20 Genius Baking Hacks We Learned From TikTok

We should all feel blessed to live in an era that puts boatloads of knowledge right at our fingertips. Want to learn a new skill? Watch a YouTube video. Need some handy tips to finish that home improvement job or decide where to eat on vacation? Search Instagram or TikTok. If you're an avid user of one social media platform or another, chances are your feed is full of videos with tips and tricks on whatever subject you're passionate about — and baking is definitely no exception.

With just a tap of a button, TikTok will self-populate with countless videos of baking hacks that can help anyone become a better baker. Some bakers who use the platform have even grown to influencer status within the baking community. Aside from showing off their stunning bakes, these bakers often share simple tips that can help novice and advanced bakers alike. If you've ever wondered how to get perfectly soft butter in a pinch or why your buttercream is always yellow, chances are someone on TikTok has the answer.

We've all been there — you're in a rush to bake a cake for a party, only to notice that the recipe calls for room temperature eggs. You don't have several hours to let the eggs sit on the counter, so you use them straight from the fridge. Suddenly, your batter is a lumpy mess because the cold eggs have solidified the butter. 

Thankfully, James Lamprey has a delightfully simple hack to keep your end product from becoming stodgy. Take your eggs straight from the fridge and submerge them in a cup of warm water. Then, wait five to 10 minutes to let them come to room temperature. After a short wait, you can use your eggs (almost) right away. 

Many cakes call for cake flour, and it's not unimportant. Cake flour has a lower gluten content and is ground finer than other flours, so you're more likely to end up with a light, fluffy cake. While you can get away with using all-purpose flour instead of cake flour, you'll likely achieve less than optimal results. 

If you don't really have time (or the budget) to go to the store and pick up cake flour, Stinas's Sweets gives us an easy way to make cake flour in a pinch. Simply mix together 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour with ¼ cup cornstarch to make 2 cups of cake flour. If you're a frequent baker, fill a dry storage container with an ample amount of the mixture.

There's nothing better than cutting into warm, gooey brownies, knowing you're in for a stellar dessert. That is, until you pull the knife out and half of your brownie comes with it. Brownies sticking to your knife is a minor inconvenience in the grand scheme of things, but frustrating nonetheless. Fortunately, Lolo Home Kitchen has a hack that will help. 

Grab a plastic knife and cut your brownies as you normally would — only without sticky brownie residue clinging to your knife after every swipe. That's right, all it takes is a plastic knife to accomplish mess-free brownie cutting. If you don't have any plastic utensils lying around, now's the time to invest in some.

Unless you make pancakes on a daily basis, it's a good bet buttermilk isn't a permanent resident of your refrigerator. Alas, sometimes recipes call for buttermilk when you least expect it, and a trip to the store is the last thing you want to do to when biscuits and waffles are on your mind. 

Lucky for you, you probably have all the ingredients you need to make homemade buttermilk. To get a very passable baking dupe, At Home Cook says you can just combine 1 cup of milk with 1 tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice for every cup of buttermilk your recipe calls for. Combine the two liquids and let the mixture sit for five to 10 minutes, and it will become slightly thick and coagulated, the perfect buttermilk substitute.

Sure, there's nothing wrong with using a canned frosting as is — the thick, decadent, sweet indulgence is an easy addition to cakes and cookies. But have you ever looked at a canned frosting and wondered: Is there a way I can make this better?

The short answer is, yes, you can absolutely make canned frosting better than it already is, and it's actually pretty easy. Affordable Mom Life suggests you scoop that can of frosting into the bowl of a stand mixer and beat it on medium-high for a few minutes. Your icing should at least double in volume, yielding a lighter, fluffier icing that you can cover more cake with. You can also add in extracts or cream cheese while you're whipping. And once you're done, you could even fold chips and pretzels into your frosting for another upgrade.

So you've made the fluffiest, most moist cupcakes in the world: all that's left to do is frost them. But if you want your cupcakes to effortlessly impress, a simple frosting job won't do the trick. Kayti Lavergne has the perfect easy hack that will help you make impressive icing roses on your cupcakes in no time. 

@homemadefoodjunkie

Make beautiful two tone rose cupcakes. It's so simple! 🧁 #cupcake #twotonebuttercream #frostingtechnique #frostingtechniques #bakinghacks

♬ original sound – Kayti Lavergne/HMFJ

All you need is an open star piping nozzle, a piping bag, and two colors of frosting. Open the piping bag and use a knife to spread one color around the outside of the bag; then, fill the rest of the bag with the other color. Pipe your roses as normal, and you'll end up with gorgeous two-toned floral cupcakes sure to impress everyone on the guest list.

