Great British Bake Off fans can rejoice now that the hit Channel 4 baking show has returned to our screens.
Over its 13 series, we have cheered on every showstopper success and felt the pain of every soggy-bottomed bake.
If the new series has inspired you to pick up your baking utensils once again or you are already a star baker yourself, here are ten baking hacks to inspire your culinary creations.
These baking tips, collated by Tombola, have taken TikTok by storm but how well do they work?
When you remember there’s new Bake Off to look forward to tonight… #GBBO pic.twitter.com/YikA8ZSPNd
Two head pastry chefs, Amber Croom and Chris Comer, have shared their expertise to answer that very question.
Each chef has rated the TikTok hack out of 5 and provided judges' comments.
Tombola combined each of the chef's scores to reveal the best TikTok baking hacks and ranked them from best to worst.
Honey and syrups are notoriously sticky and can be tricky to get off teaspoons and kitchen utensils into your mixing bowls.
We've all done the dance of getting another spoon to get the sticky syrup off the first spoon but then you've ended up covered in sauce with more dishes to do!
One TikTok trend suggests that you coat your spoon with a couple of drops of oil to help form a barrier to let the sticky syrups slide right off.
Ranking the tip out of 4/5, Amber Croom said: “You can also slightly warm the heavy sauces and syrups as well to get them to come off clean. This especially works for glucose syrup or Trimoline. If you do use this hack make sure you wipe the spoon clean of whatever oil you’re putting on it as to not have that residue in your mix.”
Chris Comer scored it 1/5, writing: “I don’t like adding any extra ingredients to recipes, no matter how small the quantity- baking is an exact science. Using a hot spoon works perfectly for me”
You won't need to relive the heartbreaking moment that your cake sticks to the tin and all your baking efforts crumble before your eyes.
This TikTok involves mixing equal parts of all-purpose flour, vegetable oil and vegetable shortening.
You should then whisk it until smooth and use this to grease your tin.
Amber Croom rates the hack as 5/5, explaining: “I have never tried this method so I don’t know if it works well or not. But after seeing it I definitely want to. I believe this is the equivalent to the baking flour/butter in a can use to coat the pan. It would be a timer saver if you are buttering and flooring separately I presume.”
Chris Comer disagrees, ranking it 1/5 and said: “Seems like a lot of unnecessary hassle, baking spray or brushing the tin with any fat/ oil and adding a dusting of flour will work just as well!”
Storing your butter in the fridge is ideal until your recipe calls for room-temperature butter.
Rather than having to painstakingly wait or ruin it by putting into the microwave and turning it into liquid by accident, you should try this trend.
You can soften it in no time by either microwaving a glass bowl or putting boiling water in a bowl for a few minutes.
The method then involves tipping the water out and if you opted for option two, you can then pop this bowl over your block of cold butter.
After a couple of minutes, your butter will be the perfect consistency for your recipe.
Amber Croom rates the trend as 3/5, adding: “Yes, this does work. But so does microwaving your butter in 30 second increments. It won’t get the chance to melt and you won’t have extra dishes to clean or the extra step of boiling water.”
Similarly, Chris Comer gives the tip a 3/5, writing: “I’m not sure how desperate you’d have to be to bake that eagerly, but the tip seems sound! Although, I’d suggest that leaving the butter out of the fridge and let it come up to room temperature naturally could prevent any accidental melting.”
This baking tip suggests that you add flour to your mixture in three parts rather than all at once.
This method also involves alternating the flour with the wet ingredients in the recipe and ending with the dry.
Amber Croom rates the method as a 3/5, explaining: “ This is pretty dependent on what kind of recipe you’re making and the size of the batch. 3 additions may not be required.”
Ranked 4/5, Chris Comer explains his score: “Adding the flour in alternating stages ensures the liquids of your recipe are absorbed completely into the flour, and also helps prevent over working of the mix. Definitely a good hack!”
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TikTok has discovered a tip to help you line your baking tin in just seconds.
The hack recommends that you turn your baking tin upside down and stretch your tin foil over it to create the perfect shape.
You can then flip your tin back around and you should see that it slots perfectly into the tin.
Amber Croom gave the trend a 3/5, writing:“Are people really having a hard time getting foil in a pan? It does look like a time saver if you are foil challenged.”
Chris Comer scored the tip as 4/5, adding: “Good tip, saves time- also probably not something people would immediately think of!”
If you don't have any scales and don't want to fork out on a set, an ice cream scoop be your magic solution.
The TikTok hack suggests that you use an ice cream scoop to divide your mixture.
You can count how many scoops you have put into each tin so the end results are equal and perfectly identical.
Amber Croom praises the trend with a 5/5 score, explaining:“ We use this technique regularly in our studio for some of our recipes. It comes in handy when all the scales are in use.”
Chris Comer ranked the tip as a 4/5, going on to say: “A perfectly reasonable alternative if scales aren’t available, doesn’t necessarily have to be an ice cream scoop, although this seems to be the preferred method for cupcakes/ cookies etc”
This baking hack recommends that rather than throwing away your pastry offcuts, you save them!
It suggests rolling them into a ball and using this to push the pastry into the tin.
The tip means no fingerprints and is supposed to give you perfect pastry every time.
Amber Croom was impressed with the trend, giving it a 5/5 score, adding: “I can’t lie…I never thought of this! You can also use another exact pan and press that on top as well. We will sometimes bake our shells with the pan on top for the pastry that like to puff up a lot”
Chris Comer agrees and gave the hack a 4/5: “Definitely a useful tip, also stops the transfer of heat from your hands into the pastry- working with warm soft pastry is very tricky and potentially infuriating”
It might sound obvious but reading the recipe properly could save you a lot of heartaches since it's likely to be asking for something very specific.
For example, if your recipe tells you to firmly pack some brown sugar, it means literally.
You can press the sugar into your measuring cup with your hand until full.
It should fall out into your bowl in one solid piece now when you tip it in.
Amber Croom gives the tip a 5/5 but explains why it should be more:“I wish I could give this a 10 instead! The easiest way to mess up is not knowing the overall picture of what you’re doing and how. Take that few minute and familiarize yourself with a recipe before starting.”
Chris Comer also gives it a 5/5, adding: “As I said before- baking is an exact science! Ingredients should always be weighed out exactly to the recipe- a no-brainer hack!”
This trend for getting smooth edges on your cake has been described as a "gamechanger".
After your crumb coat, you should pipe on your final layer of buttercream.
The added and worthwhile step is to then fill a piping bag but it is worth it according to TikTok user @ana_calderone.
She says this will lead to fewer holes and imperfections to fill than if you just scoped it on with a spatula.
Amber Croom scores it a 5/5, saying: “This is definitely a great hack, one that we use in our studio often. File this in your "how to frost a cake" memory bank..”
Chris Comer agrees and also ranks the hack a 5/5: “Piping gives a lot more precision and control over where your buttercream is going, I would always recommend this method if you want those perfect sharp edges.
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This TikTok trend is supposed to give you the perfect cookie lines without even trying.
It recommends that you always dip your cookie cutters into flour, before dipping it in the cookie dough to give it that clean, perfect cut”.
Amber Croom gives it the top 5/5 score: “This works great and I do it all the time. If you have a chocolate dough you can use cocoa powder instead of flour.”
Chris Comer concurs with a 5/5 ranking, adding: “Just works, nothing else needed to be said,”
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