Baking is everyone’s favourite hobby out there, some people start with baking at home for fun and end up becoming professional bakers. For people on the outside, Baking may look all fun & games, but it’s so much more than that. Baking is all about precise measurements, right ingredients, exquisite recipes and flawless techniques. One can start by experimenting with recipes and try out different things, but when you get to the bigger recipes you need to do it right so you don’t end up creating a mess. This is when the right baking course will come handy.
We all know someone who bakes and we all love the baked treats. A lot of the baking recipes have the same few core ingredients. You need to play around with different flavour profiles to make your recipe stand out. This is why we see fruits, different types of flours, sweeteners, dry fruits, etc. being used to whip up some yummy bakes. But did you know that spices can also be used in baking? You might be wondering, aren’t spices supposed to be used in savoury dishes only? Well, not necessarily. Baking also means a lot of savoury pies along with desserts.
Spices tend to go really well with desserts too, that’s how we come across recipes that involve spices for flavouring. They add a very interesting twist to your otherwise basic recipes. Spices tend to have very sharp and strong flavour profiles. You have to be really careful while using these as they might end up overpowering the whole palette. Now that we know the use of spices in baking, let’s get familiar with the different types of spices that are most commonly used while baking desserts!
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Cinnamon
Well cinnamon is a pretty strong spice and is often seen being used in lattes and teas. Add this to your desserts and see the cinnamon work its magic. You can sprinkle it over the dessert or add it in your cake batter before you bake those yummy bites. Cinnamon adds a kind of sweet and musky flavour to your desserts. As Indians, we often use this spice in our savoury dishes, but adding it to a dessert adds an extra & edgy flavour that lingers around. Like we said before, a little bit of cinnamon goes a long way.
Cardamom
Cardamom has been used mainly in Indian desserts, but it goes hand in hand with Baking western style desserts also. You can spice up your fall baking with cardamom as your key spice. This also originates from India like many other spices and can be added to a lot of things, starting from your teas, to different kinds of sponge cakes and cookies. Cardamom can be added to cookies, puddings and pies as well and it will give your dish a faint flowery and warm taste. You could combine flavours of cardamom with chocolate, carrot and pumpkin delicacies for a warm and fuzzy dessert.
Saffron
Saffron is a pretty popular spice and is taken from a kind of crocus flower, where the dried red orange coloured threads of the flower are used. It is pretty expensive, but a little bit of saffron goes a long way. Saffron also imparts a beautiful golden yellow tint when used for cooking or baking. It is a little tricky and can again be seen in Indian desserts like kheer and thandai(1). Saffron has been used for baking mainly in Swedish and Scandinavian desserts, like tea cakes, buns and other baked goods. You can add these to your next baking experiment and see how that turns out!
Vanilla
Vanilla is a crowd pleaser and one of most extensively used flavours in baking. It’s also one of the first flavours that was introduced to bakers who are just starting their baking journey. Vanilla’s origin can be traced back to Mexico and are available mainly as Vanilla and Vanilla extract. These can be used to bake the simplest of cakes and be added to mousses, creams, icing and even your hot chocolate drinks. If you are a beginner baker, vanilla should be a staple in your pantry and will add the perfect flavour to your freshly baked goods.
Nutmeg
Banana bread & muffins with nutmeg sprinkled all over! Sounds yum doesn’t it. Nutmeg is a warm and spicy flavour that is commonly used for autumn baking. They are used to bake pies, puddings and are added as a dressing spice to a lot of hot beverages. It has a sharp and spicy flavour, so it is important to balance it well. You could use nutmeg in combination with sweet spices like cinnamon, that’ll give you the perfect festive seasoning. Your most loved autumn bakes, apple pies and pumpkin pies are incomplete without nutmeg. You can find nutmeg being widely used in Caribbean and Middle-Eastern cuisines.
Baking is full of surprises and these unfold only when you keep experimenting with new flavours and try different combinations. Different cuisines have different baking styles and recipes which leaves you with endless options to try out & experiment with these flavour profiles. You can start your baking basics with Baking courses from Hamstech that have abundant practical and online baking sessions.
This summer, get to baking some really delicious desserts with Baking courses from Hamstech.