little. Too much makes pieces slide and leaves shiny marks.
A photo or design printed with edible ink onto frosting or wafer sheets and placed on the cake.
Pro tip: Place it on a firm, smooth, cold surface just before serving; moisture from fresh cream makes the print bleed.
Beaten egg (sometimes with milk or water) brushed on dough before baking for a shiny, golden crust and to make seeds stick.
Pro tip: Eggless option: milk with a little butter, or milk with a pinch of sugar. Brush gently so you don't deflate proofed dough.
Ingredients that replace eggs in eggless baking: condensed milk, curd, buttermilk, vinegar with baking soda, mashed banana, flax gel or commercial replacer.
Pro tip: Use 1/4 cup curd per egg in cakes. For lift, pair curd or vinegar with baking soda.
Provide structure, lift (when whipped), richness and colour. Recipes generally assume a large egg of about 50 g without shell.
Pro tip: Crack eggs into a separate bowl first so one bad egg doesn't spoil the batter.
A stable mix of fat and water held together, such as creamed butter with eggs, or ganache.
Pro tip: If a ganache splits (oily), whisk in a spoon of warm milk to bring it back together.
Coating a centre (truffle, wafer ball, nut cluster, cracker) completely in melted chocolate using a dipping fork.
Pro tip: Tap the fork on the bowl rim to remove excess, then slide off onto butter paper so a pool of chocolate (a foot) doesn't form.
Extracts are made from the real ingredient (vanilla beans); essences are often artificial and stronger. Vanilla, butterscotch, pineapple and orange essences are widely used in Indian bakes.
Pro tip: Add essences a few drops at a time. Too much tastes chemical, especially in fresh cream frosting.
Brushing or spooning alcohol or syrup over a baked fruit cake every few days during storage so it matures and stays moist.
Pro tip: Prick the top with a skewer before feeding and wrap the cake tightly between feedings.
Yeast breaking down sugars into carbon dioxide (rise) and alcohol and acids (flavour). Slower fermentation gives more flavour.
Pro tip: For better flavour, ferment bread dough slowly overnight in the fridge.
Piping a filling (custard, cream, Nutella) into a baked or fried item through a small hole using a long filling nozzle.
Pro tip: Let the donut cool completely and the filling be cold and thick before piping, or it leaks.
Gently combining a light, airy mixture with a heavier one using a spatula in a cut-down-the-middle, scrape-and-turn motion, rotating the bowl as you go.
Pro tip: Fold only until no dry streaks remain. Stirring or beating at this point knocks out air and develops gluten, giving a flat, tough cake.
A pliable sugar dough of icing sugar, glucose, gelatin or gum and fat, rolled thin to cover cakes and used for decorations.
Pro tip: Store wrapped airtight. Exposed fondant dries and crusts within minutes.
Painting details onto dried fondant with gel colour or lustre dust mixed with a little clear alcohol or lemon extract.
Pro tip: Water dissolves fondant and makes it sticky. Use a spirit-based or lemon-based liquid that evaporates fast.
A flat paddle that presses out air pockets and polishes fondant to a smooth finish.
Pro tip: Work two smoothers together on the sides for sharp, clean edges.
Droplets forming on fondant when a cold cake meets warm, humid air, which makes fondant sticky and colours bleed.
Pro tip: A real risk in coastal humid cities. Bring cakes out of the fridge slowly, and keep the room air-conditioned.
Covering the cake with whipped cream, buttercream or cream-cheese frosting, then smoothing the sides and top with a scraper as the turntable turns.
Pro tip: Hold the scraper still at a 45° angle and turn the table, not your hand. Finish the top edge by pulling inwards with an offset spatula.
White compound flavoured and coloured for strawberry, pineapple and blueberry chocolates, using oil-based flavouring or freeze-dried fruit powder.
Pro tip: Water-based essences can seize chocolate. Choose oil-soluble flavours or emulsions labelled for chocolate.
Brownie texture depends on the fat-to-flour ratio and leavening: more chocolate and butter with little flour gives fudgy; more flour, eggs and baking powder gives cakey.
Pro tip: For fudgy brownies, skip the baking powder and bake just until set.
