Chelsea Baking Guide
At Chelsea we’re passionate about baking! We want you get the same enjoyment from your baking as well as the best results. We’ve put together handy tips and baking basics to assist along the way. Our ‘what went wrong’ and ‘hide & disguise’ sections are particularly helpful for those times when you find yourself in a bind.
Baking basics
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Preparation - it’s important to read through the entire recipe carefully before you start, this is to ensure you have all the ingredients, understand all the steps, and have the correct tin size and equipment you need.
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Preheat the oven to the required temperature before you start to prepare the recipe. A preheated oven helps ensure best baking results.
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Greasing baking tins - cake tins need greasing to prevent the mixture from sticking to the tin. Even non-stick surfaces need a light greasing. Use cooking-oil spray, or softened butter or margarine, (spreading it on baking paper to grease your tin). More hints on greasing baking tins.
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Lining baking tins – before lining a tin with baking paper, it’s best to grease it as this will hold the lining in place. More hints on lining baking tins.
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Measures - unless specified, all measures used in our recipes are level and not ‘rounded’ or ‘heaped’. The only ingredient which is pressed into a measure is brown sugar. You should always accurately measure out the ingredients, using proper measuring spoons and cups, not table utensils or crockery.
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Cooking temperatures - unless specified, our cooking temperatures are ‘bake’ not fan-bake. To use the fan-bake function you will need to lower the temperature by 20°C. Always use the temperature specified in the recipe.
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Cooking times – cooking times and temperatures in recipes are a guide only, as ovens may vary. It’s best to keep an eye on your baking to ensure best results. Find more baking hints.
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Room temperature - for the best baking results, chilled ingredients such as eggs, butter and cream cheese should be at room temperature. Take out of fridge two hours before you plan to start preparing a recipe.
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Softened butter – when recipes call for softened butter, it should be soft not melted.
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Cool it – just because it’s out of the oven doesn’t mean you’re done. Cooling time is also critical to get a great end result. Some recipes require cooling completely on a wire rack. This is important, if you leave the baking in the pan/tin, the heat from the pan/tin will continue to bake it to the point where it gets overdone.
Find more helpful baking hints and tips