Ever since I was a little girl, I loved baking (and eating) desserts. Once I was old enough, I would help my mom in the kitchen at any opportunity and we became the go-to people for dessert at family functions or class holiday parties.

Once I went to high school, I love baking for class holiday parties or end of the year gifts (I was a bit of a kiss-up in high school). When I first started college, it got hard for me to bake as much as I wanted too.

Now, I am so happy that baking is part of my job. I get paid to experiment with recipes and decorate ginger bread cookies.

For me, baking can be meditative. Reading and re-reading a recipe. Measuring out and counting ingredients. Mixing everything together. Setting timers. Seeing, and smelling, the finished product.

So coffee…

Honestly, I did not like coffee up until fairly recently. Now that I drink coffee, I don’t know how I made it through my freshman year of college (and countless all-nighters) without the aid of caffeine.

Half way through my freshman year of college, I started working for Starbucks. My first day on the job, I did a “coffee tasting” with my manager and struggled to actually drink it; but as I learned and did more coffee tasting, I fell in love.

There are so many different kinds of coffee flavorings and my favorite activity at work when it got slow was trying fancy new pairings -like drizzling caramel onto a chocolate croissant and pairing it with a French roast.

So you just starting making some royal icing, egg whites are already being whipped and oh no! You realize you are out of confectioners sugar (also known as powdered sugar)! What do you do so you don’t waste the ingredients you’ve already mixed and are able to finish decorating your cookies?

I have done this more times than I care to admit, and it can get really frustrating when you’re trying to look up the substitute for confectioners sugar while the standing mixer is frothing your egg whites.

Here is a list of the most common baking substitutes that I’ve found during my mis-adventures in baking:

Confectioners Sugar

Blend together (I recommend in a food-processor). 1 cup = 1 3/4 cups confectioners sugar

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch

Buttermilk

For 1 cup of buttermilk

• 1 tablespoon white vinegar (or lemon juice)
• enough milk to measure 1 cup (with the tablespoon of white vinegar)

Stir and let sit for approximately 5 minutes.

Second Method

• 1 3/4 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1 cup milk

In a pinch, I have found that heavy cream can also substitute for buttermilk, depending on what you are baking. I used it to make a Cardamom Coffee Cake

Baking doesn’t need to be exact. While a lot of science goes into how fluffy your cake turns out, feel free to play around with different substitutes, you’ll never know what you’ll discover.

INTRODUCTION TO MY PAGE

If you are here, you’re probably looking to learn more about coffee, specialty coffee drinks, and anything baking! 

Currently, I work as a barista and a baker at a locally owned and operated coffee shop, Bunbury’s Coffee and Tea, nestled right on the Hudson River, just 15 miles from Manhattan. Prior to this, I was employed by a multi-national coffee chain for about 4 years. 

Ever since I was a little girl, I loved baking and decorating various treats and sweets, part of me always wanted to work in a bakery. Now I’m thrilled (and thankful) I was able to turn this dream into a reality! 

My aim with this blog is to show a variety of tips and tricks based on your personal or business needs. In addition to facts and tricks about different coffee brewing and espresso techniques. So hopefully you will have to look no further than this page for all things coffee, sweets, and treats