Maybe you consider your piping skills to be subpar and you need an easy way to elegantly add buttercream to your cupcakes. When you're short on time (or decorating talent), you can still get stunning cupcakes with buttercream frosting and a silicone mold, according to this awesome TikTok hack.

Pick a silicone mold in whatever shape you desire — although Melissa Volido recommends simpler designs for a neater end result. Melt your buttercream and pour it to fill each mold. Put a cupcake upside-down on top of each mold, and then stick it in the freezer for about 20 minutes. Pull your cupcakes from the freezer and let them rest on the counter for about 20 more minutes before slowly and carefully peeling cupcakes out of the silicone mold.

All you want is an elegant white cake, but your simple buttercream keeps coming out with a yellow tinge. This seems unavoidable — after all, the primary ingredient in buttercream is butter, and white food coloring can only go so far in removing yellow. While whipping your butter longer can also help, there's another smart tip you can use in a pinch.

TikTok's allyssweetlife has a great hack that relies on simple color theory to make your yellow buttercream more white. You just need some purple food coloring. Add a drop of purple to your buttercream and continue whipping it; you'll notice the purple cancels out the yellow tones in your buttercream, leaving you with a cool white end result. 

If you've ever baked cakes in round cake tins, you've probably run into at least one recipe that tells you to line the tin with a piece of parchment paper. There's only one problem — how in the world are you supposed to cut a perfectly-sized circle? You could trace the outline of the pan and cut the circle out, but that takes time and precise cutting. Luckily, there's an easier way. 

@jeffandlaurenshow

This parchment #hack is perfect for cooking and baking! #kitchenhack #baking #hacks #mealprep

♬ In the Mood – Glenn Miller

TikTok user jeffandlaurenshow has an incredibly smart, easy way to cut the perfect circle out of parchment paper. Simply fold your parchment paper into a triangle. Then, turn your cake pan upside down, place the triangle's point in the center of the cake pan, and cut the parchment around the outer edge. Unfold it to reveal a circle that's the perfect size for your cake pan.

We don't know about you, but for us there's nothing more disappointing than pouring perfectly-colored batter into a pan, only to pull out a dull-colored imitation once it's done baking. Unfortunately, baking something bright-hued naturally causes its color to fade. But with this clever baking trick, you may not have that problem ever again.

Lower oven temperature is key to retaining gorgeous color in your bakes, according to lmaoitsdane. The TikTok user recommends not going over an oven temperature of 325 degrees Fahrenheit. For bakes that call for higher temperatures, this means they may need to stay in the oven longer — use an internal thermometer to tell when your treat is done baking. 

If you've ever gone to whip up a homemade frosting only to find that you're out of powdered sugar, you're not alone. In times of desperation, you've probably even wondered if you can substitute granulated sugar for powdered sugar. Though it may seem like an immediate no-no, the truth is, you can — but not without altering it a bit first. 

Señor Kane tells us that by tossing some granulated sugar into a blender, turning it on, and letting it work its magic, you can easily turn granulated sugar into powdered sugar.  You should end up with delicious, perfectly powdered sugar that makes a very passable substitute for the real thing. Just make sure you've blended it long enough to not leave any whole granules. 

Gluten-free bakers likely have a stash of almond flour somewhere in their pantry, ready at a moment's notice. And many bakers probably pull out the almond flour, scoop out however much their recipe calls for, and add it to a bowl as-is. But Bake it with Mel is here to tell us that we've been doing it all wrong: In fact, we should all be toasting our almond flour before adding it to recipes. 

Pour an even layer of almond flour onto a sheet pan and toast it for 20 minutes at 340 degrees Fahrenheit, stirring every five to 10 minutes so it toasts evenly. Toasting your almond flour helps release its natural oils, leading to a nuttier flavor in your end product. This may not be a hack to use if you want your almond flour to have subtle flavor, but if you want to add some extra oomph to your bakes, you should absolutely toast your almond flour first.

Yet another ingredient you wish you'd left on the counter overnight: butter. Soft butter is a key ingredient in many baking recipes, and it's all too easy to forget to let it come to room temperature before you start baking. And if you throw it in the microwave instead, but end up with butter that's half melted and half chilly. 

Jose el Cook took to TikTok to reassure you that there's an easier, faster way to soften butter if you're short on time. Just fill a cup with warm (not hot!) water, and toss a stick of butter inside. Let it sit for five to 10 minutes, and you'll have perfectly softened butter in no time. If you're not sure whether it's ready, use the one-finger trick to test if your butter is room temperature.

Even pro bakers turn to boxed cake mixes now and again — there's no shame in it. But any baker will tell you that boxed mixes tend to yield subpar results if you follow the recipe on the box. If you want to get a richer, elevated end product, don't be afraid to alter the given recipe. The best part is you probably already have everything you need in your fridge. 

