When I started baking, a few years ago, I had nearly any tools that one uses in the sweet kitchen. Oh, wait! I had actually none. Not even an oven. And I mean it. But I guess that’s how all home baking really starts. Unless you start early as a child, in your parents kitchen, where there’s already some equipment. With time, however, and with any new recipe and type of bake you get yourself into, you start buying and collecting more and more tools for cake baking.
At least that was the case for me. Since I couldn’t settle to only a few recipes that I would repeatedly bake, but always wanting to try new techniques, shapes and sizes for my cakes, I ended up buying quite a few different things. From mixing bowls and various cake tins and trays, to more ‘professional’ tools such as thermometers and a stand mixer for example.
My most used tools for cake baking
If you’re looking for improving your cake baking game, there might be some simple tools that might help you exactly with that. In this post I’ve put together a list of some of the most used pieces of equipment in my kitchen, when it comes to cake baking. There are tools you’ll often find mentioned in my recipes, depending of course on the technique. Some of them come earlier in the life of a home baker, and some only after some practice. Because you have to make sure it’s worth the investment and they’re not only some useless tools that take space in your cupboard.
So here’s the list of the tools that I find helpful in my cake baking process. A more detailed description and uses follows for each of them.
- Mixing bowls
- Silicone spatulas
- Offset spatulas and scrapers
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Cake leveler (adjustable)
- Scale
- Cake tins and silicone molds
- Adjustable cake ring
- Cake collar
- Thermometer
- Hand mixer/ food processor/ immersion blender
- Stand mixer
- Turntable
- Rolling pins
I’m not saying this is a general list of essential tools for cake baking that applies to everyone, but it truly is for myself. It depends on the type of cake baking you’re into, the space you have available in your kitchen and preference. But it can be a good start to have an overview of some of the most used pieces of equipment if you’re just about to start your cake baking journey, or even if you’re just looking into leveling up your game. And don’t hesitate to leave a comment below, should you have any other suggestions or extra questions.
Mixing bowls
They come in many different shapes, colours and materials. And it’s actually really nice to have several sizes of them. Sometimes you might work a batter for a whole tray large cake and one day you might just want to whip 200ml cream to serve with your Tarte Tatin. On top of that, I also have a couple of mixing bowls that heat resistant. So I can use them over a bain marie to temper chocolate or to slowly cook a passion fruit curd for example. Moreover, I also love having a transparent glass mixing bowl. I usually use that one for sourdough bread mixing, so I can see the fermentation bubbles.
On the side, I also like to use small bowls when I’m prepping. I find it very handy to weigh and set aside all ingredients before actually getting started with a recipe. It’s not only for the picture, but it’s just easier to make sure I don’t forget anything and I have all bits and pieces at hand.
Silicone spatulas
So simple and yet so incredibly useful. I can’t seem to have enough of them. Different sizes, firm or extra flexible, a silicone spatula is the best at gathering all the cream or batter from your bowls. And they’re also doing a great job when you need to delicately incorporate flour in a batter. Or melted chocolate in whipped cream for a nice and airy mousse. Not to mention that they can also do a pretty good job with spreading a frosting or leveling a cake batter. Especially if you’re at the very beginning and don’t have an offset spatula just yet.
Fun fact. Did you know that a silicone spatula is called ‘slikkepott’ in Norwegian, which means ‘lick-the-pot’? I love how Nordic languages have these super descriptive terms. ‘Cause that’s what a spatula is. When we were kids, we used our fingers to do that, now we gather everything with a silicone spatula. And lick the silicone spatula if the chef allows 🙂
Offset spatulas (various sizes) & scraper(s)
You don’t realize how useful and easy to handle these are until you get your hands on one. Or more. I started with a couple large ones, to help me lift and move the cakes around on serving plates. But once I got a tiny one, I use that one most often. It’s amazing for spreading fillings, nicely finishing a buttercream frosting on a cake, creating those sharp edges. The scraper will also help with that. You can definitely work around without them, but I can assure you they are of great help if you have the chance to get your hands on these little helpers.
Measuring cups and spoons
When I first started baking I didn’t have a kitchen scale at home. But after stumbling upon some recipes, most of them with cups and teaspoons and tablespoons measurements, I got myself a cheap large glass with cups and deciliters scales. And a set of tablespoon and teaspoon measurements. The cheapest ones I could find.
One thing to keep in mind when working with this kind of measurements is that a cup is not your regular tea or coffee mug, or your regular ikea cup. Not to mention that the US cup is not the same size as the UK cup. So at the beginning I was always checking if the recipe is British or American and luckily my measuring cup had both markers. So watch out when you use such recipes. And if you have a scale, you can just find conversion calculators online, from cups to grams for example.
Adjustable cake cutting wire/ leveler
I love this one. Made my life so much easier. If you’re making layer cakes, this is a great help. Ever since I got mine, the sponge layers of my cakes are more or less the same thickness. Before getting this tool, I tried cutting my cake sponges with a knife and I even tried the toothpick and floss method. With was actually working quite OK. However, this cake cutting wire is the best help I got for making nice layer cakes. Especially since I usually bake a one piece sponge that I split in 3 or 4 layers.
