Friends, hi!
Over the years, it’s come to my attention that I know how to werk a home kitchen - whether I’m testing recipes, shooting cookbooks, throwing an entire surprise wedding before Thanksgiving dinner, or turning my space into a full fledged production kitchen once a month for The Bakehouse Texas - I’ll work a home kitchen to max capacity and few things delight me more.
It’s been a slow accumulation into workhorse status, but here’s a working list of ten things that are doing the most around the kitchen. Adding a thing or two might up your game or make your time in the kitchen feel a little more efficient.
1. A speed rack
I am two years into my life with a 10-tier sheet pan rack and I honestly couldn’t tell you what took me so long! I roll this buddy into The Bakehouse Texas as these chocolate chip cookies and biscuit jammers come out of the oven on bakery day and it’s incredibly handy. I also use it back in the production kitchen to hold trays of scone dough as they come together, or even just to fully air dry washed sheet pans. This humble rack is a Godsend.
2. Bus tubs
I know you’ve worked in the restaurant industry if you shudder at the sight of a bus tub. One night of a busser and dish washer calling in sick will have you swear off those dang tubs for life, I swear. BUT! I’ve found, while not glamorous, bus tubs are extremely handy in a home kitchen for making cleanup feel like a system instead of a personal attack. Think of them as a large version of Rachael Ray’s trash bowl which revolutionized our trips to the kitchen trash bin, right!? I tuck mine away under my work table until they have a job to do. If you have a nook of storage, highly reccomend.
3. A good kitchen scale
This baker’s scale makes all the difference, especially when batching large recipes because who in their right mind has time to hand measure 16 cups of flour? This exact scale is what I worked with in every restaurant kitchen I graced though the plastic cover was always broken off from the kitchen crew carrying the scale by the cover. IYKYK.
4. A giant work table
This butcher block work table is the main character of the Bakehouse. Everything happens here from kneading dough, decorating cakes, shooting Instagram stories. This is the table I stand at to wipe and worship daily.
5. Pink bakery boxes and twine
Do pink bakery boxes make the baked goods taste better? The answer is not no. Add twine and suddenly a rustic baked good becomes an actual gift. I keep boxes and twine on hand because at this point, it’s just expected that I’m walking into the party with a pink box filled with treats. I think that’s exactly why I was invited.
6. Pre-cut parchment sheets
Perfectly flat parchment paper! It doesn’t curl and send me into an unnecessary rage.
7. Half sheet pans and quarter sheet pans
Sheet pans are the backbone of the bakery. If a pan so much as thiiiiinks of buckling in the hot oven it’s out of my life instantly. These half sheet pans for cookies and scones, and quarter sheet pans for nuts, crumbs, buttered toast, and reheating one lonely biscuit. I’m a NordicWare girlie.
8. Cookie scoops
A scoop makes every cookie look intentional. Big, tall, bakery-style. And it’s commercial grade scoops or nothing at all.
9. A bench scraper
A bench scraper (this is the one I always reach for from the drawer) is one of those tools that seems optional until you have one, and then it becomes your third hand, dough cutter, counter cleaner and transferer of chopped things. In other words: essential.
10. Deli containers, tape, and a Sharpie
This is the real bakery secret: these specific deli containers with lids and labels. Buttercream, lemon curd, toasted pecans, cookie dough, mystery sauce from Tuesday are all immediately more manageable once it has a container, a date, and a name. And, these are my favorite kitchen Sharpies! Click click!
BONUS! I recently treated myself to this chef coat for women mostly because my postpartum closet has slim pickings and I just need something I can grab and I know will fit. Feels good! Feels like bakery mode!
What To Bake This Week
In the spirit of the kiddos going back to school (and many of you surviving your summer schedules) Everybody’s After School Cookie, a light and lacy oatmeal cookie studded with chocolate and raisins, rolled in cinnamon sugar. It’s just about every kind of cookie in one and an ambitious way to fill the cookie jar (but not for long - they obvi disappear fast).
A Chat with Elisa Sunga on her new book Cake Picnic
Elisa Sunga has done something very cool: she built an entire community around the idea that everyone should bring a whole cake. No notes.
