1. Immediately after it is done baking
   After it has completely cooled
2. After removing it from the pan
   After 10 minutes

Icing a cake before it is completely cooled is a sure way to incorporate a lot of crumbs into the frosting.

1. Rotate your pans halfway through baking
   Change temperatures halfway through baking
2. Open the oven door throughout the baking process
   Put your baking rack toward the bottom of the oven

Many ovens have unevenly distributed heat throughout them. To combat this common problem, it can be a good idea to rotate your pan halfway through the baking process. This will assure that the dough in different parts of the pan is exposed to the same heat by the end of the baking process.

1. Whisk
   Rubber spatula
2. Wooden spoon
   Metal spoon

Whisks are the best tools for incorporating air into batter because they whip up the batter, creating small air pockets. This then makes for a fluffier baked good.

1. Let it rest in warm, sugared water.
   Mix it with salt and pepper.
2. Let it rest in cool water.
   Let it rest in the refrigerator.

Most recipes that involve a lot of rising, like bread and pretzels, have a first step of letting yeast bloom. This means putting yeast and sugar in warm water until it reacts and becomes foamy.

1. Room temperature
   Melted
2. Cold
   Frozen

When creaming together butter and sugar, the sugar crystals must create small holes in the butter. This is easier to achieve with softened, room-temperature butter. This process is called aeration and results in a fluffier final result.

1. Liquid
   Powder
2. Sticky ingredients
   Dairy

Generally, you should use glass measuring cups for liquid ingredients like milk and oil. Metal measuring cups are best for dry ingredients, like flour.

1. Sliced bread
   Lemon
2. Silica packets
   Multivitamins

Brown sugar is known for drying out during storage. This is a common irritation for home and professional bakers alike. For an easy fix, store your brown sugar with a slice of bread. This will keep the brown sugar moist - and the bread won't mold!

1. Crumb coat
   First coat
2. Thin coat
   Chill coat

Before you can frost a cake decoratively, you must apply a thin layer called a "crumb coat" to seal down all of the crumbs. After crumb coating, you should chill your cake before applying further layers of frosting.

1. Salt
   Oil
2. Sugar
   Eggs

Salt is usually included in recipes for desserts because it helps to enhance the flavor of the other ingredients. The purpose is not to make the food salty.

1. Tapping the pan on a hard surface
   Mixing with a fork
2. Using a cold pan
   Mixing with a hand mixer

Many pastries, like macarons, require an even dough without any air bubbles. An important step in making these is to pop the air bubbles by lightly tapping the pan on a hard surface before baking.

1. Cookies
   Cakes
2. Brownies
   Bread

Though it's hard to wait, it is usually recommended to refrigerate cookie dough for up to 24 hours before baking cookies. Or you can use the premade stuff to save time.

1. Water
   Confectioner’s sugar
2. Egg white
   Baking powder

Royal icing is made of a combination of confectioner's sugar (also known as powdered sugar), egg white and water.

1. Agave nectar
   Brown sugar
2. High fructose corn syrup
   White sugar

Agave nectar is a naturally occurring sweetener. It is often used in the place of honey due to its similar texture and flavor

1. Chocolate and heavy cream
   Chocolate and half and half
2. Chocolate and whipped cream
   Chocolate and vegetable oil

Chocolate ganache can be made by pouring heavy cream over heated chocolate chunks and mixing them together until they are combined. It is often used in cakes.

1. When in a hurry
   When baking from a boxed mix
2. When baking with a convection oven
   You should always preheat.

Baking is a science, and recipes must be followed exactly. Your baked goods should go in an oven of the exact temperature specified in the recipe. Using an oven thermometer is a great way to be sure that you are following the recipe.

1. With a larger piece of egg shell
   With your hands
2. With a spoon
   With an orange peel

A tool that is convenient and effective for removing egg shell shards from your mixing bowl is to use the other half of the egg shell that hasn't fallen in. This also has the added benefit of keeping your hands clean.

1. Having all of your ingredients ready to go before baking
   Putting your pan on the right oven rack
2. Only filling your pans ¾ of the way full
   A cake decorating trick

Mise en place is French for "put in place." This is the step of baking that involves preparing all of your ingredients. It's an important step to make the baking process run more smoothly.

1. To add color
   To add shine
2. To seal dough
   To improve taste

Adding a wash of eggs to baked goods before putting them in the oven doesn't change the flavor, but it does add shine and golden color. Egg wash can also be used for sealing pastry dough together when making something like apple strudel.

