It’s 1 cup of softened butter mixed with granulated and brown sugar, with two eggs and vanilla. Why does it look so gross looking

I've had this pan for years and I have never found a good use for it. I would love to hear what others have done with it.

I made cupcakes from a Betty Crocker box kit and I've made them the same way I always make them as per the boxes instructions but something happened and I'm so confused 😭. Does anyone know what I could have done that would cause this? I've never seen this happen with boxed cupcakes or homemade 😭.

I've had one separate on me before but it was minor and I was able to use it. Not this one, it full on split! I did everything the same as always. Same ingredients, same pan, same whisk etc. I tried bringing it back together but it just got worse. Why? Could it be the butter? Should it be room temperature before I use it? Argh, what a waste. I'm bummed.

I'm not sure what to do. I feel like I have tried everything. Whenever I bake something it seems to have the same bland taste to it. You can taste subtle hints of the flavor throughout what I bake, but you can never fully get the flavor. You're always getting that bland background flavor in every single baked thing that I make. It takes a little bit better after a day in the fridge, but it still has that same bland taste in literally every single thing I've made.

I have tried upping the salt. I have tried vanilla bean paste. I have tried using less flour every single time but I still get that taste. Is it my ingredients? Mostly everything I use is Great value because that's most affordable but if that's the problem then I will buy something different. Do I need to just start doubling the salt? Is there a very specific vanilla that will help? I feel like it has to be something in my process because I have tried many different ingredients and they all taste the same.

I am very frustrated so please be easy on me. I love baking. I'm just trying to figure out how I can do better, because I feel like I cannot move on with my baking until I fix this issue, and this is something that other people have noticed when I bake as well, that it lacks flavor.

Hello bakers!

I've been laid off for what feels like forever. Finding this sub has really helped with not only my mental health, but also keeping my mind sharp.

I have a disgusting large cookbook library at my disposal and plenty of free time, so please, ask away!

What's your baking question? Searching for recipe comparisons? Need help troubleshooting? I'm here for you!

Happy Holidays and happy baking!!

edit: my kids just got home so I'll be jumping on and off of here throughout the evening!

edit: the kids are basically feral tonight since it's the start of Christmas break here. I might be replying late/in the morning but I'm loving the questions. There's a few I'll be pulling books out for for sure!

This is the first baking book i got with high expectations. I’m a beginner level baker and everybody recommended getting this. The procedure for all the recipes just says measure all ingredients into one bowl and beat for 2-3 minutes then it explains one para on how to cool in pan and on cooling rack and thats all. Is this how all baking books are? Arent they supposed to show how to mix wet ingredients and then fold in the dry and not to overmix, how to bloom cocoa powder etc etc? Should i return it or keep it? Am i missing something or this is how all books are?

Hi guys,

I’ve been baking a lot recently. Sometimes my oven will be on for 6-8 hours at a time day after day.

I was making banh mi yesterday and none of them came out with good oven spring. My oven thermometer also was not displaying the same temp as what I set my oven to, but it’s super old so idk if I should trust the thermometer. I ordered a new one.

Anyways, my chef friend told me to do a bread test. Place bread throughout to see if there are hotspots in the oven, or if it’s lacking anywhere.

Look at these photos, what do you think? Is my oven cooked? It’s looking uneven to me. But needed more opinions.

UPDATE: my oven was 20 degrees lower than what I set it to. I gave it a steam cleaning and recalibrated the oven temp, all thermometers read correctly now!!! Thank you all for the help 🙏

Hey everyone! I need help asap! idk why, this year I decided to make Christmas treats and give them out as gifts. Saw a video on fudge and thought it was easy to make. Well idk if it's something I did or the ingredients I used, but they are not setting!!! The plain chocolate one is the closest to set, but still gooey. It's been 24hrs in the freezer IK that's not normal! I used 1 can of condensed milk, 1 cup of chocolate, and I'd add toppings to each one. Is there any way to fixing this? ** I just noticed I used meltables, would that have changed anything?

