Today, instead of a recipe, we are going to do a Bake Like Noor 101. (Three cheers! Woohoo!)

Finding the perfect recipe (only on Spatula in My Pocket, yo) is only the first step in the magical world of baking. Since I know the struggle of a beginner baker, I’ll be guiding you through the basics, There is a lot to know and I am really excited to share all! So, I’ve divided it into various sessions:

• Basic Baking Tools

• Bakeware

• Baking ingredients

• Baking hacks and DIY stuff

First off, we have the basic baking tools that every single one of you should have; regardless of the fact that you’re a die-hard baker like me or just an occasional one timer. It’s a small list of relatively inexpensive items that will be an investment for years to come. You don’t need fancy equipment for baking, sometimes just a faithful whisk and a good ole bowl does the work. I still use my mum’s shaadi-wala (more than 25 years old) hand beater and cake tins. Plain and simple. Nothing fancy and over the top.

I am not saying that you should go all out and buy all of these tools at once. When I started baking, I admit, I hardly had any of this stuff and didn’t even know about them. It’s with time that I learnt and started investing.

All these tools are brought from either Pakistan, Saudi Arab, and America. I will give you an in-depth detail of each tool. Links to where I bought them and the prices are mentioned at the bottom. Hopefully you’ll find them or even better alternates.

Measuring Tools

I started off using mugs that we use for tea as the measuring cups and the normal tablespoons and teaspoons that we use to eat as measuring spoons. It is with baking over and over again that I leaned that baking is not art but more of a science. Precision and accuracy in measurements is paramount to a good baked product.

I used to use the measuring cup for wet ingredients too, and that is so so wrong. Liquids are different from dry ingredients. They weigh different, and if you forget that, it can all go wrong from there. So use a pyrex measuring cup for liquid ingredients. Proper measuring cups for dry ingredients. And for smaller quantities use actual measuring spoons and not the spoons you use to eat dinner with.

This measuring jug is plastic, which I wouldn’t recommend. It’s near to its end, doesn’t clean up that nice either. A nice pyrex one is on my to-buy-list. It should be on yours too.

Electric Hand Mixer

An electric hand mixer for all the mixing and beating, yielding perfectly smooth and fluffy frostings and batters. It dates back to before I was even born. It’s my mum’s and I’ve been using it for years, and it works perfectly fine.

Spaaatooolas

YOU MUST BUY THESE. These beautiful, magical, man-made creations. They wipe your bowls so clean that not a spick of batter is left hanging there. They glide ever so smoothly, making mixing a dream; smoothing and delicious. And they cost near to nothing! My favorite is the orange one. It broke. Split in two. Like my heart.

Silicone Brushes

Excellent for greasing pans with butter or oil, perfect for egg-washing and glazing, easy to clean; overall perfecto!

Cupcake liners

No you cannot grease a cupcake tray and then pour in the batter and bake cupcakes straightaway. You need paper liners. Why? Because cupcakes are not muffins. Cupcakes are soft and moist and much more delicate than muffins. They’ll stick like glue to your cupcake tray and you’ll be left with trying to scour out each cupcake out and scratching it while scrubbing it clean. Cupcake liners not only help make eating a cupcake easier, they also help the make the handling of the cupcakes so much easier. Also how pretty do they look… Tiny polka dot, bright pink ones with hearts, pink check boxed ones… totes adorbs.

Offset Spatula

An angled or an “offset” spatula is very useful for frosting cupcakes and cakes, and loosening cakes and cookies from their pans. I have a large 10” one for smoothly frosting large layer cakes and a non-stick one of loosening cookie and brownies from the parchment paper.

A palette knife like seen here is also helpful for the same reasons.

Baking pans

Baking pans are obviously a necessity. Round pans for cakes. Loaf pans for breads. Loose-bottom pans for cheesecakes. Muffin trays for cupcakes. Donut pan for donuts. You name it, you need it. There a pan out there for everything and IWANTTHEMALL. Baby steps. Start with a basic 8-inch round cake pan, a square 8-inch pan for brownies, and a standard 12-sized cupcake tray for cupcakes. Also, if you’re into homemade pizza, then a round pizza tray would be needed.

Prestige and Wilton are the top-notch brands for baking ware. Prestige is easily available in every big supermarket here in Pakistan. Wilton bakeware can be ordered online (link mentioned at the end of the post).

Parchment Paper

It not only helps prevent cakes or anything for that matter from sticking to the pan but also for stacking and storing cookies or even frozen parathas in the freezer.

Ice cream Scoop

An ice cream scoop is not just meant for scooping ice cream. Trust me when I say I’ve hardly ever used it for ice cream. This is the most versatile tool in my baking tool box. I use it for:

• Scooping out perfectly proportioned cookies

• Scooping out cupcake batter leading to same sized cupcakes

Sifter:

For light airy cakes, and smooth frosting without any sugar or cocoa lumps…that’s where a sifter comes in.

Piping Tips and Piping Bags

Wilton piping tips and plastic piping bags for those beautiful swirls and piped roses on cupcakes and cakes. Bought them from Amazon, got them shipped here through a friend. A set of four basic tips, comes with 12 piping bags. Extremely good quality. I recently bought more piping tips through a Facebook page (I’ll leave the link down below), and let me tell you that even though they are nowhere near Wilton, they are pretty darn good.

Whisk

One of the most inexpensive tools I reckon in my kitchen and most definitely in yours too. It is the most effective and invaluable. Perfect for mixing both dry ingredients and liquid ingredients. If you don’t have an electric beater, then the whisk is the way to go.

If you bake, you will need a cooling wire rack. Great for:

• Cooling cookies and cakes

• Catching the drips off of donuts and cookies

Wooden spoons

I swear by these. They’re hard and sturdy. Make mixing cookie dough so much easier. Perfect for dealing with hot caramels as well.

All these products have been bought from either:

• Al-Fatah, Islamabad

• Hyperpanda, Madina

• Amazon, Seattle

• Baking Tools, Facebook Page

Prices: all below Rs. 1500 excluding the electric hand beater (which in my mum’s time, I’m sure, cost below Rs. 1000…but they’re pretty dang expensive now)