Why A Baking Glossary?
A Baking Glossary is a necessity when cooking from the net. When I started writing up my recipes for Inspired By Chocolate And Cakes it occurred to me that you might have the same problems as I do when following recipes written in another part of the world.
Sometimes the baking terms used are not the same as we use at home. Even simple ingredients like icing sugar which is the term I would use but maybe you know it as confectioners sugar or even powdered sugar!
So this glossary is not about defining ingredients and what they do but to group common terms. I hope it makes your chocolate adventure smoother.
If you have any questions concerning metric to imperial conversions you should find the answer at my Baking Conversions page.
If you need help with understanding the different types of chocolate then you will find clear simple definitions on this page.
| Baking Terms | Equivalent |
|---|---|
| amaretto | almond flavoured liqueur |
| amaretti biscuits | italian macaroon biscuits made with almonds |
| bicarbonate of soda | baking soda, carb soda |
| butter, sweet butter | 125g of butter = 1 stick |
| chocolate buttons | chocolate melts, not to be confused with chocolate bits often used in cookies |
| dark chocolate | bittersweet, semisweet chocolate. For a clear description click here |
| milk chocolate | For a clear description click here |
| white chocolate | For a clear description click here |
| cocoa powder | For a clear description click here |
| coconut, desiccated | coconut, fine shredded |
| cookies | sweet biscuits |
| cornflour | cornstarch |
| cream | pouring cream, single cream, pure cream, minimum 35% fat content |
| thickened cream | heavy cream, minimum 35% fat content plus a thickening agent/vegetable gum |
| cup cakes | patty cakes |
| eggs, I use 60g eggs in all my baking. | eggs should be at room temperature for optimal results. |
| glucose | glucose syrup, liquid glucose |
| grand marnier | orange flavoured liqueur |
| kahlua | coffee flavoured liqueur |
| kirsch | cherry flavoured liqueur |
| maraschino | cherry flavoured liqueur |
| milk | full-cream homogenised milk |
| mixed peel | diced candied citrus peel |
| non- stick baking paper | baking parchment, silicon paper |
| plain flour | all-purpose flour |
| sugar | granulated table sugar |
| caster sugar | superfine sugar, fine granulated table sugar |
| icing sugar | confectioners sugar, powdered sugar |
| icing sugar mixture | confectioners sugar with added cornflour, powdered sugar with added cornflour |
| tia maria | coffee flavoured liqueur |
| vegetable oil | light in colour and light in flavour vegetable based polyunsaturated oil |
I hope this Baking Glossary has been of use to you and answered any questions you may of had. My aim is to make my site as user friendly as possible and to keep you Inspired By Chocolate And Cakes!
Return from my Baking Glossary page to Inspired By Chocolate and Cakes Home Page.
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