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General tips
• Before starting any recipe carefully read it
through from beginning to end.
• Ensure you have all ingredients and
utensils before you start.
• Refrigerated ingredients such as butter,
cream cheese and eggs should be at
room temperature for best results (unless
otherwise specified). Set these out ahead
of time. If you forget to remove butter from
the fridge, use the coarse side of a grater
to grate the butter. This will assist the
mixer and soften the butter faster.
• Always adjust the oven shelf to the desired
position and then preheat oven to baking
temperature recommended in the recipe.
Get to know your oven. Most ovens have
“hotspots” and it may be necessary to
turn food or swap shelves during cooking.
However, be aware that every time you
open the oven, the temperature drops.
Only open the oven if necessary and be
sure to close the door quickly.
• Break eggs into a small bowl before adding
to mixture. This eliminates the chance of
contaminating mixture with shells or rotten
eggs.
• All recipes have been carefully developed
and tested, but should you find it
necessary to alter the ingredients or tin,
you must allow for a variation in cooking
time. Always test for doneness in baked
goods before removing from oven or other
cooking appliance.
• During mixing, ingredients may splash to
the sides of the bowl. Pause the mixer and
use a rubber or plastic spatula to scrape
the bowl. NEVER USE A KNIFE, METAL
SPOON OR FORK, as these can damage
the beater and bowl. A light scraping after
the addition of each ingredient assists in
achieving efficient mixing.
Tips for cakes, biscuits and slices
• When cooked, a cake should shrink slightly
from the pan.
• When testing most cakes (not sponges,
fruitcakes or cheesecakes), gently touch
the surface; it should feel firm. At this
stage, remove the cake from the oven and
close the oven door to retain the heat.
Insert a thin skewer into the deepest
part of the cake. When cake is done, no
uncooked mixture should adhere to it.
• Testing cake doneness should be done
quickly. If the cake needs to be returned
to the oven, the oven door should be
open for minimal amount of time. Rapid
temperature change may cause an
undercooked cake to sink in the middle
• For most types of biscuits, you can test
if they are cooked by gently pushing the
biscuit on the tray with your finger. If it
moves without breaking, the biscuit is
cooked.
• Do not over beat any mixture. Be careful
that you only mix/blend mixtures for the
specified time. When folding, do so until
just combined. Over beating or mixing can
cause toughness, close texture, excessive
shrinkage or effect rising.
• Curdling can sometimes occur when
adding eggs to a mixture. If this happens,
continue with the recipe as it will come
back together when the dry ingredients are
added.
• If cakes begin to overbrown, cover the top
loosely with foil to protect it from the top
element of the oven.
• To obtain the greatest volume when beating
egg whites, be sure the bowl and beater
are completely clean and dry before use.
The smallest amount of grease or water can
prevent the whites from aerating.
Cookery Tips for Best Results
