Burnt cookies? Cake looking as flat as a pancake? Sometimes, it can be hard to learn from our baking mistakes, especially when we don’t know where we’re going wrong. While it’s easy to blame our baking failures on the oven, we’d still love to know the secrets of consistent baking success from some of the biggest names around the globe.

Bake successfully forever more with our foolproof baking tips and techniques straight from the experts.

Have all the ingredients ready and at room temperature

It seems an obvious one, but we have to hold our hands up and admit that it’s news to us. Baking master, Adriano Zumbo says, ‘If you’re baking a cake, have everything ready: oven on, baking tray greased, ingredients weighed.’ According to Adriano, not only is it best to gather all your ingredients together before you get cracking, but also ‘have all the ingredients, especially eggs, butter and milk, at room temperature. You will find they whip and amalgamate better.’

Use baking equipment wherever possible

We’re no baking snobs, but we thought to mix, whip and prepare things by hand was a golden rule. One of our favourite British bakers, Mary Berry, has spoken out about embracing the use of baking equipment. ‘If a processer creates a better finished product than doing things by hand and saves you time and effort in the process, then I say go for it!’ If it’s good enough for the queen of cakes herself, then it’s certainly good enough for us amateur bakers.

 Always test baking powder before adding to your ingredients

If you’re anything like us, you’re probably thinking, ‘What’s the point of having an expiry date on the can then?’ Baking expert, Julia Child, reckons baking powder loses its strength when the can has been open for around six months. She recommends that you ‘always test it by stirring a teaspoonful into ½ cup of hot water. If it doesn’t bubble up in a lively way, throw it out.’ To save ruining your baking, you can also effectively test baking soda in the same way.

Choose chillier days for baking with butter

Whether you want to create the perfect croissants or Danish pastries, there is a way to ensure your pastry doesn’t end up a sloppy handful. Australian chef, Matt Moran believes making pastry on a cooler day is key. ‘Cooler temperatures make working with butter more achievable, especially laminated pastries, where you’re incorporating butter layer by layer into a base dough.’ If you want to make pastry on a warmer day, keep your hands cool to stop the butter from melting.

Ready, steady, bake – but before you do, be sure to check out your local stores that offer a great selection of baking supplies.