Baker Mary suggests the following: Use milk instead of water, add an extra egg, and use melted butter instead of oil. Otherwise, follow the recipe and use the measurements on the box. That's it! These simple swaps can make your boxed cake mix taste like it was made from scratch. If you want to take it one step further, you can even season your cake mix to alter the flavor of your end result.

So you're about to make a batch of butter or shortbread cookies, but you can't bear to shape them into simple rounds. They're begging for something more elegant and refined, and you don't want to pipe the dough. Fortunately, as long as you have a fancy glass or two in your cupboard, forming elegant butter cookies can be quite easy.

This tip from Practical Peculiarities works best if you have a glass that boasts an intricate design on the bottom. Form your dough into balls, and use the bottom of the glass to press them down, leaving an imprint of the glass's design on the cookie. Turn the glass upside down and circle it around the cookie to even out the edges, then bake as normal.

Have you ever made a cake or a batch of cupcakes only to have them dry out the day after baking? It's a problem that plagues too many bakers, and it can be caused by anything from overbaking to improper storage. Luckily, there's a pretty simple step you can take to keep your bakes moist for days.

On TikTok, littlepenguinsweets recommends using a basic simple syrup. Add equal parts water and sugar to a pot on the stove, heat it on low and whisk until the sugar is dissolved, then let the mixture cool. Next, just take a pastry brush and brush the simple syrup over the top of your cakes or cupcakes. The syrup will soak into your bake and help keep it from drying out.

If you've made a gorgeous cake but need it to feed a crowd, you may be wondering how on earth should you cut it. And while you might be tempted to cut a simple grid of squares, but there's actually way more elegant way to cut your cake into tiny slices for your next party. 

@lily_vanilli_london

We get loads of questions about how best to portion our cakes for a party Here's how to get 32 slices from a 6' cake with this cake: 1. Cut the cake into 8 even slices 2. Cut each section a further 2 times to create a diamond shape in the centre 3. Cut the remaining diamond shaped slices into 2 even triangles 4. Share with 32 friends! Save this for your next party #bakinghacks #cakehacks #lifehacks #birthdaycake #cakecutting

♬ son original – Spoticlip

Lilyvanilli took to TikTok to show us the perfect way to cut a 6-inch cake into 32 slices. It essentially entails cutting the cake into eight slices, then turning each slice into four triangle-shaped pieces. From there, you can put the pieces on a platter or leave them as-is and flaunt your impeccable slicing skills.

Say you want to impress your friends by making a light, delectable mousse, but you don't tend to keep gelatin in your pantry. You've tried that viral one-ingredient chocolate mousse to no avail, and now you're left wondering what on earth to do. 

@sweetaddictionfix

#cakedecorating #baking #bakinghacks #decorating #dessert #desserthack #chocolate

♬ original sound – Lee

Baker sweetaddictionfix has a simple mousse recipe that uses something you may already have in your cabinet: vanilla pudding mix. For every quart of heavy cream, add 4 ounces vanilla pudding mix and 2 ounces cocoa powder. Mix it with your whisk attachment on high speed until it becomes thick, and there you have it — an easy mousse recipe that took almost no time to make. 

Anyone who's ever frosted a cake knows that achieving a perfect finish is much easier said than done. All too often you'll start spreading frosting on your cake, only to spread crumbs around with it — and soon your cake is a crumby, not-so-neat mess that you don't want even your closest friends to see.

If you've ever had this problem, America's Test Kitchen has a great solution. Pro bakers spread what they call a "crumb coat" on the cake first. This is a thin layer of icing that you'll spread all over your cake as a base layer. Stick the frosted cake into the fridge for about three minutes or until the frosting is no longer soft, and then frost the rest of your cake as normal for a stunning, elegant cake.

You've done it! You baked a beautiful cake, let it cool, and now it's time to assemble. The only problem is, you haven't yet mastered cutting your cake into even layers. Thankfully, TikTok has a trick that creates perfectly even cake layers using dental floss, rather than the more traditional knife.

@maaritas_cakes

Today's baking tips #3gnstudiogm #bakingtips #fyp #bakinghacks

♬ Fresh corporate trend sound ♪ – 3KTrack

The first step is to use a ruler to measure halfway up your cake, then stick a toothpick in the bake at the halfway mark, according to maaritas_cakes. Do this at even intervals around the cake, sticking a toothpick in each time. Then, take a piece of unflavored dental floss and use the toothpicks as a guide to pull the floss through the cake. Voilà! Layers so even you'll swear they were made in a professional bakery.