Baking Basics Explained: A Guide to Common Terms and Ingredients
Many terms and ingredients in baking recipes can seem mysterious and confusing at first. However, once you understand the basics and how they work, you’ll be baking with confidence in no time. So, let’s dive in and explore some of the most common ones to help you get started.
Baking Powder
Firstly, baking powder aerates cakes, bread, and buns as a key leavener. It blends bicarbonate of soda (baking soda), cream of tartar (an acid), and often cornflour (to absorb moisture). If you lack baking powder, you can mix three parts cream of tartar with one part baking soda to substitute it.
Batter
Next, batter combines flour, liquid, and sometimes a leavener like baking powder in an uncooked mixture. For instance, you create a thick, spoonable batter for cakes or a thin, pourable one for pancakes, crepes, and pikelets.
Beat
Additionally, to “beat” means you briskly mix ingredients, typically using electric beaters or a wooden spoon. This process adds air into the mixture, making it smooth and light. Moreover, beating refines the texture in cakes, biscuits, and other baked goods.
Bicarbonate of Soda
Bicarbonate of soda, also known as baking soda, serves as both a component of baking powder and a standalone leavener. Importantly, it needs an acid—such as yoghurt, sour cream, crème fraîche, molasses, or buttermilk—to release its leavening power. Once activated, work quickly and place the batter in the oven as soon as possible.
Biscuit Base or Crumb Crust
Meanwhile, you form a Röa biscuit base or crumb crust by crushing biscuits and mixing them with melted butter and sometimes spices. You press this mixture into the base and/or sides of a cake or tart tin. You can bake it or leave it unbaked, commonly using it for cheesecakes and slices.
Butter
Butter, another staple, comes from separating the fat content of milk (sweet cream) from the liquid (buttermilk). As a result, the fat globules solidify. Because it creams well and adds a rich flavour, you favour butter for cake making. While salted butter includes two percent salt for taste, you prefer unsalted butter (or sweet butter) for baking biscuits, slices, cakes, and sweet pastries.
Buttermilk
Traditionally, buttermilk remained as the liquid after churning cream into butter. Nowadays, producers make it by adding a culture to skim milk and letting it sour and thicken for up to 24 hours. Due to its tangy flavour and acidic content, you use it as a raising agent in quick breads and scones.
Chocolate
Moving on, cocoa beans yield chocolate, grown in pods on the cacao tree. After roasting, you remove the shells, and grinders process the nibs into chocolate liquor (bitter chocolate). This forms the base for all chocolate products. For example, manufacturers press it to extract cocoa butter for cocoa powder or blend it with cocoa butter and flavourings to create various chocolates. Notably, couverture chocolate offers excellent flavour and a glossy finish, suiting cake decoration.
Cocoa
Similarly, grinders turn the dry solids left after extracting cocoa butter into cocoa powder. You use it widely in baking and sift it with dry ingredients for even distribution. While stores sell sweetened cocoa powder as drinking chocolate, Dutch cocoa—rich, dark, and unsweetened—stands out as the best for baking, available at delicatessens.
Cookie
In contrast, “cookie” names an American-style biscuit. Originally, bakers crafted a small, dry, twice-baked cake to stay crisp and last longer. Today, however, both “cookie” and “biscuit” describe a variety of baked goods, from crispy to chewy, made with basic ingredients like flour, butter, eggs, and sugar, often enhanced with chocolate, nuts, or dried fruit.
Copha
Furthermore, processors turn purified coconut oil into copha, or white vegetable shortening, a white solid. You use it generally in making uncooked confections and slices, adding a unique texture and stability.
Corn Syrup
Likewise, refiners produce corn syrup, a liquid sugar, from corn. (This is not the same as ‘high fructose corn syrup, learn the difference here.) Manufacturers offer varieties from light (less sweet) to dark (caramel-coloured with added flavour), enhancing baked goods with subtle sweetness. You can find it in specialty shops.
Cornflour
Cornflour, also called cornstarch, comes as a fine white powder made from maize or corn (gluten-free) or wheat. In small amounts, you add it to lighten the texture of sponges and shortbread. Additionally, it thickens sauces and fillings, forming a gel when heated. To use it, mix it into a paste with cold water before adding it to the remaining liquid.
Cream
On the other hand, cream rises as fat globules to the top of milk. Historically, people collected it by letting unrefrigerated milk stand until separation occurred. Today, machines separate it using centrifugal force. Depending on fat content, cream varies in type, and you use it extensively in baking—either in mixtures or whipped for decoration. For successful whipping, ensure the fat content reaches at least 30 percent; higher fat yields a lighter foam.
Cream of Tartar
Next up, cream of tartar works as a component of baking powder and acts as a raising agent when you pair it with bicarbonate of soda. Sometimes, you use it to stabilise egg whites, as in meringue, ensuring a fluffy result.
Cream Together
Similarly, “cream together” means you beat ingredients—usually butter and sugar—until light and fluffy, often using electric beaters or a whisk. This process dissolves the sugar, creating a light texture in baked goods.
Crème Fraîche
Meanwhile, crème fraîche offers a naturally soured cream with a nutty, slightly sour taste. You can make it at home by mixing sour cream or yoghurt into cream and refrigerating it for up to 24 hours. It adds an interesting flavour to sweet desserts, especially tarts.
Eggs
Moreover, eggs enrich baked goods, adding flavour, moisture, nutrition, and a yellow hue. They provide three main functions: coagulation, emulsification, and foaming. For best results, refrigerate eggs to maintain freshness and bring them to room temperature before baking.
Egg Whites
Specifically, egg whites expand in volume when you whisk them, trapping air. This process includes four stages: frothy large bubbles, soft peaks (glossy and just holding shape), medium peaks (white, glossy, with soft tips), and stiff peaks (fine bubbles holding shape). Consequently, they act as leaveners in soufflés, flourless cakes, and sponges, adding volume and texture when you fold them into mixtures just before baking.
Essences
Finally, essences enhance baked goods as concentrated flavourings. For example, vanilla essence boosts cakes and biscuits, while almond essence amplifies nutty flavours. Extracts, offering a purer and stronger taste, feature in my recipes on this site.
Final Words
Now that you’ve mastered the baking basics explained in this guide, you’re ready to put your skills to the test. Try baking a batch of delicious treats like my Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies, where you can apply techniques like beating and creaming for a perfect texture. For even better results, check out my Cookie Baking Tips: Top 5 for Perfect Cookies to refine your skills and bake goodies that impress every time. Happy baking!
