Baking Tips
How to Make Your Own Buttermilk at Home
If you’ve ever been halfway through a recipe—say, whipping up a batch of our fluffy Red Velvet cupcakes—and realised it calls for buttermilk, you’re not alone. It’s one of those ingredients we don’t always keep stocked in the fridge and often isn't worth buying a whole carton just for one recipe. But here’s the good news: making homemade buttermilk is super easy, and it only takes a couple of minutes. You most likely have all of the ingredients in your fridge and pantry already! At Brooki Bakehouse we use buttermilk in some of our cupcake recipes so we often need to have it on hand in bulk. But at home, you're likely to only need a small amount. So, let’s break down exactly how to make your own buttermilk substitute whenever you need it. What is Buttermilk, Anyway? Buttermilk isn’t actually buttery at all. Traditionally, it was the tangy liquid left behind after churning cream into butter. Today, the buttermilk you find in stores is usually cultured milk—slightly thick, with a signature tang that makes baked goods extra tender and flavourful. It makes for a delicious addition to cakes and cupcakes, particularly vanilla and red velvet. In recipes, buttermilk: Reacts with baking soda to help your cakes rise beautifully Adds a subtle tang that balances sweetness Keeps bakes soft, moist, and never dry How to Make Buttermilk (2 Easy Methods) Here’s the quick fix to make your own buttermilk recipe at home in just a few simple steps. Remember: room temperature ingredients always! Method 1: Lemon Juice + Milk 1 cup (240ml) whole milk 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice Method 2: Vinegar + Milk 1 cup (240ml) whole milk 1 tablespoon white vinegar or apple cider vinegar Simply stir the milk and acid together, let it sit for 5–10 minutes until slightly thickened and curdled, and you’ve got a perfect buttermilk substitute ready to use. Brooki’s Pro Tips ✨ Whole milk works best in baking, for a full body flavour. Always let the mixture rest before adding it to your recipe—this activates the magic. Scale up the ratios if your recipe calls for more buttermilk. Always use room temperature milk so the thickness can develop fully. Why You’ll Love This Hack Making your own buttermilk means you’ll never have to make an emergency grocery run again. Plus, it ensures your cakes, cookies, and brownies stay soft, tender, and bakery-worthy—just the way we like them at Brooki Bakehouse. So next time your recipe calls for buttermilk, remember: you’ve already got the secret in your fridge.
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How to Make Self-Raising Flour
How to Make Self-Raising Flour at Home One of the most common questions from international Brooki readers is how to make self-raising flour yourself at home. We use self-raising flour a lot in the bakery and it is a staple in Australian supermarkets. But we've come to learn that while it might be a staple ingredient on this side of the equator, it isn't as easy to find in some places! Don’t worry—you can whip it up in minutes with pantry staples. Self-raising flour is simply all-purpose flour combined with baking powder. It's that simple! To make 1 cup (125g) of self-raising flour, just mix: 1 cup (125g) all-purpose flour 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder Whisk everything together to evenly distribute the baking powder, and you’re good to go. This DIY version works perfectly in cakes, muffins, biscuits, and any recipe calling for self-raising flour. You can add a sprinkle of salt (1/4 teaspoon) if you're making a savoury item, or skip the salt for your sweet bakes. The best part? Making your own means you’ll always have it fresh, and you can scale the recipe up or down depending on how much you need. Get the Baking Book! You will find 100 recipes from our founder, Brooke Bellamy, inside her debut cookbook Bake with Brooki. An instant best-seller, this book is filled with recipes from Brooke's childhood, as well as a decade in commercial kitchens as a self-taught baker. Each recipe is easy to follow and even easier to eat! Buy the book now.
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Baking Equipment Every Baker Needs
Whether you're a brand new beginner or a seasoned home baker looking to refine your setup, having the right equipment is key to success. This guide will walk you through the best baking equipment every baker needs, from must-have basics to helpful upgrades. Discover the best baking tools to invest in, understand their importance, and unlock your full baking potential. Top 10 Essential Baking Equipment 1. Sifter If there's one bakery item that gets used every day, it's our sifting machine. For home bakers a sifter is an essential item for sifting ingredients that clump together - because no one wants a crumb of dutch cocoa powder or baking powder in their bite of a cupcake! Take note, however, that not all ingredients need sifting. You can skip the flour, but always sift your icing sugar for a smooth buttercream. Buy now $9.29 2. Stand Mixer It’s no secret a stand mixer will make your baking days easier and more efficient. But that doesn't mean you have to race out and buy the most expensive mixer on the market. The best mixer is the one you can afford, so be sure to shop around! Buy now $738 3. Cake Tins As far as cake tins go, there are certain brands and materials that are way better than others. Fat Daddio's is a personal favourite, known for their anodized aluminum pans (which results in even heating and durable pans that will last a lifetime). Buy now $24.99 4. Macarons Mats If you ask me what my favourite thing to bake is, macarons would win every time. There’s just something so therapeutic about making them! Perhaps it is the concentration required to get them right, which allows you to totally switch off your mind from anything else. Having a pair of macaron mats is essential to making perfect macarons that are uniform every time. Join me for my macaron masterclass if you’d like to bake along with me and get my fail-proof recipe! Buy now $28.99 5. Soaker Bottle If you’ve ever wondered how cake decorators keep their cakes fresh by making them in advance, you need to know about sugar soaking! This soaker bottle is the perfect way to soak your cakes with simple syrup to increase their lifespan. Buy now $40 6. Oven Mitts As a baker, oven mitts are an essential part of your tool kit. For me, oven mitts are kind of like shoes for fashion people - I just can’t buy enough of them! These oven mitts from Amazon come in a bunch of colours at an affordable price, so stock up! Buy now $14.99 7. Kitchen Scale In the bakery I always measure everything in grams. For bakers and pastry chefs this is pretty normal, as it ensures more accuracy in baking. If you plan on developing recipes, it is a great habit to adopt as early as possible and these small kitchen scales are the perfect addition to your home kitchen. Buy now $18.99 8. Offset Spatula If there’s one thing in my baker’s tool kit I could not live without, it’s an offset spatula. I use these nifty tools to ice and stack all of my cakes, as well as decorating them. Buy now $11.66 9. Cake Turntable Another cake decorating tool I cannot live without is my cake turntable. Investing in a sturdy turntable is a no brainer if you ask me, especially when you’re making tens of cakes each day! Buy now $87 10. Fondant letter stamps Finally, these fondant letter stamps have become a staple in our kitchens at the bakery. We use these to stamp the letters for our heart cakes and vintage style cakes, which is how we get those perfect letters on the top of the cakes. Buy now $15.29 View our Online Baking Classes
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