Cake Baking Essential Equipment

Many people ask me what tools and equipment they should start with when baking cakes. So here is the list of the main items I have in my kitchen!

1. Stand Mixer: One of the most basic tools when it comes to the art of cake baking and decorating is a good stand mixer. While you can make do with a hand mixer the stand mixer is the best option because it offers you hands free operation. While this might not seem an important feature consider how convenient this makes is when it comes to beating your batter in a uniform method. Having this option eliminates lumps of unmixed ingredients since your mixer rotates in a set pattern, rather than randomly like a hand mixer.

2. Spatulas: Just as a painter needs a good canvas to begin their art work, a cake decorator needs the same. Investing in a good set of spatulas is vital as these are used to make the base icing smooth and even.

3. Cake pans in a variety of shapes and themes can come in handy when it comes to giving you an option in baking a variety of themed cakes. I particularly like the Silverwood multi function cake pan which allows you to create any size square or rectangle that you require, or indeed a batch of miniature square cakes.

4. Cake boards are an essential tool for providing both a firm base on which you can decorate your cake as well as move the cake as you need to, but their greatest benefit is to adding a professional finish to your cake, especially when covered. See our 'Covering a cake board' article for more details on how to do this.

5. A cake leveller is important to remove the uneven sections, especially tops, of cakes in order to give each section a uniformed look.

6. A revolving turntable can be valuable in decorating because it allows you the ability of turning the cake as you need to, making it much easier when it comes creating a uniformed decorative look on a rounded cake.