Janelle Halil shares her tips for ace home baking

From an essential baking appliance to the expensive ingredient she doesn't care for, this Sydney baker shares her cooking advice.

Source: Instagram / Recipe image from @janellehalil.

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The self-taught baker may be known for making stunning cakes, but when Janelle Halil gets in front of the oven at home, she prefers to keep things simple.

"I like to bake for my family and my friends, so I'll make things that are seasonal or something I've seen in a magazine or on TV," she says.

"We have a big, beautiful garden where I live and my grandma grows a lot of fruit so whatever is on the trees at that time of the year, I like to take them and bake something with it."

Janelle Halil loves baking for her family. Credit: Janelle Halil

Making birthday cakes for loved ones is also how she started baking as a 15-year-old. While she was already into cake decorating as a teenager, the intricate cakes she sells today through Sassy Sprinkles Cakery are on another level; one cake can take her up to five days to craft.

"When I bake for a client, it's more clinical, there's a structure. When I'm baking for joy, it's what I find therapeutic," she explains.

Lately, at home, she’s been into making old-fashioned desserts, like upside-down pineapple cakes. She's also into patisserie and baked goods like cinnamon scrolls.

Credit: Janelle Halil

Home baking advice

Halil thinks baking is a lot harder than cooking. "When I'm cooking, I feel I can always add things to the pot and fix mistakes many, many times. But with baking, if your dough doesn't rise, it doesn't rise you got to start again," she says.

Her biggest tip for beginners is to keep things simple: "You can't go wrong with a recipe that calls for only one bowl and one mixing utensil – something that requires very few steps and simple ingredients. If you're a beginner baker, I wouldn't attempt a macaron. I'd go for a chocolate chip cookie or a vanilla cake or a mud cake."

Halil thinks a stand mixer is handy: "If you really love baking, invest in a stand mixer. It's expensive, I know, but I think the more you invest in your tools, the more you invest in yourself."

You can't go wrong with a recipe that calls for only one bowl and one mixing utensil.

She also suggests home bakers become well-acquainted with their kitchen.

"Just because one recipe doesn't work, it may not suit you or it may not suit the environment that you're in either. Your oven is different, your temperatures are different, and your tins are different, it all matters when you bake. So really try and understand your environment and what you're using."

Credit: Janelle Halil

Ingredient-wise, more expensive is not always better. But seasonal food always trumps.

"I tend to use whatever I have available. The fresh stuff is always beautiful. Seasonal stuff is always going to be better than if you're trying to buy unripe, expensive fruit at the store," she says.

When it comes to chocolate, she bypasses the more expensive couverture chocolate and goes for compound chocolate, which she says yields results just as delicious in her cakes.

For decorating, do what you love, not what's trendy: "Don't try to do things just because everyone else is doing it; find what you really enjoy doing. Try to stick to what authentically makes you feel happy when you're decorating."

Photos of home-baked goods provided by Janelle Halil.