Baking equipment: come and share your favourite items!

[AfterTheRainComesSun]

Need to buy a lot of basics as I am a beginner and don't have anything yet, except a hand-held mixer, measuring jug and a round cake tin and a muffins tin.
I'd like to get more tools such as spatulas, various tins, mixing bowls etc etc.
Can you link your favourite ones, please (wouldn't hurt if they are also pretty to look at as I need some extra motivation lol)? Thanks!

IKEA £1 rubber spatulas are excellent.

I'm somewhat of a spatula collector for some reason and have some expensive ones from brands like Le Creuset and none of them beat the IKEA ones.

https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/gubbroera-rubber-spatula-black-white-50527354/

The amazon brand masterclass does good quality tins for a good price.

I don't have a specific brand to recommend, but for bowls I like a stainless steel, they are lightweight, easy to clean, and conduct heat well so useful for Bain Marie too.

If you're just getting into baking you don't need to spend alot. Rubber spatula, balloon whisk, electric whisk, bowl, electric scales, and a tin are all you really need. Then I would expand naturally and slowly from that point on.

Any of the STELLAR brand bakewear. Usually available at TKMAXX for a good price. Get loaf tins, springform pans etc for all types of bakes.
Joseph Joseph NEST of bowls is fab as it includes collander sieve and juicer.
Also their nest of cup measurements are great.
baking parchment and loaf tin liners. Easy to keep tuns clean using these every time.
Top tier is a KitchenAid - absolutely brilliant for loads of things.
A cake tester - vital! It's a tiny metal flat skewer so you can check when cakes are cooked.
Happy Baking!

@AbsoluteYawns would love a kitchen aid but what do you use it for exactly and how do you figure out when to use is? most recipes don't say "use a kitchen aid"... (I am a real beginner, can you tell!?)

I have a kitchenaid and I adore it, it's nearly 10 years old and doesn't seem to be aging at all. But I am a really enthusiastic home baker, and was for many, many years before getting one. Before then I did just fine with electric hand whisks and other more basic tools. While I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them, in your case I do wonder if dropping £400+ on such a luxury item is wise when you might not really take to baking like you expect. And while they are wonderful for baking they aren't particularly useful for general cooking.

Though to answer your actual question most cake batters, biscuit doughs, bread doughs, buttercreams... can be made in a kitchenaid. If something says to use a stand mixer, to 'beat', or to 'whisk' these are all cues to use the kicthenaid (or hand whisk, or simple elbow grease). Where I don't bother is things like Yorkshire pudding batter when you can just as easily do it by hand with a balloon whisk.

@AfterTheRainComesSun KitchenAid mixers are generally considered the best mixer for a home kitchen. They have various sizes, but are a little expensive. Hand mixers are very useful, if you are just starting out.

I don't think you need a KitchenAid when you start baking.

I think for me, the basics are a mixing bowl (preferably a couple), a sieve, a measuring jug, a spatula, hand whisk, wooden spoon, two 8 inch cake tins, a brownie tin (8-10 inches square) and a muffin tin (and scales!).

Next level up are a pallette knife, a piping bag with BIG tips as well as some smaller tips and a "coupler" (so you can change tip without emptying the bag), an electric hand mixer, some of Lakeland's nice ready cut cake tin liners, a 2lb loaf tin and an 8 or 9 inch springform or loose bottomed tin.

I think that basically covers everything I ever need to bake tbh.

Springform is easier to use on your own, loose bottomed is better for sliding the cakes off.

If you wanted to you could get a massive flat cake mover but I didn't have one for a decade.

https://www.lakeland.co.uk/in-the-kitchen/baking/parchment-and-liners?intcmp=INTSRCH:cake-tin-liners

@AfterTheRainComesSun I echo PP
The KA is for when a recipie says mix together something eg creaming butter and sugar, making bread or other dough or whipping cream or meringues.

Delia started at the beginning. You can too and she tells you everything.

https://www.deliaonline.com/how-to-cook

That's a great link.

I see your kitchen aid and I raise you a Kenwood Chef😁 Chefs are the daddy of stand mixers and will generally outlive you.

Accurate scales and a good set of measuring spoons are a must, as is a reliable oven thermometer. Grease proof baking paper is also the best for lining tins.

Delia and Mary Berry are great places to start. Sainsbury’s do excellent bakeware on a budget. I have a fancy Bundt tin which is a luxury but makes cakes look extra fancy just because they are shaped differently.

Trained chef and patissiere here. Apart from scales, the best money you will spend on baking equipment is a cheap large metal spoon like this one for £2. They are so much better than wooden spoons or anything else for folding flour into mixtures without overmixing or knocking all the air out of the mix. I have made cakes in washing up bowls in the absence of a mixing bowl, and McGuyvered all sorts of baking receptacles, measured by eye in the absence of scales, but couldn't do without a big metal spoon.

Electric scales are a must!

I also love these magnetic measuring spoons, I don’t have a lot of space and these spoons live on my fridge door. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rainberg-Magnetic-Measuring-Stainless-Measure/dp/B097QB91NJ/ref=asc_df_B097QB91NJ/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=501123863518&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=15329410281824349083&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1006636&hvtargid=pla-1381491119228&psc=1