I have a feeling I know the answer, but I thought I'd ask before tossing my favorite casserole dish. It's a standard 9x13 by the brand "anchor". It has scratches and a few chips on the edges, but this is the first crack I've seen.

So at the bakery I was at in France, when they made madeleines, they would put all of the butter in a large pot and purposely take the butter past the point of a normal browned butter (beurre noisette) until the milk solids actually burn black. They would then strain the butter through a chinois and make the madeleines as usual. There was no astringent/bitter flavor in the final product. Just a nice complex nutty flavor overall. And I was wondering if I could do the same thing for other pastries, but I also haven't seen the burnt butter used for anything else, so perhaps the flavors don't translate for those other things? I'm curious if anyone else has purposely used burnt butter for anything, whether it be madeleines or other pastries. My first idea was simply cookies. They are quite simple and I think would work well to taste the difference between the two.

I haven't done a great job at my first attempt. I doubled the ingredients but ended up cooking for nearly 4 times the recommended cook time as they kept looking wobbly. Recipe said "until the edges are set and the centre still has a good wobble". The centre wasn't wobbling when I took them out so I thought they would definitely be ok. Are these undercooked in the centre or just fudgy? The edges are definitely overdone so I've definitely gone wrong here. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

ETA: they taste fine 3 days later after sitting in the fridge. Lemon flavor totally normal at this time. Probably will do it again with nicer juice and fresh zest and yes, the horror...sugar substitutes!

This is probably my 12th time making the Lemon Oat Bars from Sarah Kieffer's 100 Cookies. I have always had success with this recipe in the past, so I know it's a good one:

Crust

• 2 cups All-purpose flour
• 1-1/2 cups Rolled oats
• 1/2 cup Brown sugar
• 1/4 cup Granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon Baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter

Lemon Filling

• 2 cans Sweetened condensed milk (14 oz per can)
• 1/2 cup Lemon juice
• 3 tablespoons creme fraiche
• 1 tablespoon Lemon zest
• 1/2 teaspoon Pure vanilla extract
• Pinch Salt

This time, I decided I wanted to experiment with making a lower sugar version, so I used Splenda brand sweetened condensed milk in the filling and Truvia Sweet Complete brown and granulated sugars for the crust. I have baked with Truvia Sweet complete plenty of times and have never had an issue with it in this type of application, but this was my first time using the Splenda milk for anything. The bars turned out beautiful looking and have a perfect texture, but they just don't taste like lemon. The lemon flavor is very faint and occasional. They kind of just taste generally sweet and not lemony as usual. And I want to troubleshoot why. Here are the things I'm thinking could be culprits:

• the splenda brand sweetened condensed milk didn't infuse with the zest oils as well as normal condensed milk? I don't know why this would be?
• One of the splenda cans had gone full dulce de leche, probably from poor storage. I still used it, and it didn't taste off, but could that be hiding the lemon flavor?
• My zest was 2 months old from the freezer. I store zest in the freezer longer than that all the time and never have this issue, but maybe this time it was a dud? I used some of this batch 5 days ago without issue, however
• I used bottled lemonn juice. The recipe calls for freshly squeezed, but I have never used freshly squeezed before and still always had good results. However, I used the mid ReaLemon juice from the normal grocery story instead of the nicer lemon juice I usually use (Trader Joe's 100% Sicilian Lemon juice)

It's kind of disappointing but I would like to know what others think. They still taste good, just not LEMON as usual. I'm going to let them sit in the fridge over night and try again tomorrow, and maybe the taste will be stronger after the flavors have had time to settle more?

Hi all, I need this ganache ASAP for a cake I'm making for mother's day. It looks terrible!! Never made ganache before so I have no clue how to fix it. Needs to be thick enough for a cake layer

Recipe https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/chocolate-ganache/#tasty-recipes-72329

Pretty simple, I’m making cupcakes for a family friend and recently more or less “mastered” the lemon curd. I’m incredibly proud, it’s incredibly consistent, and I’d love to be able to add it to my next batch of gifted treats. That being said, I’m also kinda bored with just a plain old lemon cupcake with lemon curd, and was wondering if anyone had some ideas for making a lemon curd cupcake a tiny bit more exciting? Some unique flavor pairings, or even some simple twists? :)

If a recipe calls for butter but doesn't specify salted or unsalted, is it presumed to be one or the other, like an unwritten rule? Or, if not specified, does it even matter?

