Guest Author - Jenny Derden

You can never have enough helpful baking shortcuts! Here is just a few that I have found helpful...

Frosting a cake:
In a hurry? Need to glaze that bundt cake? Take a container of store bought cake frosting and put the frosting in a microwave safe pouring utensil and heat the frosting on high for 15 seconds. Pour the frosting over the cake...voila! Glazed bundt cake.

Add a teaspoon of cornstarch to fudge frosting for the smoothest frosting yet.

When making a butter cream frosting for spice and carrot cakes, use one half cup of maple syrup instead of milk and vanilla extract.

Substitute butter with peanut butter when making a confectioner sugar frosting. Its colorful, flavorful and it's healthy!

Meringue:
Mile high meringue? Put a pinch of baking powder to room temperature egg whites before beating.

Shrinking meringue? To prevent this, spread the meringue on the pie so that it touches the crust on each side and bake it in a moderate oven. Turn off the oven and open the door a crack when the meringue has finished browning and let the pie cool slowly in the oven. This should keep it from shrinking.

Bread and Rolls:
Place aluminum foil under the napkin in your roll basket and the rolls will stay warm longer.

For a shiny bread crust, brush the top of the bread or rolls with a mixture of a beaten egg and a tablespoon of milk before baking.

Baking Cakes:

Use paper coffee filters to line 8 inch cake pans. Just flatten and lay in bottom of pan.

To cut a fresh cake, use a wet knife.

Cakes are less likely to stick to the pan if you set them on a wet towel when you take them out.

Use cold coffee instead of water when baking a mix chocolate cake. It gives it that rich, mocha flavor.

These little "bakers secrets" are good to keep in a file and use them when you need a little help making that perfect pie or cake or bread!