Want to start baking at home? Here’s what you need.
Stepping into the world of baking can be exciting—but also overwhelming. What tools are essential? Which ones are just nice to have?
Let’s break it down.
Below are 10 beginner-friendly baking tools you’ll need to get started—with clear uses and tips for each.
1. Measuring cups and spoons
Why you need them:
Baking is precise. A pinch too much or too little can ruin your dough. Use cups for dry ingredients and spoons for spices and extracts.
Tip: Look for sets with both metric and imperial measurements.
2. Rolling pin
What it does:
Flattens dough for cookies, pastries, pies, and more.
Best for: Sugar cookies, meat pies, puff pastry
3. Baker’s knife (or serrated knife)
Use:
Slicing cakes, cutting bread, portioning pastries, and even trimming layers.
Bonus: Also handy for slicing fruits or soft ingredients.
4. Parchment paper
Parchment paper – also known as bakery paper, is a grease-proof paper that is used in baking and cooking as it provides a heat-resistant, non-stick surface to bake on.
Cookies baked on parchment paper slide right off the baking sheets effortlessly. Cake pans lined with parchment allow the cakes to flip easily out of pans, without clinging to the bottom or tearing the cake.
Why it matters:
Prevents sticking and makes clean-up easier. Great for cookies, cakes, and pastries.
Pro tip: Line your pans before pouring batter—it makes a difference.
5. Spatula
The humble spatula.
Use:
Scrapes batter, folds ingredients and spreads icing. Think of it as your all-in-one mixing and decorating tool.
Choose: Silicone spatulas—they’re heat-resistant and flexible.
6. Hand mixer
As a beginner, a stand mixer might seem like the most impressive choice, but having at least a hand mixer in your baking toolkit is essential. This versatile tool is mainly used for blending batters and combining wet and dry ingredients. Plus, its high-speed setting can quickly whip cream into a light froth—something that’s much harder to do by hand.
Why it’s great for beginners:
Affordable and powerful enough for cake batters, creams, and doughs. No need to splurge on a stand mixer yet.
7. Cake pan
A cake pan is defined as a pan composed of metal, silicone, heat-proof glass, ceramic, or enameled metal that is safe for baking in the oven. There are a wide variety of cake pan types to achieve different cake styles and serving sizes.
Types: Round, square, sheet, bundt, cupcake.
Start with: A 9-inch round or square pan—ideal for most recipes.
Bonus: Use non-stick pans to avoid greasing every time.
8. Pastry brush
Pastry brush also known as a basting brush, is a cooking utensil used to spread butter, oil or glaze on cake or brush egg wash on pie dough, puff pastry, or biscuits. Its an important tool in the kitchen for ‘finish touching’ in cake dressing.
Use:
Brush butter or glaze on pastries. Apply egg wash for that golden finish on pies.
Also great for: Removing crumbs before icing a cake.
9. Mixing bowl (preferably stainless steel)
Why stainless steel?
Lightweight, durable, and ideal for mixing both dry and wet ingredients.
Look for: A set with multiple sizes.
10. Whisk
What it does:
Blends ingredients and incorporates air. Great for batters, whipped cream, and sauces.
Tip: Use a balloon whisk for fluffy mixtures.
There are many other tools that you may begin to add to your cupboard. You need not have everything at once. However, decorating cake tools are listed and their uses are explained on our Cake designing tools.