Emulsion of chocolate and hot cream. The ratio decides its use: about 1:1 for drips and glaze, 2:1 for truffles and firm filling under fondant.
Pro tip: Pour hot (not boiling) cream over chopped chocolate, wait two minutes, then stir from the centre outwards.
Soft butter mixed with crushed garlic and herbs, spread on garlic cheese bread.
Pro tip: Use soft, not melted, butter so it stays on top instead of soaking through.
Concentrated colour in gel form that tints batter, cream and fondant without making them wet. Essential for red velvet and coloured fondant.
Pro tip: Add with a toothpick tip. Colours deepen as fondant and buttercream rest, so mix slightly lighter than the target.
Butter with the milk solids and water removed. Gives Indian-style butter and cashew cookies a rich, crumbly, melt-in-the-mouth texture.
Pro tip: Use ghee at a soft, spoonable stage. Melted ghee makes cookies spread and become greasy.
Coating a baked item with a thin, glossy layer: sugar glaze, chocolate glaze, orange glaze, or cream-cheese glaze.
Pro tip: Dip donuts while slightly warm so the glaze sets thin and shiny. Glaze cakes once cool so it doesn't soak in.
A stretchy network formed when wheat proteins (glutenin and gliadin) meet water and are worked. It gives bread chew and structure but makes cakes tough if overdeveloped.
Pro tip: Bread: knead to build gluten. Cakes and cookies: mix gently to limit it.
Adds moisture, sweetness and colour to carrot cake.
Pro tip: Grate finely and don't squeeze out the juice; it is part of the moisture.
Coating the tin with butter or oil and lining the base (and sides for long bakes) with butter paper so the cake releases cleanly.
Pro tip: For long-baking fruit cakes and plum cakes, double-line the sides and wrap the tin outside with paper to stop the edges burning.
A firmer paste that dries hard and thin; used for delicate figures, flowers and standing decorations.
Pro tip: Make gum paste by kneading tylose into fondant (about 1 tsp per 250 g).
A handheld electric beater with removable whisk or beater attachments, moved by hand over the bowl. Handles creaming, whisking eggs and whipping cream, and is usually a home baker's first mixer.
Pro tip: Start at low speed when adding flour so you don't get a flour cloud, and move it around the bowl rather than holding it in one spot.
Sweet chocolate-hazelnut spread used in Nutella brownies, star bread and as a Ferrero Rocher filling.
Pro tip: Warm the jar slightly in hot water so it spreads and swirls easily.
The whole roasted nut at the centre of a Ferrero Rocher-style chocolate.
Pro tip: Roast and rub off the skins in a kitchen towel for a cleaner flavour.
Tapping the base of a baked loaf; a hollow sound means it is cooked. More reliably, bread is done at an internal temperature of about 90–95°C.
Pro tip: Enriched breads are done around 88–90°C; lean breads closer to 95°C.
Natural sweetener that adds moisture and floral flavour and browns quickly. Used in challah and honey jam cake.
Pro tip: Lower the oven by about 10°C or cover with foil earlier, because honey browns fast.
Sugar ground to a fine powder, often with a little cornflour. Dissolves instantly for frostings, glazes and royal icing.
Pro tip: Grind regular sugar in a dry mixer jar with 1 tsp cornflour per cup if needed.
Gives coffee cake its flavour and deepens chocolate flavour in brownies and truffle cake.
Pro tip: Dissolve in a little hot water or milk first so there are no specks.
Unrefined sugars with deep caramel flavour. Molasses is traditional in gingerbread; powdered jaggery is a common Indian substitute.
Pro tip: Jaggery contains moisture and some impurities; dissolve and strain it before use.
Fills Linzer cookies and coats honey jam cake.
Pro tip: Warm jam slightly and stir smooth before spreading or piping.
Stretching and folding dough repeatedly to develop the gluten network that traps gas from the yeast and gives bread its structure.
Pro tip: Knead by hand for 10–15 minutes until smooth and elastic. Add flour sparingly; sticky dough usually becomes smooth with more kneading, not more flour.
Pressing the gas out of risen dough to redistribute the yeast and even out the bubbles before shaping.
