Maria Short

How to

Make a Piping Bag

A piping bag, also known as a pastry bag, is a cone-shaped bag that you fill with icing, frosting, or sauce. You apply pressure to the bag to dispense frosting, icing, or sauce in a specific pattern to make your dish bea...

How to

Make Brown Food Coloring

If you don't have brown food coloring on hand or don't want to go with the store-bought variety, there are ways to mix it up yourself at home. Read on to learn how to blend colors for that perfect brown and how to use co...

How to

Make Caramel from Sweetened Condensed Milk

Most of the time, people cook caramel by heating up regular or brown sugar until it turns into a smooth and creamy substance. However, you can also make caramel out of sweetened condensed milk, creating the same great sa...

How to

Thicken Custard

Custard is typically an egg-yolk-based sweet cream dessert that can stand on its own or as an ingredient in other desserts (like creme brulee or pie, for example). If you've tried making custard from scratch, you already...

How to

Tell if a Cheesecake is Done

Cheesecake, whether you like New York or Italian style, is a light and delicious dessert. Because it contains a fair amount of milk or cream in addition to soft cheese, it can be hard to tell when it is done. However, th...

Beginner-Friendly Cake Recipes to Make From Scratch

A step-by-step guide to baking vanilla, chocolate, and apple cakes (plus tips and tricks)There's nothing like the taste of a cake you made in your own kitchen. But is the delicious reward really worth all the work? Belie...

How to Keep a Baguette Fresh with Proper Storage

Plus, learn how to use stale baguettes in tasty dishes It's always a little sad when a perfectly good baguette goes stale before you can eat it. Fortunately, there are a few simple things you can do to keep your baguette...

How to

Tie an Apron

Tying an apron may seem like a puzzle when you’re doing it for the first time. If your apron has a bib, start by tying the neck loop. Then determine whether you want to tie your apron in the front or the back based on ...

3 Delicious Ways to Melt Marshmallows

From stovetop to oven-roasted, to fire-roasted, we’ve got you coveredSometimes, a recipe calls for melted marshmallows, but it does not always tell you how to melt them. This article will show you three different ways ...

How to

Store Meringues

Meringues are delicious desserts that are commonly associated with Swiss, French, and Italian cuisine. They're a great way to top off a nice meal and are built on a deceptively simple foundation of sugar and whipped egg ...

How to

Keep Cornbread from Crumbling

Learn the real reason your cornbread is so dry and crumblyCornbread is a classic Southern side dish, and there are hundreds of different recipes for it! One of the most common problems with homemade cornbread is crumblin...

How to Get Cheesecake Out of a Springform Pan

Making sure your cheesecake comes out in 1 piece After all the effort you put into your cheesecake, don't let it crack when you take it out of the pan. Make sure the cake is completely chilled before you try to remove it...

How to Thicken Caramel Sauce: A Step-by-Step Guide

Make your caramel thicker with these easy tips If you’ve already made a batch of caramel sauce but find that it’s too thin for your tastes, you’ll need to thicken the sauce. The most efficient way to thicken a dess...

How to Calibrate an Oven: Digital and Analog

It's frustrating to find that your oven is running too hot or too cold—signs that it's time to calibrate it. Ovens heat in cycles, so it's completely normal that the temperature fluctuates a little. It's when the tempe...

How to

Thicken a Glaze

Glazes have a wide range of applications in the culinary arts, from lending sweet and tangy notes to meats and vegetables to providing a delicious decorative touch for homemade desserts. Every now and then, however, you�...

How to

Dry Marzipan Quickly

Marzipan is a sugar and almond paste that is great when eaten plain but even better on cookies and cakes. If you have ever made fresh marzipan, you know how sticky it is. Fortunately, drying it out makes it much easier t...

How to

Cut a Round Cake

Round cakes are tasty treats that, at times, can be difficult to cut into enough pieces to serve everyone. In addition to the typical method of cutting a round cake into triangle-like slices, round cakes can also be cut ...

How to

Melt Chocolate for Dipping

Chocolate-dipped fruit, cookies and candies are delicious treats that make any occasion special. The best part is that they are easy to make; just choose your favorite chocolate, melt it, and dip away. This article dis...

How to

Bake Cakes in Springform Pans

Springform pans can be used in place of regular cake pans and allow you to bake some fun specialty items. The detachable base and outer ring make removing your cake from the pan a simple process. By preparing your pan an...

How to

Defrost a Cake

Freezing cake is a good way of saving it for later. Whether you froze the cake whole or in layers, you defrost it basically the same way. Place the cake in the fridge for at least a day to thaw, then set it on the counte...