Browsing Tag:

how to

Twelve Tips for Perfect Sponge Batter

Zehn Tipps für perfekten Biskuitteig

It has been a while since I last did a how to post. Shame on me. For that reason I wanted to give you twelve tips today to produce the fluffiest, lightest and best sponge batter. I love cakes with sponge batter, I especially love sponge rolls. If you would like to check out my recipes, please scroll down. I love sponge rolls, because they are fast to prepare, look all fancy and are perfect if you have company coming over. Sponge is also a nice and unassuming companion for any layer cake you want to create. It does not take over flavorwise, it holds back and nicely complements whichever buttercream or frosting you have in mind to fill it with. But sponge batter can be a bit hard to prepare. If you are not careful, it can get dry and it may not rise as much as you had hoped while baking. For that reason I have twelve helpful tips for you how your sponge batter is going to turn out perfect.

Check this Instagram reel for a visual how I make sponge batter

#1 Your eggs need to have room temperature

Eggs are what makes a sponge cake fluffy and light, so be sure to use the best eggs you can find and have them at room temperature. Why? Because they will be much easier to beat and will take less time. So be sure to use them at room temperature. If you are anything like me, you will most likely forget to take them out on time. So here is a little trick, put them in a mug with warm water while you take care of step two and you will be good to go.

Was mit übrig gebliebenem Eiweiß und Eigelb machen und wie einfrieren#2 Measure all ingredients BEFORE you start beating the eggs

Beating the eggs is one of the most important steps for fluffy sponge batter. This is because you are beating in air into the eggs so that they can lift the batter while it is baking. So if you don’t want your beaten eggs to deflate while you are rushing around finding utensils and measuring all remaining ingredients, prepare and measure out everything beforehand. Believe me, your batter will come together much better and you will be less stressed out when you start beating the eggs.

#3 Beat egg yolks and egg whites separately

There are different ways of creating fluffy sponge batter. You can either beat the eggs as a whole or you can do it separately. I seem to always get better results beating the egg parts separately, so this is why I recommend you doing it, too. I didn’t own a KitchenAid for many years, so I had to use a handheld mixer and believe me, if you want to beat the whole eggs, you will need to beat them for at least ten minutes or longer. Not so much fun with a handheld mixer, is it? Also, if you beat your egg yolks and egg whites separately, the total amount you need to beat is still much lower, so I still do it that why. And here is another tip, if you use a handheld mixer, start with the egg whites, you can then just continue beating the egg yolks without washing anything.

#4 Beat your egg whites in a fatfree environment and don’t beat them for too long

You need to be absolutely sure that your bowl and mixer are completely fatfree before you start beating the egg whites. If there is a little bit of egg white in your egg yolk, that’s no problem, but if you have egg yolk in your egg white, it may not get stiff. To help stabilize your egg white, I always recommend a pinch of salt or a teaspoon of vinegar or lemon juice. Here in Germany we don’t have cream of tartar, so this is our way to stabilize it. I usually add the salt when the egg white is foaming and changes color, becomin white, which usually happens after a minute or so. Originally I thought I had to beat the egg white until stiff peaks form, but I learned recently that that was a little over the top, you only need to beat it until soft peaks form (see picture below). This is another reason for me why I prefer beating egg whites and egg yolks seperately, it doesn’t take that long.

Zehn Tipps für perfekten Biskuitteig

Continue Reading…

What to Do with Leftover Egg Whites and Egg Yolks

You have no idea what to do with leftover egg whites or egg yolks? Here are some recipes for you to use them up! Scroll down if you want to know how to freeze properly. And yes, it is possible to also freeze egg yolks, just use a little trick.

#What to do with Egg Whites

 Was mit übrig gebliebenem Eiweiß und Eigelb machen und wie einfrieren#1 Make Meringue

The easiest way to use leftover egg white is to make meringue. Meringue basically means beating the egg whites with sugar until stiff and firm and then drying this mixture in the oven at low temperature. There are a lot of delicious recipes with meringue, either as frosting, as an entire part of its own or as decoration for cakes. I give you some options below, click on the links to get to the recipes.

Cute little mushrooms made with egg whites

Pumpkin Caramel Cupcakes with a meringue frosting

The Uruguayan Peach Layer Cake, which has meringue patted all around as decoration

The Colombian merengón, which means meringue, berries and whipped cream

The traditional Lemon Meringue Pie

Continue Reading…

How to Set Goals to Improve your Food Photography Faster

wie du schneller besser fotografierst

You would like to improve your food photography faster? Then these tips are for you. Often people are surprised when they hear that I started taking food photography seriously about a year and a half ago. The surprise stems from the idea that developing skills takes a long time. However, if you set goals, you will see that you will develop your skills much quicker. Just as an example, below are pictures from 2018 compared to 2017.

Same recipe of my favorite chocolate chip cookies, above from 2018, below from 2017

Do you see any difference?

This is because I set goals for my picture taking. If you are interested in getting five hands-on tips, head over to Emma on the blog The Food Blog Collective. Emma offers a lot of wonderful tips for new food bloggers, I wrote down my five tips how to improve your food photography with goal setting faster here.

Check out five hands-on photography tips here.

Ten Tips on How to Deal with Pie Crust

How to make pie roses

Hi guys, I have decided it is about time to finally write another “how to” post. This time I decided to focus on pie crust or shortbread. Why so? Because many people are afraid of it, many are scared to even try it. Which is a shame, considering that you can make soooo many wonderful things with it.

Wie man Mürbeteig herstelltAt the end of this post you will find a list of recipes you can make and believe me, there is so much more than only pie you can make with! As you can see from my pictures, cookies or tarts also taste wonderful with it. You can make decorations such as the featured roses or surprise somebody with cookie stamp cookies.

Wie man Mürbeteig herstelltSo let’s have a look at the basics, what is important for pie crust? Continue Reading…

Cute Elephant Cookies for a Baby Shower

In case you didn’t know, I love cookies. Actually, I am a bit sad that in Germany you only eat a lot of cookies during Christmas, but once that is over, people forget about them. Sadly so. There are so many good ones! I love cookies, there are so many more I still want to make. Feel free to check out my cookie category for further inspiration. Anyway, so as I was stating, I love cookies and I love to eat them all year round. Needless to say that I also love to bake cookies for baby showers. In case you didn’t notice, I am not so much the girly, pink and glittery type. That is not me. But for a baby shower I don’t mind a litte bit of cuteness. I mean, it is for a baby after all. Or to be exact, for the mom and for the baby shower attendees. Or however you want to call them.

Continue Reading…

How to Host a Macaron Baking Party (with lots of printables)

how to host a macaron baking party

If you are into baking and if you like to bake with others, you should host a baking party. Since a lot of people are fond of French Macarons, I would suggest making it a Macaron Baking Party. Yes, it is a lot of work and yes, things can go wrong, but believe me, it is soooo much fun! If you follow my advice, I can grant you that your party will be a success. I learned from trial and error. So let me try to lay it out for you:

How to host a macaron baking party Continue Reading…