Best Baking Hacks?

[tessspark]

What are your best baking hacks? Do you have any go-to tricks of the trade? Did you learn them, inherit them, or accidentally discover them?

My three favorite "hacks" that I never go without are:

1) Use a warm knife when slicing cakes and other baked goods (but especially cakes and breads). The cake won't "clump" up as much. Also, for brownies, using a plastic knife seems to have the same effect (found this out by accident)

2) When measuring sticky ingredients (honey, molasses, etc), spray a little non-stick spray (I use baking PAM).

3) Soften brown sugar--microwave with a damp paper towel for 20-30 seconds.

 

[DancingLady]

Mine is to cut brownies and cookie bar type things when they are very cold. If I want to make sure they are really nice looking on the tray for something, I will cool them, then put them in the freezer for a bit so they are nice and firm. I seem to get the cleanest cuts that way.

 

[Tina Nord]

Mine is to always make sure that I flower my cookie cutters all the way before cutting into the cookie dough with them. I have ruined many cookies because they stuck to the cutters too bad.

 

[monkeyboots]

Cut brownies and bar cookies with one of those big plastic knives that are intended for lettuce. The bars never stick!

 

[Winterybella]

I have not tried this but I have read that if you want to get a banana to ripen for baking, there is a easy way. You need to put it in the oven for 40 mins at about 300 F and when skin is nice and black, that means it's the right texture and "ripe" for baking a moist loaf or whatever else you need a ripe banana for.

 

[confettine]

My "save resources" hack: keep the wrapping around the butter and use this to grease what needs to be greased.
If you have very soft cake, floss can cut through it. I've tried it, and it does cut through, but I'm just too untalented to get it cut in the right angle...
Keep some apple puree in the pantry, it makes a great replacement for eggs or for oil, or it can be added to make the cake more moist and delicious.
And some things that are just baking basics but that I did not know at first: mix the dry ingredients into the wet ones at the end, especially if you have baking soda or baking powder.