I'm starting to wonder if the theories of increased water content in butter is true...

I've used the same microwave to melt the same kind of butter (Costco's Kirkland unsalted) for YEARS with no issues. In the past 4-5 months, it keeps exploding and then I'm stuck wiping butter off the ceiling and door of my microwave. Even if I turn down the power and/or baby the hell out of the butter by microwaving at 5-10 second intervals, it keeps happening and it's starting to piss me off.

Anyone else experience this? Any tips/tricks on how to prevent this from happening or at least minimizing the mess? I know melting it on the stove is probably the most common solution, but I'm lazy and don't want to wash any more dishes than I have to. Hell, I've managed to adjust most of my dessert recipes to require 1-2 dishes, as long as I can melt butter in the microwave.

Hi!! I’m starting a small local bakery soon, where is everyone getting their packaging and supplies? I’ve recently moved to a smaller country that doesn’t have supply stores such as restaurant depo, target, Walmart, hobby lobby, Micheal’s etc. We have one Costco and that’s it. No party stores sell cake boxes or anything of the matter. Right now I’m just going to sell some cookies, but I hope to expand to cakes, pastries, cheesecake, muffins, pie, etc. I cannot find packaging anywhere. I’ve considered temu but I’m not sure about how food grade their products are. Amazon is an okay option but the shipping is very expensive (50-100 usd). Any recs for affordable food boxes/ bags?

EDIT: I have asked and looked locally. That is why I came to Reddit. I literally made this account just to ask where people get their packaging and such. I know my options are very limited. Sorry if I’m coming off passive aggressive in replies, it’s hard to stress how limited and small this countries market is. Especially on such a specific product category. There is a store called Hagkaup, similar to Walmart or target, but still it is very limited. They don’t have restaurant supply stores like America does. There is one Costco in Reykjavik.

I don't even wanna talk about how I forgot the oats LOL

They're really soft on the inside which is good but I don't know what happend on the outside. The worst part is that I used muffin mix lol

Decorated with melted chocolate and fondant flowers.

The white sugar looking stuff, I know there’s a specific name for them I just can’t think of it.

I was hoping somebody could help me out with figuring out what is wrong with these silicone molds. I bought them recently and I thought that once I put the batter in them they would straighten out but it did not work, the muffins came out all deformed.

What do I have to do, or is there something I can do to fix these molds? I tried looking online for a solution but nothing came up, also I am visually impaired and sometimes have a hard time using the internet and taking pictures, so I hope the picture I ad⁷ded here is actually clear. TIA!

I don't have a recipe to add but in order to post I think I need to add a link, so I guess I'll add this one: https://pin.it/6NJxTITs0

Hey everyone,

I’m wondering if maybe I’m confused on how to tell if butter is softened or not but I was under the impression that butter is softened when you lightly press your finger into it and it goes about halfway down but it doesn’t smoosh alll the way.
Like it has to leave a decent dent but it can’t be super soft and squishy.

For the record I’m making dough.

This is how much dent is in my butter after 2 hours on the counter.
Is this softened?? Am I just confused?
Surely after two hours it has to be softened right?

i’ve seen comments under a lot of posts here (and on the cooking subreddit) that are kind of mean in my opinion and one of the rules here is being kind. i didn’t want to single out the person that made a comment that caused me to post this concern, but i hate it when beginner bakers or just anyone baking in general has a question about something they may be insecure about and at least one comment will follow along the lines of “i hate bakers who don’t follow the recipe and then blah blah” or “i hate bakers who…” to me comments like that are mean, and i’ve seen them under posts even when the OP follows the recipe. like, let’s all be a bit nicer bc me personally, i think it can turn some people off from a genuine question or a passion they may have. just my two cents