Pro tip: Press gently with the fingers. Harsh punching tears the gluten you have developed.
Folding and rolling a block of fat into dough repeatedly to create hundreds of thin alternating layers of dough and fat, which puff up when steam forms in the oven.
Pro tip: Keep the fat and dough at the same cool, firm temperature. Chill between folds; if butter leaks through, layers are lost.
Stacking rounds of dough with a spread in between, then cutting and twisting them into a pattern, as in Nutella star bread.
Pro tip: Chill the stacked dough for 10 minutes before cutting so the layers stay neat.
Lean dough is just flour, water, yeast and salt (French loaf, focaccia, pita). Enriched dough adds sugar, fat, milk or eggs (challah, buns, donuts, cinnamon rolls), giving a soft crumb.
Pro tip: Enriched doughs rise more slowly; give them more time.
Anything that makes dough or batter rise: chemical (baking powder, soda), biological (yeast), or mechanical (air from creaming and whisking, steam).
Pro tip: Most recipes combine methods; red velvet uses creaming plus soda and acid.
Cutting the domed top off a cake so it sits flat and stacks straight.
Pro tip: Save the off-cuts for cake pops, trifle or the crumb in a no-bake dessert.
A thick syrup that prevents sugar crystallisation. Keeps caramel, fudge, ganache and fondant smooth and pliable.
Pro tip: Wet the spoon before measuring so it slides off cleanly.
Rectangular tin for sandwich bread, whole wheat bread and pound-style cakes.
Pro tip: Shape the dough to the full length of the tin so it rises evenly.
Fine edible powders that give metallic or pearly shine to fondant and chocolate.
Pro tip: Brush dry for a soft sheen, or mix with a few drops of alcohol to paint solid gold or silver.
Finely milled refined wheat flour with moderate protein (about 9–11%). The base for most cakes, cookies, brownies and many breads in the course.
Pro tip: Measure by weight. A cup of maida can vary by 20–30 g depending on how you scoop.
A reaction between proteins and sugars above about 140°C that creates the golden-brown colour and toasty flavour of crusts and baked goods.
Pro tip: Egg wash, milk and sugar speed browning. Pale crusts usually mean the oven is too cool.
Heating sugar alone (dry) or with water (wet) until it melts and turns amber, then often adding cream and butter for a sauce or chewy caramel.
Pro tip: Don't stir a wet caramel once it boils; swirl the pan instead, or it crystallises. Warm the cream before adding so it doesn't seize and splatter.
Twisting and folding two or more fondant colours together just until streaked, then rolling them out to create a marble pattern. For torn marble, the rolled sheet is torn and layered over the cake for a rough-edged look.
Pro tip: Stop twisting early. Over-kneading blends the colours into one flat shade.
Coating chicken or paneer in spiced curd (tandoori/tikka marinade) and resting it so flavour penetrates before it goes on the pizza.
Pro tip: Use thick hung curd so the topping doesn't make the pizza wet. Pre-cook the chicken before it goes on the base.
Milk slowly reduced to soft solids. Gives mawa cake its rich, milky, Parsi-bakery flavour.
Pro tip: Crumble and soften mawa by hand before creaming with butter so no lumps remain.
Gently liquefying chocolate over a double boiler or in short microwave bursts, stirring between each, so it stays smooth and glossy.
Pro tip: Keep all water and steam away. Microwave in 20–30 second bursts at medium power; chocolate keeps its shape even when hot and burns before it looks melted.
Dried milk solids. Adds softness, flavour and browning to breads and richness to fillings and homemade chocolates.
Pro tip: Add 1–2 tbsp to sandwich bread for a soft, milky crumb and golden crust.
Shaping 3D decorations (animals, a moon baby, a panda, make-up items, a doll) from fondant or gum paste.
Pro tip: Add tylose so figures hold shape and dry firm. Make figures 2–3 days ahead in dry, air-conditioned conditions.
Small tools for shaping, thinning and adding texture to fondant figures and flowers.
Pro tip: Work on a foam pad when thinning petals with a ball tool.
Filling polycarbonate or silicone moulds with chocolate to form bars, bonbons or shells, then tapping out air bubbles.
