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Writer's pictureLea from The Paris-Best
Dec 28, 20196 min read

What are the main tools & ustensils you need if you want to bake like a pro ?

Updated: Jun 8, 2023

What makes the difference between a good cake and a great cake :


You'll often hear about baking techniques : that flashy word includes both everything and nothing at the same time. But what do I mean ? Today I'm going to talk about two things: technique through the equipment, and its use.


Is the type of equipment really important for baking?

The quality of the material used will strongly influence the result of your cakes. For example, how the heat diffuses will not be the same in a silicone mould and in steel or copper moulds. Of course each of us has our own habits. You are not going to change all your equipment just because I recommend another type of material. What really matter is to be comfortable with your material and to know how to handle it precisely.


In this article I will advise you on the best tools to increase your baking skills. The tools are classified by category of use. In bonus, i give you my personal advice in order to optimize them. To make it easier for you, I’ve put a link for each article so that you can get them as easily as possible.


Basic utensils


Knife for genoise



Use : The peculiarity of this knife is that it has teeth to be able to slice the fragile sponge cake correctly. Its blade must be large enough to be able to cut the entire length of the cake. The difficulty is to keep it straight while cutting to prevent the sponge cake from being irregular.

Personal tips : Never cut a sponge cake just out of the oven, you risk breaking your cake.

If you find it difficult to use a knife, you can opt for a lyre, just make sure that the wire and handle are always straight during cutting.



Cookie cutter


Use : The cookie cutter allows you to cut the doughs into a particular shape. Whether to make cookies, crackers, brioches, doughnuts ...

Personal tips : If you don't have a cookie cutter at home, you can use a glass with a knife, but the cut will be less precise. To start, I advise you to have 2 sizes: 5 cm and 7cm diameter.



Tips

Use : A tip makes it possible to create cakes with a particular shape (for example: éclairs). It can also be used to pipe creams and present them in an original way.

Personal tips : Buy stainless steel tips . They are better cut than plastic ones and are more precise and large. The most common sockets to start baking are: star tip, ribbon tip, round tip, and filling tip.



Ruler

Use : Rulers are very helpful if you want to cut regular cakes, viennoiseries… We often use them to make croissants and other viennoiseries.

Personal tips : Choose a 60 cm ruler. If a little is good, then more is better. And if you don’t have a 60 cm ruler, you can use a tape measure.



Rolling pin


Use : This is the must to have if you want to start baking. We use it in so many ways : to flatten a dough, to remove the excess of dough in a pan, to hit the butter, to crush nuts ...

Personal tips : You have two type of rolling pin: with or without sticks. I suggest you to buy it with sticks because you can flatten doughs using your forearms. It will be less exhausting for you.



Vacherin mould

Use : this is the perfect multitasking mould. To present, bake and freeze your creations, it’s an all in one baking ustensils.

Personal tips : I suggest you to use a 24 cm vacherin mould to start with. This is the perfect medium size to create and test recipes. With this mould, you can bake cakes for six easily.



Circular tart mould

Use : this is the perfect multitasking mould. To present, bake and freeze your creations, it’s an all in one baking ustensils.

Personal tips : I suggest you to use a 24 cm vacherin mould to start with. This is the perfect medium size to create and test recipes. With this mould, you can bake cakes for six easily.



Tart pan

Use : this is the first pan you should have if you want to start baking.

Personal tips : I suggest you to use a ceramic 28 cm tart pan to start with.



Kitchen blowtorch

Use : this is the perfect multitasking tool. If you want to lightly defrost an entremet or just to caramelize a crème brulée or meringue.

Personal tips : If you want a caramelised effect on top of your tart/cake, put some icing sugar and use your kitchen blowtorch to add a shiny finish.



Cake mould

Use : this is the perfect rectangular mould for all type of familial cakes.

Personal tips : I suggest you to use a 33 cm length cake mould to start with. With this mould, you can bake cakes for eight easily.



Muffin box + muffins mould

Use : If you want to bake individual cake. Most of the time, we use this for banquet or children’s birthday party.

Personal tips : coming



Genoise mould

Use : If you want thin genoise bases and have an homogenous baking, use a genoise mould.

Personal tips : Use an icing spatula to spread the pastry on a regular base.



Madeleine pan

Use : Professionals use a carbon steel pan to bake madeleines. The baking process is specific because only the bottom of the hull is in contact with the baking sheet. That’s why only the middle of madeleine swell.

Personal tips : always coat the mould with butter before pouring your madeleine pastry.



Parchment paper sheets

Use : It permit to dough and cake to not stick to the baking sheets. And it’s easier to remove cakes and biscuits from parchment paper.

Personal tips : You can stick the parchment paper with some pastry or paste to prevent the sheet from moving around in the oven.



Baking sheet

Use : Professional use a carbon steel baking sheet to bake. You can also use it as a receptacle when you want to cover a cake or an entremet with a mirror glaze.



Piping bag

Use : the piping bag is inseparable from tips. It help to be more precise in your gesture and create harmonious high-end pastries.

Personal tips : don’t use disposable piping bags ! First it’s not good for the planet and second, using a reusable piping bag can last you at least 4 years if you choose the good one. I suggest you to get a plastic coated inside. It will be easier for you to handle and master it.



Rubber spatula


Use : the rubber spatula is THE essential in pastry cooking. For scraping, gently mixing and emulsifying your mixtures, this tool can be used in so many different ways.

Personal tips : if you can, take two spatulas : one in silicone, and the second a little more unbending.



Mixing bowl

Use : professionals usually use inox mixing bowl. This is for all type of mixture : whipped cream, cake pastry, macarons ...

Personal tips : if you can, take two sizes : a medium and a big one.



Digital thermometer

Use : this is very important if you want your creations to be upgraded. Why ? A lot of people don’t know it, but temperature is probably one of the most important element in order to have high-end pastries. The secret of orgasmic pastries is to be precise. You won’t have the same taste if you cook your caramel at 155°C and at 180°C.



Basting brush

Use : Whether brushing croissants, soaking a sponge cake or removing excess flour from dough, the basting brush is super useful in many baking recipes.



Digital kitchen scale

Use : Like the thermometer, the scale is one of the indispensable tools for making balanced pastries.



Whisk



Use : Just like the rolling pin, a whisk is the second must to have in your kitchen. You can found different type of whisk. The more ball-shaped the whisk is, the easier it will be to swell your creams.

Personal tips : I recommend you to have two wisk, a long one (just to homogenize you mixtures) and a more ball-shaped one for meringues



Sieve

Use : It is often useful to sieve dry elements before using them to avoid lumps in our preparations.

Personal tips : If you can have 2 sieve : one for big quantities, and a small sieve to decorate your cakes with icing sugar for exemple.




Coming next :


Moulds and pans


Cake mould

Mousse mould

Cannelés mould

Financier mould

Brioche mould

Baba mould

Aspic mould

Baking tools

Ceramic pie crust weights

Stainless steel baking rack

Silicone baking mat


Robots


Pastry Mixer

Hand blender

Cream whipper


Practical tools


Bowl scrapper

Icing spatula

Dough cutting wheel

Acetate rolls

Zester



Lea from The Paris-Best

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