Your Spring Baking Guide

With Easter ,Orthodox Easter and Passover coming soon, home bakers are probably gearing up for all sorts of baking. Make sure the kitchen is prepared, with the right ingredients and pans. It'll make holiday baking that much easier during these hectic days.

Passover start April 19th which is  only a few days away. It''s time to sell or throw out all flour and use ground matzoh. It's also time to buy cocoa powder and honey. Potato starch is another must have because it's used as a thickener in cakes and brownies.Another ingredient in many savory and sweet Seder dishes is matzoh farfel. These are small pellets made from egg noodle dough and is frequently toasted before being used. Also have egg noodles on the ready too, for kugel Make sure there is also fresh fruit such as apples and bananas for baking. Easter follows on Sunday the 21st. This is the time for all those lamb and Easter egg cakes. These cakes can either be made with mixes or by scratch. If you use mixes then make sure you not only have eggs but also oil, either vegetable or canola. The lamb cakes come out perfectly if Dream Whip is added to the mix so have those boxes on hand. (there are two packs to a box).If you go the scratch cake route, there's the need for flour and the leaveners such as baking soda and baking powder. Vegan cakes require corn starch and in some recipe , apple cider vinegar. Make sure you have both. The vinegar can also be used in egg dying and , salads. The lamb cake requires mini skewers in the neck to hold the head on. Please have these. Without them your creation will look like a victim of the French Revolution.

Of course these, along with those Easter cupcakes and cookies have to be decorated. The lamb cake requires five to six cups of confectioners sugar. Here I recommend buying the two pound bags  instead of boxes of it. There's also the need for butter or margarine sticks along with vegetable shortening. Country Crock also has butter flavored sticks that make for a rich tasting frosting. Remember to also have food coloring ad if you're planning on making an Easter egg cake , then add colored sugar and sprinkles to the list. These will be used to create the stripes and dots along with zigzags on the cake. If you're baking Easter egg cookies, then  make sure you have gel icing tubes, the ones used for writing on cakes. These can create perfect lines and polka dots on cookies.  You can also buy white and pastel chocolates for melting and then drizzling onto the cookie tops. If you're also thinking about making cake pops, then make sure you have sticks for them. Both the Greek and Russian Easters center around homemade sweet breads. Again, it's vital that you have yeast along with raisins and candied citrus for flavoring.

Spring holiday season is upon us. Make sure you have all your ingredients to create the perfect cakes and sweets. They will be as memorable as the holidays themselves.