Pro tip: Tap the mould firmly on the counter to release air. Chill until the chocolate visibly shrinks from the edges before demoulding.
Mozzarella melts and stretches on pizza and cheese burst crusts; processed cheese gives a creamy, molten filling.
Pro tip: Grate cheese yourself from a block and pat dry. Wet cheese makes the pizza soggy.
Desserts that set by chilling instead of baking, held together by melted chocolate, condensed milk, butter or crushed biscuits.
Pro tip: Press the base firmly into the tin and chill for at least 4 hours before cutting with a hot, dry knife.
A chewy confection of whipped egg white or milk, sugar and nuts; the soft layer in nugget-style chocolate bars, often under caramel and peanuts.
Pro tip: A milk-powder and marshmallow version sets well in home kitchens without a thermometer.
Add crunch, flavour and richness to brownies, cookies, nut chocolates, fudge and fruit cakes.
Pro tip: Chop nuts after roasting. Store in the fridge; they turn rancid quickly in the heat.
An offset (angled) spatula spreads frosting; a rubber spatula folds batter and scrapes bowls clean.
Pro tip: Use the offset spatula to smooth tops and lift delicate cookies off the tray.
Colour dissolved in fat so it blends into chocolate and cocoa butter. Water-based colours make chocolate seize.
Pro tip: Use oil-based or powder colours for strawberry, pineapple and blueberry chocolates and printed designs.
Adds flavour and a crisp, golden bottom to focaccia and some pizza doughs.
Pro tip: Use plenty in the tray and over the dimples for focaccia.
The countertop electric oven used in most Indian homes, with top and bottom heating rods and often a fan.
Pro tip: Bake cakes on the middle rack with both rods on. Use the fan for cookies and bread, not for delicate sponges.
The rapid rise in the first minutes of baking as gas expands and yeast makes a final burst before it dies.
Pro tip: Correct proofing, steam and a well-preheated oven give the best oven spring.
Mixing too much after flour is added, which develops gluten and pops air bubbles; results are tough, dense, or full of tunnels.
Pro tip: Stop mixing as soon as no flour is visible.
Partly baking a base before adding wet toppings so it stays crisp under sauce and cheese.
Pro tip: Par-bake pizza bases for 4–5 minutes, then add sauce and toppings and finish baking.
For egg wash, syrup, glazes and edible glue.
Pro tip: Silicone brushes are easiest to clean; bristle brushes hold more liquid.
Ground roasted peanuts. Used in peanut butter chocolate bars and truffles.
Pro tip: Natural peanut butter separates; stir well or use a no-stir variety for consistent results.
Pressing frosting, ganache, custard or royal icing through a nozzle fitted in a piping bag to create borders, rosettes, writing or fillings.
Pro tip: Fill the bag only half-way and twist the top. Steady, even pressure from the top of the bag gives uniform shapes; the other hand only guides.
Disposable or reusable bags fitted with metal tips: star, round, petal, leaf, and filling nozzles.
Pro tip: Use a coupler to change tips without emptying the bag.
Pita puffs into a hollow because intense heat turns moisture into steam that separates the top and bottom layers.
Pro tip: Bake on a fully preheated tray at maximum heat. Roll evenly; thin spots tear and won't puff.
A thick, seasoned tomato sauce spread on pizza bases.
Pro tip: Reduce it until thick. Thin sauce makes a soggy base.
A perforated tray or stone that delivers strong bottom heat for crisp pizza and focaccia bases.
Pro tip: Preheat the tray or stone with the oven for the crispest base.
Caramelised sugar poured over roasted nuts, cooled until hard, then cracked or crushed. Used in crunchy caramel brownies and butterscotch chocolates.
Pro tip: Store crushed praline airtight; it becomes sticky within hours in humid air.
Dividing dough into weighed portions, rounding them, resting briefly, then forming the final shape (loaf, bun, roll, stick) with surface tension on the outside.
Pro tip: Weigh each portion on a scale so buns bake evenly. A taut skin on top gives a smooth, round rise.
Heating the oven to the set temperature for 10–15 minutes before the tray goes in, so baking starts at the correct heat.
