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When baking choux pastry always use a greased tin never baking parchment or greased glass as the eclairs will stick to it. Also when the tray is greased put a drop of water on it and swirl it around before you pipe the pastery out as to create more steam, which will help the choux rise more.

"Posted by Cara-Davey"

After opening, to keep brown sugar soft, roll tightly to force air out of plastic, then place in a zip-lock freezer bag.

"Posted by Ruthey12"

Add mixed spice to pastry mix when making mince pies for a lovely festive taste...yummy!!

"Posted by chocolatefifi"

If a recipe calls for oil and something thick and sticky like honey, measure the oil in the measuring container first, empty into the bowl, and then measure the honey, the oil lubricates the container and the honey just slips out!

"Posted by Smungahh"

I don't have an oven adjusting the temperature. My cake came out of the oven hard. I found a solution is: put a cake tray with water inside on the lower rack of the oven, & on the rack I put the muffin tin or any baking dish. I also check every now and then through the oven glass window.

"Posted by panok"

First try, made this wrong. Round tin, too small, too deep- result gungy in middle pud which was gorgeous as a dessert. I have since made it right several times with new correct tin, lovely brownies. Only problem is my son likes it wrong and it's not easy making it wrong right!

"Posted by oldishcook1"

Glycerine is a wonderful ingrediant when added to cakes as it prevents cakes from having a "dry" texture (only a teaspoon is required) Glycerine is also effective when added to icings as it adds a beautiful sheen. (Nigella fans of Australia Glycerine is available from the Baking aisle of the supermarket and is manafactured by "Queens")

"Posted by alisonlsmith"

I always keep a box of dried milk powder in the kitchen cupboard. That way, if i'm making a white sauce or something and run out of milk (as I invariably do) I don't have to run down the shops, I just make the extra up with the milk powder.

"Posted by KatSmith"

ADD AN EXTRA EGG WHEN COOKING WITH GLUTTON FREE FLOUR.

"Posted by victoria48"

I saw the query on substitutes for eggs. I had to bake a cake for a little girl a number of years ago who was allergic to eggs, so I had to do some research as to what I could use instead of eggs. I found some info that said to use white vinegar instead. I used 2 teaspoons as I was making an oven pan cake. I was a bit dubious about how it would turn out, but I was quite surprised. The cake was soft and there was no taste of the vinegar. You wouldn't even know that there were no eggs in it.

"Posted by CordyB"

When Adding Chocolate Chips, nuts, dried fruit etc. to a cake or biscuit batter, add them before you fold in the dried ingredients, this will make sure they are divided evenly and there will be less chance of developing the glutens in the flour because of extra-mixing! (plus trying to fold chocolate chips into a cookie dough can lead to quite a arm-ache after a while!)

"Posted by shmolie100"

Self-raising flour goes off much more quickly than plain (cream) flour. Avoid this by buying only plain (cream) flour and adding one teaspoon of baking powder per 4 ozs/approx 100g of flour where self-raising flour is required.

"Posted by dnic"

For an extra light and fluffy finish to any creamed sponge cake recipe, just substitute one ounce of the self raising or 'sponge' flour wirh an ounce of cornflour. Beautiful results.

"Posted by glassdarkly"

When your bananas are on the turn (the blacker the better) pop them *whole* into the freezer without peeling. Defrost (in a bowl - they leak!) and snip off one end. You can then squeeze out your blob of banana mush, to be used in banana loaves, biscuits, muffins etc. with minimal mashing. It's true that bananas don't freeze at all well for raw consumption but they freeze like a dream for cake making.

"Posted by melbelline"

Left over cooking pastes that you are unlikely to use by the best before date can be spooned into an ice cube tray and frozen for another time.

"Posted by smooth&dark;"

When making scones, less really is more: don't knead the dough too much or they won't rise. Rub in the butter, then add the buttermilk (or plain milk and some lemon juice) and turn onto a work surface and bring the dough together with some minimal kneading (just 30 seconds or so). Also, don't use a rolling pin: just gently pat down the dough ready for cutting. When cutting them out (I use an upturned whisky glass) do not twist the glass as this will cause the scones to rise unevenly.

"Posted by ZeTallGerman"

As if you ever need to make chocolate taste better... add a little coffee to a chocolate recipe and it will bring out the flavour of the chocolate. Yum

"Posted by Nigelinthekitchen"

Tepid water won't kill your yeast but make sure it is tepid and not hot. Mix the water into the flour, salt and yeast with a rubber/silicon spatula until it is just mixed in (there will still be dry flour but don't panic) and let it stand for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes mix, knead, prove, shape and prove as usual and the end result will be a loaf of bread with much more flavour. I also add dry milk powder to the mix for a milk loaf with better keeping qualities.

"Posted by Nay Ager"

When using a grater to zest oranges, limes, lemons etc, cover the grater with greaseproof paper and grate the fruit over the top. The zest is left on top of the paper and doesn't make a mess of the grater and therefore it is easier to clean.