Kitchen scale
If you’re getting serious with baking, you should definitely get yourself a kitchen scale. It doesn’t have to be a professional one, but one that can weigh small quantities. Some of the more delicate bakes can be sensitive to adjusting measurements for one of the ingredients. So if you just tweak or estimate the weight of some ingredients, there’s a chance you’ll get a different texture than what a dessert is supposed to be.
I just have a small scale that can weigh up to 5kg. It’s not a professional one, can’t get smaller units than grams, but so far it did the work perfectly fine for what I needed.
Cake tins & silicone molds
It always begins with just one tin. My cake baking journey started with a cheap springform bought in a discount store. It was good enough for baking cheesecakes, carrot cakes or other simple sponges. You can even bake brownies and banana cakes in it. So it can be a good start.
With time, my cake tins and molds collection increased significantly. It’s not that one day I just went to the store and bought several of them. No! I just bought them one by one, as per need. Whenever I felt like trying out something new and I felt that it requires a different type of pan, I just got one. So now I have several springforms in different sizes. Because sometimes I feel taller cakes fit better to certain types of cakes, whilst other times I need to bake larger cakes for more people. I also have a few tart tins/rings, also on different sizes and materials. And a couple silicone molds that I always use when I’m making my mirror glaze cakes (find recipe here). I find it’s the easiest for me to work with when I need to freeze the mousse cakes that then get glazed.
Nonetheless, I also got quite a few loaf tins, that I use for banana breads, sand or pound cakes and babka. And let’s not forget about trays – so useful for baking things such as brownies, cookies or biscuits, galettes, buns or rolls and even some thin cake sheets if it’s that kind of cake. I just feel there’s never enough of them, the only problem is the space. Especially when you’re living in an old apartment with a tiny kitchen 🙂
Adjustable cake ring
One of the tools I use the most, especially when I’m putting together layer cakes. But not only. This piece of equipment is so versatile – you can use it for baking, use it when mounting a cake, use it to form mousse cakes, it can go in the freezer as well. Or use it to hold things together when you make an upside down cake that needs a tiny bit more support after it’s been turned upside down. And the fact that it’s adjustable is just great. That allows you to play around with sizes and decide whether you’ll get a tall cake or a rather flat one in the end.
Cake collar
Together with the adjustable cake ring, this one offers you the possibility to get sharper and smoother edges. Especially when you’re working with mousses, or airy creams. I love naked cakes, and I think that using a cake collar is simply helping me give my cakes a nice finishing touch. Despite the rustic look a naked cake is bearing, you still get some neat edges. Take for example this triple chocolate. Isn’t it pretty? Rustic yet a bit elegant at the same time, if these can go together.
I’m not crazy about the fact that this cake collar is basically a plastic band, since I’m trying to reduce plastic use as much as possible. But I’m reusing them many many times. I already have them cut in various sizes. I just wash and dry them after using and just keep them and use again. If you can imagine, I have one roll that I bought about 3 years ago and I still have half of it unused. So reusing it is the way! And when I’m done with a piece, I just make sure I clean it and throw it in the plastic recycling container.
Thermometer
A thermometer comes in handy when you start working more with chocolate or with mirror glazes. In order to get these ones right, you kind of have to use/pour them at certain temperatures. Different temperatures for different kinds of chocolates (dark vs. milk chocolate or white chocolate).
Some sugar work will also require to measure the temperature, but for sugar you might need a special thermometer, as it can get up to extremely high temperatures. So watch out if you’re following a recipe that requires a sugar thermometer – they mean it!
Hand mixer / food processor/ immersion blender
A small hand mixer is, alongside a silicone spatula and a cake tin, one of the first cake-related purchases I ever made. If you decide to throw yourself into making cakes layered with delicious creams, you kind of need a mixer. You’ll use one to whip a cream and egg whites into puffy clouds or shiny meringue. A mixer will just as well help you get the spongiest sponge cakes, if I may say so. Use it also to cream that butter for those moist buttery sand cakes.
A food processor comes in handy when you want to make nuts spreads or praline pastes. But I also like to use mine when making tarts or pies crusts. With these it’s very important to keep the temperature low to get that crumbly flaky crust, so working the dough in a food processor can actually help. Since you avoid transferring heat from manual handling.
The immersion blender is essential if you plan on working with mirror glazes. You need it to get that perfect mirror-like surface without bubbles. And you can also use a vertical blender to make fruit purees to integrate in your desserts. This one is pretty versatile, and you probably already have one in your kitchen.
A very convenient way to basically have all of these together could be getting yourself a 3 in 1 strong food processor with immersion blender and whisk attachment. That’s what I did last year after my stand alone old immersion blender died. So I found a combo that had them all from Bosch and I’m very happy with it so far.
Stand mixer
This one is rather an investment. Or at least that’s how I see it. It is not cheap, especially if you want a reliable one that will keep going for years. I got mine about 3 years ago, and even the main reason was to have it help me knead wet sourdough, I actually use it most for cake creams, batters, whisking fine meringue, creaming butters, and for kneading enriched dough. If I wasn’t baking that often and large quantities, I would definitely be fine only with a good hand mixer. Plus it takes quite a lot of space, and when you have a super tiny Copenhagen-like kitchen, you really have to think if it’s worth the investment.