Pro tip: Batter left waiting in a cold oven loses its leavening reaction. OTGs often run hotter or cooler than the dial; check with an oven thermometer.
The final rise after shaping, before baking, when the shaped dough puffs up to about 1.5–2 times its size.
Pro tip: Use the poke test: press a floured finger in. If it springs back slowly and leaves a small dent, it is ready. If it springs back fast, wait; if it doesn't spring back, it has over-proofed.
Taking brownies out while the centre still looks slightly soft, because they keep cooking from the tin's heat and firm up as they cool.
Pro tip: A toothpick should come out with moist crumbs, not wet batter and not clean. Clean means the brownie will be dry and cakey.
Gluten-free millet flour, rich in calcium and fibre, with an earthy flavour and brown colour. Used in ragi cookies and ragi cake.
Pro tip: Because it has no gluten, it is usually blended with maida or atta (often 50:50) for structure.
Coarse durum or wheat semolina, used in rava cake for a grainy, melt-in-the-mouth texture.
Pro tip: Use fine rava, and soak it in the curd or milk before baking so it isn't gritty.
Letting a batter stand before baking so starches absorb liquid, as rava cake needs for the semolina to soften.
Pro tip: Rest rava batter 20–30 minutes, then add the baking soda or powder just before baking.
Mashed banana adds sweetness, moisture and binding to banana cake; it can also replace eggs.
Pro tip: Use bananas with dark, spotty skins for the strongest flavour.
Heating nuts in a dry pan or oven until fragrant and lightly golden, which deepens flavour and adds crunch.
Pro tip: Roast at 160°C for 8–10 minutes, shaking once. Nuts keep cooking after they come out, so stop just before they look done.
Rolling dough to an even thickness and stamping shapes with cutters, as for gingerbread, Linzer and wheat cookies.
Pro tip: Roll between two sheets of butter paper to avoid adding extra flour, and use guide sticks for an even thickness.
Used for dough, cookies and fondant. A non-stick plastic pin is best for fondant.
Pro tip: Use spacer rings or guide sticks for perfectly even thickness.
Scooping firm ganache, peanut-butter or nut mixtures into balls, chilling, then coating in chocolate, cocoa, coconut or nuts.
Pro tip: Cool hands help. Rinse in cold water and dry before rolling, or wear gloves.
Spreading filling over a rectangle of dough and rolling it into a tight log, then slicing into spirals, as for cinnamon rolls.
Pro tip: Use dental floss or a very sharp knife to slice without squashing the spiral.
Bringing butter, eggs, milk, curd and cream cheese to around 20–25°C before mixing so they emulsify into a smooth batter.
Pro tip: Cold eggs added to creamed butter make the batter curdle. In a warm kitchen, room temperature can arrive in 20 minutes; do not leave butter out until it melts.
An icing of egg white (or meringue powder) and icing sugar that dries hard. Used to pipe outlines and details on gingerbread cookies.
Pro tip: Stiff consistency for outlines, thinner flood consistency for filling. Keep the bowl covered with a damp cloth; it crusts quickly.
Controls yeast activity, strengthens gluten and seasons dough. Bread without salt rises too fast and tastes flat.
Pro tip: Don't put salt in direct contact with yeast; mix it into the flour first.
Joining two cookies or biscuits with a filling such as jam, ganache or cream, as in Linzer cookies.
Pro tip: Fill when cookies are fully cool, and dust the top cookie with icing sugar before sandwiching.
Herbs and spices that give masala cookies their savoury flavour, often with a touch of sugar and salt.
Pro tip: Crush ajwain between the palms to release the oil before adding.
Cutting shallow slashes on top of a loaf just before baking so it expands in a controlled direction.
Pro tip: Use a very sharp blade at a shallow angle, in one quick confident stroke about 5 mm deep.
A simple tempering method where chopped, already-tempered chocolate is stirred into melted chocolate to cool it and supply stable crystals.
Pro tip: Add about one-quarter of the weight as seed chocolate, stir until it reaches working temperature, then remove any unmelted pieces.
Melted chocolate suddenly turning thick, dull and grainy when a little water or steam gets into it.
Pro tip: A seized chocolate can't be used for coating, but can still go into brownies or a ganache.
