Here, you will find a list of my favorite baking tools, appliances, etc. that I consider my Essential Baking Items. Investing in some of these baking items will greatly assist you in your baking journey!
Must-Have Appliances & Tools
A set of Digital Kitchen Scales is the #1 most important item in a baker’s kitchen! They will ensure your baking is accurate, consistent, and bonus: fewer dishes!! Baking is chemistry, so accuracy is key. There are countless brands out there, but this is my favorite set of scales, and these are a great cheaper option.
An Oven Thermometer takes the guesswork out of preheating your oven. Most home ovens are not really heating to the correct temperature, and can be WAY over-heating or under-heating, impacting your baking more than you may think!
The standard 5-quart Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer is must-have for serious bakers! This device makes any baking task easier. It comes in a wide range of colors and has countless fun and practical attachments, too.
A Hand-held electric mixer is also a great tool – especially if you don’t have the counterspace for a KitchenAid. I find I love having both, though. This one is great quality, and comes in a array of colors too.
Food Processors are key if you are making French macarons or a huge array of other baked goods – and in cooking, too! This food processor isn’t the cheapest model out there, but it’s far from the most expensive, too. I’ve had this model for 13 years now, and it’s served me well! All its parts go in the dishwasher, too.
Baking Tools & Vessels
Baking sheets are essential for baking (or cooking!) practically anything. This baking sheet is my absolute favorite for cookies, and just about everything else. It’s a half-sheet pan and bakes perfectly, every time.
A good quality 9×13 baking pan is essential. This is perfect for brownies, sheet cakes, and more. I recommend lining any tins with parchment or nonstick foil, for ensuring your cake or brownies come out cleanly, maintaining the longevity of your pan, and easiest cleanup.
Another essential, the 8-inch square pan makes perfect brownies, blondies, and an array of other things (I use mine 90% of the time for brownies!). Plus, I LOVE the perfectly-squared edges.
This set of round cake pans is perfect to complete your cake-baking needs, no matter the recipe. This set contains a 6″, 8″ and 10″ round cake pan set. I recommend handwashing any pans, to preserve the integrity of the pan as long as possible.
This loose-bottomed 9″ / 23cm round fluted pan is perfect for sweet tarts, quiches, pies, and more. It’s easy to clean, easy to remove your baked good with the removable bottom, and bakes beautifully.
I love this set of mini tart pans. They do everything the above loose-bottomed, fluted pan does, but in miniature! They’re not so tiny that they’re fiddly or annoying to clean or use, but they’re the perfect size for a personal pie or quiche, or to share if you’re not as greedy as I am!
Perfect for shaping, stretching and folding sourdough, this 8″ square Pyrex dish is a great shape to keep your dough neat and contained. Of course, it also is versatile far beyond shaping bread – just don’t use it for baking brownies, blondies or cakes. Remember: glass isn’t for baking!
Miscellaneous Baking Essentials
Mixing bowls are essential to any baking task, and I love that these bowls are easy to clean, dishwasher safe, and nest inside one another. They also have lids! I make everything in these bowls. I love them!
Measuring liquid can be a pain, but this set of three Oxo liquid measuring cups are the best way to measure liquids. You can measure from the side, or the top – and they’re dishwasher safe, too!
These measuring spoons are the best shape for getting cleanly in to a spice jar or leavens, etc. They nest inside one another, and come with a little leveler!
One of my most-used tools in the house, this bench scraper is a multi-use gem! Brilliant for breads, first and foremost, this handy little tool is also great for an array of other things needing dividing, tough doughs needing mixing, or even just its very name usage: bench scraping/cleaning after making a mess!
You don’t even know how easy pastry can be until you use this incredible little tool! Pastry cutters (also known as pastry knives or dough blenders) are a godsend when making pastry for pies, quiches, etc. It’s designed to carefully cut the butter (or desired fat) into the flour, without the warmth from your hands softening the butter as you mix. This particular tool even has a comfy grip handle.
Any recipe that includes lemon, lime or any citrus will need a zester. This zester makes that chore a breeze! Just be careful when using and cleaning – they’re sharp!
In the same vein, you will also probably need the juice from the the citrus. This handy little juicing device is perfect for juicing a lemon, lime, or small orange, and will extract every drop of juice, without you having to fish out the seeds! It’s also dishwasher safe!
Once you dive into making caramel, tempering chocolate, playing with sugar work, or even making fudge, you will need a candy thermometer. This candy thermometer is easy to read, and shows both Celsius and Fahrenheit temperatures.
One of my favorite utensils: the humble spoonula! All the best aspects of a rubber spatula, with the gentle shape of a spoon. Scooping frosting or batter into your piping bag, or even just cleaning batter out of the mixing bowl and into the baking pan, becomes so much easier with this spoonula!
Spatulas are essential for thorough mixing, and ensuring all of your batter or dough has been used, when scraping into your tin. The art of scraping every last bit of mixture into the tin has become a personal point of pride for me! This set comes with a few different sizes and lengths, as well as a few teeny mini spatulas – perfect for even the smallest jar!
Pie weights are essential for blind-baking any pastry. I use mine constantly for this purpose. These are the pie weights I use – and I LOVE them! Little tip – get three to four packs. If you make a pie or tart any larger than 8″, you will need multiple sets of these to sufficiently fill and weight down your pastry.
Parchment Paper is a must-have for baking, especially cookies and cakes. Any brand is fine (including what’s available at the supermarket). It bakes evenly and makes cleanup easy. Never spray or grease it – there’s no need! Bleached and non-bleached are both fine. Pre-cut sheets vs a roll are a matter of personal opinion, but I find the roll more economical, more customizable, and less wasteful.
Decorating Tools
If you want to make French macarons, or try your hand at any cake decorating, icing cupcakes, or decorating cutout cookies, you will need piping bags. These are my favorites:
- 16″ disposable piping bags. These are large enough for piping icing on a cake or topping cupcakes. These are also my preferred size for piping French macarons. 100 come in a box.
- 12″ disposable piping bags. These are great for decorating cookies, piping intricate details like roses, or drizzling melted chocolate over cookies. 100 come in a box.
Decorating a cake properly requires the use of turntable. This turntable is sturdy (you don’t want a cheap plastic one – it’ll wobble as you turn it, resulting in wonky, lopsided icing).
Another essential of decorating or even just icing a cake is an icing spatula, or palate knives. You won’t really know your preferences in size and angled vs. straight spatulas until you have used them personally for different projects. This set of four helps alleviate that problem, as it comes with four spatulas – three angled and one straight – which is perfect, in my opinion!
If you’re decorating a cake or icing cupcakes, you need piping tips. This is a great piping starter set – and contains almost every tip I ever use in my regular projects. Don’t worry about needing couplers or special gadgets to keep your frosting from spilling out the back – just don’t over-fill your piping bags, and move slowly!
Cookie Scoops
I love the Oxo line of cookie scoops. Once you use them for portioning your cookie dough, you’ll never look back!. I also love the large one for portioning cake batter into cupcakes, too! They’re sturdy, dishwasher safe, and last forever!