We’ve all been there: you’re hands-deep in the middle of a recipe and you KNOW you have all the ingredients. You have somewhere important to be—or company on their way—and you volunteered to be in charge of dessert. You wearily throw open the fridge door, reach for the butter and—it’s not there. You completely forgot you served the rest of it with those crusty dinner rolls the night before. Then you reach for the eggs. But thanks to your son—who decided to make a 6-egg omelette that morning—there’s none of those, either. 

Whether you bake for special occasions only—or spend every weekend in an apron covered in flour—getting delicious results from your recipes means knowing basic baking vocab. And there’s a lot to know. Even the most seasoned home baker encounters terms that make them scratch their head and go, “Huh?” But never fear, I’m here for you! Brush up on your kitchen lingo and stay on top of your baking game with this list of common terms and what they mean.

Baking cakes and other sweet delights doesn’t have to be a complicated endeavor. And no one likes a bazillion contraptions and doohickeys cluttering up their kitchen drawers and cabinets. 

But hear us out: there are just some tools a baker needs to have in her pastry-making arsenal. I’ve put together a list of my must-have, can’t-do-without, put-it-on-your-wish-list-right-now items. Whether they save you valuable time or improve your recipes, these gadgets will make your life and your baking so much easier. You’ll wonder how you ever did without them!