Elisa is the founder of Cake Picnic, which is exactly as dreamy as it sounds: a joyful gathering where everyone shows up with a whole cake. Perfection!
Her beautiful new book, Cake Picnic, is part cookbook, part how-to guide, and part permission slip to make cake the center of the party. It’s full of playful recipes and thoughtful hosting ideas for bringing people together around buttercream, crumbs, and the known magic of everyone arriving with dessert.
Elisa joined us for a sweet little cookbook chat, and we’re giving away a copy of Cake Picnic to one lucky reader below!
What was the “aha moment” recipe while writing this book - the one that made you think, oh, this is the heart of it?
The CAKE PICNIC cookbook is split into two parts: the first is about organizing small cake gatherings and the second half is a collection of 50 fun cake recipes. Together, both of these are the heart of my love letter to CAKE PICNIC for everyone. No matter where you are in the world, I hope that you can create small moments of magic and eat a lot of cake!
If your cookbook had a playlist, what three songs would be on it?
Opalite by Taylor Swift, Green Green Grass by George Ezra, Geronimo by Sheppard
What’s one ingredient you’re evangelical about?
Saltine cracker flour (from the lemon curd and saltine cracker cake recipe)! In this recipe, we pulverize the crackers into a flour and bake the cake layers with it.
If someone cooks just one recipe from your book to understand you as a person, which should it be?
Chocolate cake with potato chip toffee. I love chocolate cake so much and the addition of the potato chips makes this a fun salty-sweet cake moment!
What’s a mistake you hope readers make at least once?
Overbaking cakes. I think there is a very fine line between just right and overbaked. Through my years of baking, I’ve learned that slightly underbaking cakes when taking them out of the oven is fine because they will continue to cook. Eventually, I’ve learned that there is a distinct feel to perfectly baked cakes; when you tap a cake in its center, you can tell.
What kitchen tool deserves more respect, and which one do you think is wildly overrated?
Conversion charts need more respect! I have a little card with all of the top ingredients and their baking conversions between grams and cups. It’s so handy to have for quick reference. Ice cream makers are too overrated!
Fill in the blank: People think I’m ___ in the kitchen, but actually I’m ___.
People think I’m very meticulous and detailed in the kitchen, but actually I’m quite adventurous and go-with-the-flow. I like to adjust recipes on the spot and if ideas come to me in that moment, I will lean into it!
If you could hand-deliver this cookbook to one person (living or not), who would it be and what would you want them to cook first?
I would love to hand-deliver the CAKE PICNIC cookbook to SZA! I don’t know if she bakes but I’m such a huge fan of hers. I would love to share this piece of me with her. If it all goes well, maybe we could even bake together and eat our cakes together. Ah, a dream day!
What’s your most controversial food opinion?
I don’t really like matcha! There are a lot of bakes that use matcha but I’m not really a fan.
When you’re not eating your own recipes, what are you absolutely guilty-pleasure ordering for takeout?
My happy meal is fries. I would love to sit in front of a big bowl of fries and just eat my way through it. Any day that includes french fries is a win in my book!
What do you hope someone feels (like, truly feels) when they cook from your book for the first time?
I hope they feel heartened, joyous, adventurous, and whimsical. To me, the CAKE PICNIC cookbook is a ball of sunshine and sweetness rolled into a book. I wanted to make sure each page and photo felt like a hug or a moment that you want to create and be a part of. I hope we create these little moments and spaces of magic in our lives all of the time!
Cake Picnic Giveaway!
I’m so happy to be giving away a copy of Elisa Sunga’s beautiful new cookbook, Cake Picnic, to one lucky Baked In reader!
To enter the giveaway, leave a comment below and tell me:
If you were coming to a cake picnic, what cake would you bring?
I’d be walking up with this Chocolate Stout Cake with Fresh Raspberries.
The giveaway is open to U.S. residents only and will remain open until Sunday September 6th. One winner will be selected and notified via Substack message.
More soon, friends! Have a lovely day.
xo Joy
I am an avid baker and big fan of your posts. Thanks, Joy😘
Love the list of things that make a kitchen work! Also: pink bakery boxes 💖