Topping for burger buns and breadsticks.
Pro tip: Brush egg wash or milk first so the seeds stick.
Coating a mould with a thin chocolate layer, emptying the excess, filling the shells with ganache, caramel or praline, then capping with more chocolate.
Pro tip: Leave 2 mm space at the top for the cap, and let the filling set before capping.
The thin, glossy, paper-like crust on good brownies, formed when sugar dissolved in whisked eggs rises and dries as a meringue-like layer.
Pro tip: Whisk eggs and sugar well, and use warm melted butter and chocolate.
A crumbly, melt-in-the-mouth texture created when fat coats flour and prevents gluten forming; typical of butter and ghee cookies.
Pro tip: Mix shortbread-style doughs minimally once flour is in.
Solid vegetable fat with no water. Pastry margarine is used for lamination in puffs, and shortening softens fondant and conditions it.
Pro tip: Puff margarine stays plastic in warm kitchens far better than butter, which is why bakery puffs use it.
Passing flour, cocoa, leavening and icing sugar through a fine sieve to remove lumps, add air and evenly distribute baking powder or soda.
Pro tip: Always sift cocoa and icing sugar; both clump in humid weather. Sift leaveners with the flour so you never get bitter soda pockets.
A cast-iron plate on a wooden base used to serve sizzling brownies.
Pro tip: Never place the hot plate directly on the table without its wooden base.
Serving a warm brownie on a very hot cast-iron sizzler plate, topped with ice cream and poured with hot chocolate sauce so it hisses at the table.
Pro tip: Heat the plate on the stove until very hot, place on its wooden base, then add the brownie and sauce. The sauce must be thick enough to bubble, not splash.
Inserting a toothpick into the centre of a cake; if it comes out clean or with a few dry crumbs, the cake is done.
Pro tip: Test at the earliest suggested time. Opening the oven too early can make cakes sink.
Brushing sugar syrup (often flavoured) onto each sponge layer before frosting to keep it moist and add flavour.
Pro tip: Brush evenly and lightly. Too much syrup makes the base soggy and the cake slides under fresh-cream frosting.
Soaking dried fruits and peel in fruit juice, rum or brandy for days or weeks before baking a plum or fruit cake so they plump up and stay moist.
Pro tip: For an alcohol-free version, soak in orange or grape juice for 1–2 days in the fridge.
Stages of whipped cream or egg white: soft peaks bend over at the tip; stiff peaks stand upright.
Pro tip: Fresh-cream frosting needs firm-stiff peaks. Beyond that it turns to butter.
Sugar syrup cooked to about 112–116°C; a drop in cold water forms a soft ball that flattens when removed. This is the target for fudge.
Pro tip: Without a thermometer, keep testing drops in a bowl of cold water from the moment the mixture thickens.
Pressing the top of a cake lightly; if it springs back, the crumb is set.
Pro tip: A dent that stays means a few more minutes are needed.
Small sugar decorations for cupcakes, donuts and cakes.
Pro tip: Add just after glazing, while the glaze is still wet.
Building a multi-tier cake by placing each tier on its own cake board, supported by dowels pushed into the tier below so the weight is carried down to the base.
Pro tip: Cut dowels to exactly the height of the tier. Uneven dowels make the upper tier tilt and crack the fondant.
Starch re-crystallising after baking, making bread firm and dry, which happens fastest in the fridge.
Pro tip: Store bread at room temperature or freeze it. Fats, milk and sugar slow staling.
A countertop mixer with its own bowl and a motor-driven head, running hands-free with whisk, paddle and dough hook attachments. Handles heavier jobs a hand mixer struggles with, such as kneading bread dough or large-batch creaming.
Pro tip: Use the dough hook on low speed for kneading, and scrape down the bowl with a spatula partway through -- the mixer doesn't reach the sides on its own.
Baking a pan placed inside a larger tray of hot water so the batter cooks gently and evenly, used for caramel pudding cake.
Pro tip: Use hot water reaching halfway up the pan, and wrap springform tins in foil to keep water out.
How long each product stays good: fresh-cream cakes about 2 days chilled; brownies 4–5 days airtight; cookies 2 weeks airtight; plum cake weeks to months; chocolates several weeks cool and dry.
