When it comes to baking; the mixing, decorating and eating are all glorious fun. The cleaning up part… not so much. But it can be hassle-free with the right know-how!

If you (like us) have been glued to GBBO over the past few weeks you might be feeling inspired to don your apron and whip out your baking trays. If so we’ve got some sweet tips for the post bake clean-up.

Take the Work Out of Spotless Worktops

Ingredients

Cling film

Method

Place a large piece of cling film over your kitchen work surface before you start baking. That way whatever you throw at your bench (be it icing sugar, flour, jam, melted chocolate or food colouring) doesn’t matter. Simply peel off the cling film after you’ve finished your bake and voila! Your workbench is pristine once more.

Effortless Washing up Three Ways

Ingredients

Warm water
Washing up liquid
Or
An efficient dishwasher
Or
Hungry mouths

Method

Here are three tricks to make the washing up a piece of cake.

1. Need to clean a lidded mixer or blender? Fill the appliance with warm water and a couple of drops of washing up liquid and blend for a few seconds until clean. Rinse and leave to dry.
2. If you’ve got a dishwasher stack as you go for tidy worktops whilst you bake. Clean your appliance regularly with a specialist dishwasher cleaner to keep it efficient.
3. Letting kids lick beaters, spoons and mixing bowls will mean less cake mix to wash off and brownie points for you, win-win!

Bread Maker Cleaning – One Tip You Knead (Groan)

Ingredients

Handheld vacuum or vacuum cleaner

Method

Hoover out crumbs that have fallen inside your bread maker with either a handheld vac or your vacuum cleaner hose. (Make sure your appliance is cold when you do this to avoid damage.)

You can stop too many crumbs from getting into your machine in the future by removing the tub from the appliance before you turn out your freshly baked loaf. Add fresh dough when the tub is removed as well.

De-Grease Your Baking Tins

Ingredients

Baking soda
Warm water
Scourer
Oven cleaner
Re-useable baking sheets

Method

After a time you may find dark grease burnt onto your baking trays and cake tins which has become nigh on impossible to shift. Here’s what you can do:

• Soak your trays in baking soda and warm water then scrub them with a scouring pad.
• Alternatively, soak them in dedicated oven cleaning products, then scrub and rinse with warm water and washing up liquid.
• Line tins with baking paper or re-useable baking sheets. This will stop them from going brown in the future and help you get your cakes out more easily too – bonus!

Hot Right Now – Sparkly Clean Oven Doors

Ingredients

Warm water
Washing up liquid
Glass scraper
Set of screwdrivers

Method

How will you know when your lovingly prepared pastries turn golden if you can’t see inside your oven? Make sure your oven door glass is sparkling clean by scrubbing the panels inside and out.

Feeling ready to rise to the baking challenge? You’ll need to make sure your oven isn’t letting you down by cooking unevenly or not reaching the right temperature. Here are our top tips for getting a perfectly even bake.

Tags: Baking Tips, Cleaning Tips