Every piece of baking equipment you need to make lockdown cakes (read: banana bread) like a pro this weekend
At this point, we’ve well and truly lost count of how many days it has been since Coronavirus began to spread. In fact, we’re struggling to remember what the real world looks like. But one thing we are sure of is that baking is just about saving us from crawling up the walls when the sun isn't out and we can't enjoy a picnic. It’s great for your mental health, for sweetening up everyone you're isolating with (that spilt coffee will be forgotten in an instant) and for curing boredom.
Banana bread, in particular, is the bake of the moment over on Instagram. Everyone is getting involved. If you’re not baking banana bread yourself, you’re eating banana bread, asking for a recipe or wondering why the hell everyone is so obsessed. (Seriously, though - why are they?) Sourdough is also experiencing something of a renaissance. Everyone is chatting about their "sourdough starters" and we still have zero clue what that means. Anyone?
Whether it's the bake(s) du pandemic you want to perfect or something a little less "trending" (we’ve always been firm fans of the humble lemon drizzle, tbh), you'll need some good tools. Baking is an art form which will be made a whole lot easier with the right equipment.
We’ve done the leg work for you and whittled it down to best baking tools which you need in your kitchen cupboard. Some will optimise the simplest of baking tasks (e.g. scraping a bowl) while others will be timely, amped-up replacements for the staples you’ve used and loved for far too long. Read: the cooling rack that went rusty years ago. There are also a few additions like icing piping bags which will take your cake presentation to the next level, even if they are used less frequently. And let’s not forget the Emma Bridgewater cake tins to store your sweet and savoury treats when they’re done.
Non-stick cake tins, nesting sieves, some exceptional icing tools and a retro-inspired electronic mixer are the ingredients for cake-baking success. So here's everything you need to make lockdown cakes like a pro (while still keeping your kitchen counter stylish). Thank us later - cake and cuppa in hand.
Best measuring spoons
Measuring Spoons Nest Set of 4, £4, John Lewis
Why you need it: It's easy to overestimate how much a teaspoon or tablespoon is, so make sure you add accurate amounts of each ingredients to your mixture with these (v. pretty) measuring spoons.
Best cake tins
Emma Bridgewater Round Nesting Cake Tins, £38, John Lewis
Why you need it: Where else are you going to store your cakes with pride when they're done? For just £38 you get three different sized, stackable cake tins in Emma Bridgewater's instantly recognisable monochrome print.
Best mixing bowls
Set of 3 Mixing Bowls, £10, John Lewis
Why you need it: If you're hand-mixing your cake mixture, a mixing bowl like this one is essential.
Best hand-held mixer
KitchenAid Hand Mixer, Almond Cream, £109.99, John Lewis
Why you need it: If you don't want to invest in a Kitchen Aid, this hand held mixture is a great alternative and will help you achieve smooth, light cake mixtures. You'll also need one for creating the perfect Dalgona coffee...
Best sieve for flour
Copper Stainless Steel Sieve, £10, John Lewis
Why you need it: From ensuring your flour is sans lumps to sprinkling icing sugar over your freshly-baked Victoria sponge, the uses of a sieve know no bounds. And if you're going to snap one up, you may as well make sure it's pretty.
Best baking cookbook
Leon Happy Baking, £16.99, Anthropologie
Why you need it: Once you've perfected your banana bread and sourdough, you'll want to expand your portfolio of bakes. This book is perfect, since it has more than 100 sweet and savoury bakes including sugar, dairy, wheat or gluten free recipes.
Here are thebest cookbooks to buy during lockdown, from old classics to new releases.
Best lemon zester
Etched Stainless Steel Grater, £8, John Lewis
Why you need it: For grating zest for your lemon drizzle. Or for chocolate shavings for the top of your almighty chocolate gateau. Need we say more?
Best citrus juicer
Best icing kit
Professional Cake Piping Bag, £12.50, John Lewis
Why you need it: To make those cakes look as good as they taste.
Best baking tin
Non-Stick Cake Tin, from £7 (various sizes), John Lewis
Why you need it: This non-stick cake tin will help you make layered sponge cakes, rich tortes, soft cheesecake, traditional fruit cakes and everything in between. It's clip-sided, so you can remove your bake with ease.
Best spatula
Bistro Tile Cookie Set, £10, Anthropologie
Why you need it: This is a baking staple. You need a spatula for smoothing out your cake mixture when it's in the tin, and scraping every last bit of mixture out of your mixing bowl.
Best cooling rack
Kitchen Craft Copper Cooling Rack, £8.99, Amazon
Why you need it: This rose gold cooling rack is an essential piece of baking equipment, because it helps air to circulate around your freshly baked cake or biscuits without them going soggy.
Best weighing scales
Flat Digital Scale, £20, John Lewis
Why you need it: How else are you going to measure out your ingredients? Accuracy is key in baking, after all. We love these digital weighing scales because you can weigh your ingredients out to the closest gram - and they're really accessibly priced.
Best sieves for icing sugar
Nesting Sieves, £10, John Lewis
Why you need it: There's nothing worse than a lumpy cake - and that's what you'll get if you don't sieve your flour. Because you get sieves of three different sizes with this set, they're much easier for controlled sprinkling of icing sugar... or even chocolate sprinkles over drinks.
Best rolling pin
Joseph Joseph Adjustable Rolling Pin, £23.49, Amazon
Why you need it: If you do lots of cake decorating with roll-out fondant icing, or you want to try your hand at making pastry, a good rolling pin is paramount. This one makes life so much easier for new bakers, since you can raise the rolling surface by changing the removable disks, helping create the exact thickness of pastry or dough you need.
Best muffin tray
Le Creuset Non-Stick 12 Cup Mini Muffin Tray, £27, John Lewis
Why you need it: Muffins or cupcakes more your thing? This non-stick muffin tray has space for 12 bakes and has heat-resistant silicone inserts for added grip.
Best Kitchen Aid
KitchenAid 175 Artisan 4.8L Stand Mixer, £499.00, John Lewis
Why you need it: Not only does it look great, but this mixer guarantees smooth and perfectly amalgamated mixture every single time. You can also use it for pasta, pizza dough, dips and sauces. It boasts a large bowl, crucial for most baking recipes, a pouring shield, a dough hook for kneeing bread and a six-prong wire whisk for effortlessly folding eggs into your mixture.
Best palette knife
Stainless Steel Palette Knife, £10, John Lewis
Why you need it: A palette knife is a long, thin baking tool that is round at one end. You can use it for everything from smoothing icing or cake fillings to scraping bowls and cutting butter into flour.