"Posted by KatSmith"

When you need to cut butter into flour for things like scones or pie crust, freeze the weighed amount you need, then use a box grater to grate the butter into the flour - et voila! the butter is in small pieces and needs minimal handling to rub into the flour

"Posted by RicaSuave521"

If you're baking with lemon zest (incorporating it into cakes, cookies, even lemon curd), add the zest to the sugar you've measured out and rub it in well - it helps to better release the oils and increase the flavor (hat tip: Dorie Greenspan)

"Posted by RicaSuave521"

If they come out too soft, you can always make it look like you wanted to make pudding :3

"Posted by Friederike"

When making any type of muffins, the trick to getting the batch beautifully moist is to add roughly one and a half grated apples to the mixture. This also keeps the muffin moist for days afterwards and there is no trace of apple in the taste.

"Posted by liamfwilliams"

You need to get all your ingredients at room temperature before you start. If you haven’t got time, milk can be warmed and butter can be softened –cautiously – in the microwave. Fridge-cold eggs can have the chill taken off them by being placed in a bowl of warm water for 10 minutes

"Posted by Nigella"

To create self-raising flour from plain flour - for 150g/1 cup plain flour use half-teaspoon baking powder and half-teaspoon of bicarbonate soda (also known as baking soda)

"Posted by Nigella"

Whatever you do.....don't panic!

"Posted by Hettie"

There's no such thing as too much baking spray!

"Posted by samd"

Some cakes are supposed to have a "rip" running over the top. If you like this to be nice and straight, run your finger along the middle of the cake batter once you've poured into the mould. Another solution for the braver ones amongst you: After a couple of minutes, just as the cake starts to rise, open the oven door and make a straight cut over the middle of your cake (lengthways). The rip will follow this cut

"Posted by Edda"

When baking bread do not use tepid water use cold, it works better because heat kills yeast and this way takes a little longer to prove but worth it .

"Posted by Crafty Cookie"

Also on breadmaking, add the salt when you start to knead the dough as salt kills the yeast but you need the salt to preserve the bread and give it flavour .

"Posted by Crafty Cookie"

When baking and using cream of tartar, bicarbonate of soda or baking powder bake the item straight away for best raising results (as soon as liquid is mixed into these raising agents they start to work and therefore lose their raising prowess

"Posted by Crafty Cookie"

When beating egg whites, always add a tiny bit of baking powder of some acid, it helps to make them fluffier. Either rub the bowl with a wedge of lemon or add a couple of lemon juice if you don’t want to use baking powder .

"Posted by Edda"

Add a pinch of salt when beating whole eggs: The salt will make the whites runnier and easier to mix with the yolks. Especially useful when using very fresh eggs

"Posted by Edda"

When making cake batter or soufflé, either use icing sugar or very fine sugar. Failing that, beat the sugar in with the eggs so the sugar dissolves. This prevents the cake (or soufflé) from collapsing

"Posted by Edda"

When making shortcrust pastry, a bit of lemon juice or a tiny amount of vinegar can prevent the pastry from shrinking. It also helps to make the crust crispier somehow

"Posted by Edda"

My mother always uses water that is around (or at) room temperature when she is baking something that uses yeast. In fact, her advice in regard to baking is : ALWAYS use ingredients at room temperature. The only exception being butter for short crust or flaky pastry. Use that as cold as possible. Her advice for short crust and flaky pastry is: If you don't feel entirely confident, chill all your ingredients. Even the flour. This way you are sure everything stays cool longer. If the weather is chilly or very humid, Mum has a trick to 'dry out' the flour she uses for bread and warm it up a little: Zap it in the microwave for a couple of seconds (30 at most), then whisk thoroughly. This will cool down the flour a little, test it with your finger to make sure it doesn't actually feel hot or it will kill the yeast. If it's too hot, whisk a bit more. If it feels more or less the same temp as your finger when you push it in the flour, you know you should be fine. This slight heating will help the yeast along and is safer than using tepid water

"Posted by Edda"

If you don't have a cake stand, or need an extra one or two for special occasions, place blue-tac on an upturned handle-less cup and press a large matching plate firmly on top. For a more permanent solution hot glue the cup to the plate. Three plates in various sizes can be stacked with cups blue-tac'ed inbetween to present smaller cakes, petit fours and sweets.

"Posted by Hettie"

If you're having trouble finding gold buttons for cupcakes and such, as I am here in the U.S. you can make them yourself by lightly spritzing some M&M candies with vodka (I use vanilla vodka), then immediately transferring them to a ziploc bag with a nice amount of gold luster dust (usually found at cake decorating stores or online) until they're nicely coated, and finally drying them on a piece of wax or parchment paper.
If you want to make them child-friendly, I would think you could use lemon, vanilla or almond essence or oil.

"Posted by AllanS"

When making the delicious rice crispies squares (Nigella Expresss) it is a lot easier to use
neutral veggie oil (e.g. sunflower) instead of gloves when putting the warm stuff into whatever form is used. Just rub your hands with oil like you would with hand cream. This way the warm mass won't stick to your fingers. This works nicely when handling any sticky
dough as well.

"Posted by Kerstin"

When adding golden syrup to mixtures, heating the spoon in a mug of boiling water makes the golden syrup fall neatly off the spoon.

"Posted by AnnaP"

If you love chewy cookies, as I do, add one tablespoon of corn syrup and one tablespoon of water to any cookie batter.  Your cookies will always come out soft and delicious! 

"Posted by Linny"