10 secret baking hacks that will basically turn you into Cake Boss

Sure we all know that we can grab on old wine bottle and use it as a rolling pin, but a load of lesser-known baking hacks are now about to transform you into Buddy Valastro.

Yup, you are a Cake Boss – master of the mixing bowl; queen of, well, queen cakes.

And there are good reasons to get baking too.

According to a just-released study from Stork, 71 per cent of bakers describe themselves as extroverts.

That and the same research shows that bakers are less materialistic (81 percent of bakers would prefer a job they love versus a job that is paid really well) than non-bakers.

Meanwhile, pretty much every baker (96 percent) surveyed by Stork said they’d prefer a partner they got on with over a well-paid one. Only 81 percent of non-bakers answered the same.

But if you’re struggling to get motivated to search for your spatula, fear not! The following 10 tips and tricks will certainly help you along your way…

1) To keep cookies or biscuits moist, store them in a lunchbox or tin with an apple wedge.

2) Struggling to neatly decorate your child’s birthday cake? Simply grab a cookie or Playdoh cutter and use that as your stencil.

3) To get the eggshell out of a bowl, wet your finger and place it next to the shell – the fragments will gravitate towards your hand.

4) If your brown sugar is brick hard, microwave it in a baking dish covered with a wet paper towel for about 20 seconds.

5) Speaking of brown sugar: keep it soft by storing it with a slice of bread, or alternatively a large marshmallow.

6) If you’ve left the oven on for too long, use a metal grater to remove the burnt edges. Hey presto! perfect produce once again.

7) Make the most amazing frosting by placing a large marshmallow on your buns, muffins or cupcakes for the last five minutes of baking.

8) Inexpensive and really easy – never splatter your cake batter again by using a paper plate on your mixer.

9) Get perfectly even cupcakes, muffins or scones using an ice cream scoop rubbed with a little Stork to measure out your portions.

10) And then freeze excess dough in ice cube trays for perfectly portioned ready-to-bake snacks.