Let's Talk Baking

I do A LOT of baking... at work and at home. In order to be able to bake whenever I want at home, I always try to keep the basics on hand. So, I thought I would share some of my favorite ingredients with you guys!

The Basics:

All Purpose Flour - I use this for most recipes but if a recipe calls for baking flour, I tend to use the rule: 1 cup of all purpose flour minus 2 tablespoons is equivalent to 1 cup of cake flour.

Salt

Real Vanilla Extract

Hershey's Cocoa

Baking Powder

Baking Soda

Butter

Eggs

Evaporated Milk - I keep a can of this on hand in case a recipe calls for milk and I don't have any.

Sugar:

Granulated Sugar - For baking.

Brown Sugar - Also for baking.

Powdered Sugar (confectioners sugar) - For things like frostings and glazes.

And just for fun, here are a few of my favorite extras...

Corn Syrup - I use this to make my chocolate ganache extra smooth and silky. 

Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa - It took me forever to find this but I'm so glad I did. It adds that extra rich, chocolatey flavor to dark chocolate brownies and cookies.

Corn Starch - This can also be used when substituting all purpose flour for cake flour. The rule of thumb for this particular substitution is: 1 cup of all purpose flour minus 2 tablespoons plus 2 tbsp cornstarch is equivalent to 1 cup of cake flour.

Peanut Butter 

Chocolate Chips

Sprinkles - Because... who doesn't love sprinkles?