Simple Baking Ingredients Substitute

When baking, there are these ingredients we have in small and insufficient quantity or we just can't get them nearby, instead of halting our baking, we've put together few ingredient substitutes you could easily put your hands on when you can't get the real ingredient around or probably you just want the preservatives and chemical free ones since the substitute will work just fine.

   The substitutes are those that could be used in most recipes that calls for the real ingredients except in few cases. These ingredient substitutes can be made using must haves ingredients in our kitchen, they are easy to make and can also be made in a lesser time.

   This can help to prevent storing unfinished ingredients since the needed quantity can be easily made and used at once.

• Buttermilk
The real buttermilk is the luquid left behind after churning buter out of cultured cream. Buttermilk are used in dessert cakes (e.g chocolate cake, red velvet cake,etc) due to its acidity which help to activate raising agents, the tart flavour it add to cakes and it also helps in retaining moisture in cakes.

Simple buttermilk can be made by adding;
1 tablespoon of lemon/white vinegar to 1 cup whole milk
Let the mixture stands for 5-10 minutes, the milk should have thickened and curdled

This make 1 cup of buttermilk.

The above recipe can be halved, doubled, tripled or as needed.

•  CakeFlour
Cake flour is a type of flour with lower protein content and hence produces less gluten. It has a light and fine texture and pale colour. It is perfect for cake baking as it produce a tender cake with crumbly texture.

Cake flour substitute can be made by adding 2tablespoon of corn flour/cornstarch to 100g of all purpose flour.

• Heavy Cream(not suitable for whipping)
The real heavy cream is made from high- fat fresh milk, heavy cream is obtained when a fresh milk is left to stand, a heavy cream accumulates at the surface and then scrapped off. Heavy cream has a 36-40% fat value. It is well used in sauces, homemade ice cream, sour cream, etc.

The substitute can be made mixing;
¾ cup of milk and ¼ cup of melted butter

The substitute can be used immediately or stored in an air tight container and kept in a freezer. It can be used in baking and cooking but can't be whipped.

• Cream of Tartar ( Tartaric acid)
Cream of tartar is a byproduct of winemaking. It can be added to whipped egg whites to stabilize it, addition of cream of tartar to simple sugar syrup helps to stop Crystal formation and it also helps in Leavening baked goods.

Cream of tartar can be substituted with an equal amount of lemon juice or vinegar.

• Corn Syrup
 Corn syrup is used in baked  goods to soften its texture, add volume, prevent crystallization of sugar, and enhance flavor. 

Light Corn syrup substitute can be made by dissolving;
1¼ cup granulated sugar in ¼ cup hot water

Light Corn syrup substitute can be made by dissolving;
¾ cup of light corn syrup and ¼ cup of light molasses