1. 12
   14
2. 16
   10

While it is not an exact equivalent, there are approximately 16 tablespoons in a cup. This conversion is most useful with ingredients like butter.

1. Cold
   Room temperature
2. Warm
   Hot

Cold butter does not get mixed completely into a pie crust batter. Instead, the butter remains in small pieces throughout the dough. This helps create a flakier crust.

1. Cream puffs
   Eclaires
2. Profiteroles
   Macarons

Choux pastry is made of butter, water, flour and eggs. It is used to make many baked goods including eclairs, cream puffs, profiteroles, churros and beignets.

1. 2
   3
2. 4
   6

Teaspoons and tablespoons are both very common forms of measuring ingredients like salt and baking soda. There are three teaspoons in one tablespoon.

1. With an oven thermometer
   Through trial and error
2. By boiling water in the oven
   By calibrating the temperature reading

Most ovens shift temperature over time. They might read a certain temperature but in reality be 10 or 20 degrees cooler or hotter. To make sure you know the exact temperature of your oven, it is best to use an oven thermometer.

1. Bread flour
   Cake flour
2. All-purpose flour
   Cookie flour

While breads and cakes are specific baked goods that require special flour, cookies are usually made using all-purpose flour. There is no special flour just for cookies.

1. Applesauce
   Avocado
2. Plain yogurt
   Evaporated milk

While plain yogurt is most often used in the place of butter for health reasons, applesauce and avocado are two common ingredients of choice in vegan baking. And no, you usually can't taste the avocado! (When it's done right.)

1. With a fondant paste made of fondant and water
   With sugar
2. With the heat from your hands
   With food coloring

Fondant, a type of icing used to decorate cakes, can be difficult to work with, especially when covering large or unusually shaped cakes. To patch the cracks that inevitably occur, you can create a paste with a small amount of fondant mixed with water.

1. Drizzling with simple syrup
   Cooling in the refrigerator
2. Drizzling with water
   Storing in the freezer

Simple syrup is made of equal parts water and sugar. It can be drizzled on cake layers to keep them moist throughout the decorating process.

1. All-purpose flour
   Bread flour
2. Whole wheat flour
   White whole wheat flour

All-purpose flour generally has less protein than other varieties (such as bread flour), meaning that it produces less gluten when worked into a dough. What results can be a flat, structurally unsound loaf.

1. Dried beans
   Rice
2. Loose change
   Sand

Pie weights are typically used when blind baking a pie crust in order to make sure that the crust does not warp or deform during the baking process. Not everybody has pie weights readily available in their kitchen, but most people do have access to beans, rice or some quarters.

1. Salt
   Milk
2. Cocoa powder
   Sugar

When mixing ingredients, it's important to put the salt and bloomed yeast on opposite sides of your mixing bowl. This is because salt is capable of killing yeast by sucking the water out of it.

1. Measuring cups
   Kitchen scale
2. Bathroom scale
   Relative to one another

The amount of an ingredient that fits into a measuring cup or spoon can vary greatly depending on the situation. For a more accurate measurement, it is best to use a kitchen scale.

1. 1 month
   3 months
2. 6 months
   1 year

Refined flour contains less oil than other flour varieties, making it last longer on the shelf. You can expect your typical all-purpose flour to last at least a year in your pantry. Once it starts to go bad, it will begin to smell sour.

1. To spread out the dry ingredients
   To mix dry ingredients
2. To decrease the volume of the dry ingredients
   To increase preparation time

When sifting flour, you space the flour particles out away from each other. This allows the other ingredients to mix in more evenly in between the flour.

1. Baking powder is baking soda plus an acidifying agent and a drying agent.
   Baking powder is baking soda plus an acidifying agent.
2. Baking powder is baking soda plus a drying agent.
   Baking powder does not contain baking soda, though it works similarly.

Baking powder and baking soda are both leavening agents that create carbon dioxide bubbles in batter, forcing it to rise. Baking powder contains baking soda as well as an acidifying agent like cream of tartar and a drying agent like starch.

1. Iodized table salt
   Sea salt
2. Flake salt
   Kosher salt

While most forms of salt will do in a baked good, sea salt tends to produce the best final flavor. However, it is not the only option available when you're in a pinch... Pun intended.