It does come in handy when you have to add ingredients while mixing. It’s simply much easier to add that sugar, spoon by spoon, while whisking the egg whites for a meringue. This way you don’t need an extra set of hands to help you out. Unless you have some happy helpers at home 🙂
If you decide to make this investment, just make sure you know what you mostly need it for. Some are stronger, some are more delicate, some have an incredibly pretty design. And they also come in different sizes, so watch out not to get the largest one when you’re only baking for your family – you’ll end up spreading that butter on the walls of a too large mixing bowl. I remember I did a thorough research before deciding on my Kenwood Chef Titanium. I also liked the attachments it came with, and I am especially happy about the creaming beater attachment with silicone edges – it does a great job gathering the butter and batter from the bowl’s edges. Remember to do your research before choosing a stand mixer.
Cake decorating stand / turntable
This is one piece of equipment you don’t really need unless you are working a lot on cake decorations – hence the name – decorating stand 🙂 But if you’re constantly working with decorations, like coating in buttercrem or cream cheese frosting, adding small delicate decorative elements, piping patterns or even painting your marzipan covered cakes, then I believe a turntable will be your best friend. It makes it so much easier, and you won’t be scratching your table top by turning a fixed cake stand.
I bought mine when I made the unicorn cake – the one and only time. Even though it was a basic and cheap turntable, it really made my job easier. And I’ve been using it ever since. It’s just so handy when I decorate my elegant mirror glaze cakes. It’s also really useful when I pour the ganache on my triple chocolate cake – that way I can easily control where I want it to drip over the edges.
Rolling pin(s)
So simple, yet such a useful tool. One of the pieces of equipment I use very often, and not only in the sweet kitchen. These ones also come in many sizes and materials – some are longer, some are thinner, some of them even have beautiful patterns you can imprint your Christmas cookies with. I started with a very common wooden rolling pin with handles. But I’ve recently switched to one without handles, that has the same thickness all over. I personally prefer working with this kind better, as I avoid getting an indentation into my dough, because of the sharp edge of the other one. And I use it for tart and pie crusts, for biscuits, croissant dough hand lamination, babka, but also for homemade flour tortillas, lasagna sheets or naan bread for example.
On top of that I also got a small silicone one for delicate marzipan or sugar paste decorations, when required. I don’t get to use this one too often though.
Other useful cake baking tools
There are of course other cake baking tools that might come in handy. From the top of my mind I’ll give a special mention to the following as well: cooling rack, whisks, grater(s), sieve(s), piping bags and nozzles if you want to make cakes even prettier, cookie shapes.
What are your utmost useful cake baking tools? Those pieces of equipment that are simply making your life better in the sweet kitchen? Please feel free to share in the comments, let’s help each other out. You can also write me if you have questions about any of the above mentioned tools.
Where to find good cake baking tools if you live in Copenhagen/Denmark
It can be a bit challenging to find some specific things when you’re new to a place and don’t speak the language. That happened to me when I moved to Copenhagen. It took me a while to get my head around what I can buy from where, even with some specific ingredients, and to adopt the local style of grocery shopping.
But getting back to the places I go to for cake baking equipment, here are a couple physical stores in Copenhagen I often go to and also my favourite online shop to order cake baking tools and ingredients (such as good quality chocolate for baking, extracts and other special decorative elements if needed). And I have to mention there aren’t any affiliated links in my post, and this is not advertising, but just personal preferences and recommendations.
Kunst og køkkentøj – it’s a heaven for every kitchen enthusiast. They have everything you could wish for in terms of cake tins, silicone molds, tart rings, cake rings, piping nozzles, thermometers and the list goes on and on. It’s one of the places where some professional cooks also get stuff from. They even sell great specialty books and my favourite magazine dedicated to desserts – Magasinet Lækkerier. Find them in the center of Copenhagen, next to The Coffee Collective Bernikow, or check out their webshop. Plus, they also have a store in Århus.
H.W. Larsen – another shop I like to go to and where I spend a lot of time. They also have professional kitchen equipment, and even more like heavy duty kind of equipment. Some of the things you find across most professional kitchens. The store is located in Kødbyen, but it seems they also have an online shop.
Bagetid.dk – my absolute favourite webshop for baking tools and goods. I order here my chocolate, extracts and sometimes even some flour supplies. And sometimes I drop a little extra something in that shopping cart, like a baking mat or a new loaf or cake tin, or maybe just some extra containers, they’re never too many. Ooops! Check out this baking focused webshop here!
But of course you can find basic tools like mixing bowls and cake tins in nearly every decent-sized supermarket. Moreover, you can find a little bit more stuff in the Kop & Kande or Imerco shops. Better quality and you can get more specific things, like different sizes and shapes tins, chocolates molds, silicone molds, cake cutting wire, spatulas and so on. But when you want to get deeper into the cake baking game, the three ones above are my go-to options.
Remember, however, that you don’t need too much to get started, just time and willingness. The rest you’ll get on the way 🙂
Happy baking, everyone!