Pro tip: Label everything with the baking date, especially products sold to customers.
Enclosing a filling (cheese, vegetables, chicken, Nutella) inside dough and pinching the seams shut, as in cheese burst pizza, stuffed braided bread and puffs.
Pro tip: Keep fillings cool and not watery. Seal edges firmly and place seam-side down so they don't burst.
Sugar molecules re-forming into crystals. Desired in fudge (fine crystals, smooth texture) but ruins caramel (grainy).
Pro tip: Brush the pan sides with a wet brush and add glucose to stop unwanted crystals.
Sugar dissolved in water (often 1:1), sometimes flavoured, for soaking sponges or glazing.
Pro tip: Cool completely before brushing on cakes.
Dropping spoonfuls of a second mixture (cream cheese, Nutella, red velvet batter) onto brownie batter and dragging a skewer through to create a marbled pattern.
Pro tip: Swirl in a few figure-of-eight strokes only. Too much movement muddies the two layers into one colour.
Melting, cooling and reheating real (couverture) chocolate within precise temperatures so the cocoa butter sets into stable crystals. Tempered chocolate is glossy, snaps cleanly and releases from moulds.
Pro tip: Dark: melt to 45–50°C, cool to 27–28°C, rework to 31–32°C. Milk and white are about 2°C lower. Compound chocolate does not need tempering.
An oven thermometer checks real oven heat; a probe or candy thermometer measures chocolate, caramel, oil and bread temperatures.
Pro tip: A digital probe thermometer is the single most useful tool for tempering and caramel.
Slicing a baked cake horizontally into even layers before filling and stacking.
Pro tip: Chill the cake first so it slices cleanly. Score a guide line all round with a serrated knife while turning on a turntable, then cut through.
Combining plain and chocolate (or coloured) dough by stacking, rolling or piping to create pinwheel, checkerboard or swirl cookies.
Pro tip: Brush a little water or milk between the layers so they stick and don't separate on slicing.
A food-grade powder that firms fondant for modelling and makes edible glue when dissolved in water.
Pro tip: Edible glue: a pinch of tylose in 2 tbsp water, rested overnight into a clear gel.
Liquid fat that coats flour and keeps cakes moist for longer than butter. Common in chocolate, carrot, banana and eggless cakes.
Pro tip: Use a neutral oil (sunflower, rice bran). Groundnut and coconut oil add strong flavours.
An acid that reacts with baking soda to release carbon dioxide; a key leavening partner in eggless and red velvet cakes.
Pro tip: Add it last, just before the batter goes into the oven, because the reaction starts immediately.
Light, crisp wafer sheets or biscuits, crushed for the crunchy shell of Ferrero Rocher-style chocolates.
Pro tip: Mix crushed wafer with melted chocolate and nuts just before coating; it softens if left too long.
Ground spices that flavour plum cake, gingerbread, cinnamon rolls, carrot cake and mawa cake.
Pro tip: Toast whole spices lightly, cool, and grind fresh for much stronger aroma.
Cream whipped to soft or stiff peaks for frosting and filling. Non-dairy (vegetable) whipping cream is most common in Indian cakes because it holds shape in heat.
Pro tip: Whip very cold cream in a cold bowl. Stop at stiff peaks; over-beaten cream turns grainy.
Beating eggs, or eggs with sugar, until they triple in volume and fall off the whisk in a thick ribbon that sits on the surface for a few seconds. This trapped air is the main lift in sponge-style cakes.
Pro tip: Slightly warm eggs whip faster and higher. Stop at ribbon stage; over-whipped foam collapses when flour is added.
Made from cocoa butter, sugar and milk solids, with no cocoa solids. Burns and seizes more easily than dark.
Pro tip: Melt at a lower heat (below 40°C) and stir constantly.
Stretching a small piece of dough thin between the fingers; if it forms a translucent membrane without tearing, the gluten is fully developed.
Pro tip: If it tears at once, knead 3–4 minutes more and test again. Whole-wheat dough tears earlier because bran cuts gluten strands.
A living microorganism that eats sugar and releases carbon dioxide and alcohol, raising and flavouring bread. Instant yeast goes straight into flour; active dry is first dissolved in warm water.
Pro tip: Use lukewarm liquid (about 37°C, comfortable on the wrist). Hot liquid kills yeast.
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The base sponge every decorated cake builds on.
Vanilla sponge with butterscotch cream and crunchy praline.
Chocolate sponge, cherry-syrup soak, cream and shavings.
Mild cocoa, buttermilk tang and cream cheese frosting.
Chocolate sponge layered and glazed with ganache.
Dome-baked skirt cake around a doll, piped in cream.
Frosted cake topped with an edible photo print.
Multi-tier, doweled and covered in fondant.
Individual cakes with piped swirls.
Fondant cake with modelled animals and leaves.
Waves, sea creatures and shells in fondant.
Lipstick, palettes and brushes modelled in fondant.
Marbled fondant torn and layered for an organic edge.
Sleeping baby on a crescent moon topper.
Modelled panda topper in black-and-white fondant.
Doll with a fondant-draped carved skirt.
Cupcakes topped with fondant discs and figures.
Flat character design cut from fondant layers.
The classic fudgy brownie with crackle top.
Red cocoa batter swirled with cream cheese.
Brownie topped with caramel and praline crunch.
Hot brownie, ice cream and chocolate sauce on a sizzler.
Brownie with hazelnut-spread swirls.
Brown-sugar blondie with orange glaze.
Brownie layered with cream cheese and crushed biscuits.
Chocolate brownie with a coconut layer.
Set in the fridge with chocolate and biscuits.
Soft white loaf for slicing.
Atta loaf with a denser, nutty crumb.
Flat bread that puffs into a pocket.
Soft, long enriched buns.
Braided, egg-rich bread with honey.
Crisp, thin sticks of dough.
Small soft dinner rolls.
Soft round buns with sesame.
Layered, cut and twisted star-shaped bread.
Spiral rolls with cinnamon sugar and glaze.
Bread topped with garlic butter and cheese.
Fried yeast donuts with vanilla glaze.
Fried donuts dipped in chocolate.
Donuts piped full of custard cream.
Lean, crusty baguette-style loaf.
High-hydration olive-oil bread.
Braided bread enclosing a savoury filling.
Pizza with a molten cheese-filled base.
Pizza with tandoori-marinated chicken.
Pizza topped with spiced paneer tikka.
Flaky laminated pastry with savoury filling.
Rich, crumbly piped or cut butter cookies.
Savoury spiced cookies.
Crisp cookies with desiccated coconut.
Wholesome atta cookies.
Chewy-crisp cookies loaded with chips.
Nutty, short cookies.
Millet cookies with an earthy flavour.
Two-tone pinwheel or checkerboard cookies.
Hazelnut, wafer and chocolate shell balls.
White coconut-almond balls.
Coconut filling enrobed in chocolate.
Peanut butter filling in a chocolate bar.
Nougat, caramel and peanuts in chocolate.
Crackers with cream cheese, coated in chocolate.
Plain dark bars and shapes.
Ganache truffles in white chocolate.
Rolled peanut butter centres dipped in chocolate.
Crisp crackers coated in chocolate.
Chocolate with butterscotch caramel filling.
Chocolate packed with roasted nuts.
Strawberry-flavoured white compound.
Pineapple-flavoured chocolate.
Blueberry-flavoured chocolate.
Soft condensed-milk and chocolate fudge.
Chocolate bars with dried fruit and nuts.
Shell chocolates with soft fillings.
Working method for compound chocolate.
Chocolates carrying a printed cocoa-butter design.
Kerala-style dark, spiced fruit cake.
Buttery cake studded with tutti frutti and fruit.
Spiced cut-out cookies with royal icing.
Almond cookies sandwiched with jam.
Piped two-tone swirl cookies.
Rich, plain pound-style cake.
Moist cake from ripe bananas.
Spiced cake with carrot and walnuts.
Coffee-flavoured tea cake.
Caramel custard layer baked with sponge.
Bakery-style sponge with honey, jam and coconut.
Millet tea cake.
Semolina cake with a grainy, tender crumb.
Rich milk-solid cake with cardamom.
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