ERRORS COMPARED FOR VOLUME AND WEIGHT:

Unfortunately measuring cups can be inaccurate by as much 30 %. To put this in perspective: you wanted 200 ml, but in fact got 133 ml or 267 ml.

Fortunately digital kitchen scales (for weight) tend to have much smaller errors: usually within 1-3 g. Getting 197 g or 203 g instead of 200 g is a negligible error. So use a scale wherever possible. 

The exception is small measurements like teaspoons (for baking powder, salt, spices), where the accuracy of your scale might not be good enough at low levels.  Then use a plastic medicine spoon.  And do level off with the back of a knife or something with a straight edge!
A friend, who was not a baker once asked where her baking was going wrong in our flop-proof chocolate cake recipe.  Hers was dry and crumbly. Determined to get it right she insisted on bringing all her ingredients, electric mixer, pans and measuring cups over.  After the mammoth task of unloading her car was done (all for a chocolate cake), and watching her, it became easy to see why her cake had gone wrong.  When the recipe called for 2 tablespoons of cocoa, she heaped it up to get the maximum out of those tablespoons - the equivalent of about 8 to 12 tablespoons.  It was funny to see just how high cocoa can go on a tablespoon or dessertspoon.  But in reality, it's no use measuring but then not levelling off!  The spoon is not a tool to get your ingredients out the jar into your batter.  It's a measuring tool. 

While we're on the topic: a tablespoon is 3 teaspoons (14.8 ml), in both the USA and the UK.  So for most recipe conversions in South Africa, this applies.  The only place this is not the case is in Australia. So if you are using an Australian Women's weekly, a tablespoon is 20 ml, although most recipes have ml.

In the image, a Salter scale, Heston Blumenthal, with a mini scale for small measurements (top right) of the scale is visible.  If you have a scale designed for small weights (0.1 g increments), then you can use this to weigh salt, spices and baking powder.  Practically: We only use this scale for recipe development. An ordinary digital kitchen scale will do just fine.  We use both scales interchangeably in our kitchen.

For day-to-day baking, we just use plastic medicine spoons for small volume measurements.

USE THE RIGHT TOOL FOR THE JOB:

**Never use a scale for volume (ml), even if your scale has a setting for ml!  We have one such kitchen scale at home, but you can trust that an unlearned person designed this scale! Stick to grams.
Volume and weight are not the same.  A kitchen scale actually measures weight (g or kg), not volume (ml, cups, teaspoons).

DENSITY (TO HELP YOU MEASURE ACCURATELY)

The reason ml and grams are not equal for most ingredients is due to their density being different. Think of a marshmallow and a gold bar. The marshmallow takes up space, but is actually very light because it has a low density.  Gold has a much higher density.  Density is the weight in g divided by volume in ml. For the density quoted below, the measurement is in g/ml.

LIQUIDS

• For water and milk the volume and weight are roughly equal. Their density is 1.0.  

So if the recipe asks for 30 ml water or milk, you can measure 30 g.  If it asks for 100 ml, you can measure 100 g.  (Technically it's 103 g for milk, but this is less than 1 teaspoon difference, on this amount.)

• For oil, the density is 0.92-0.93.  Take 92-93 % of the volume, to get the required weight. 

So for 100 ml oil, measure out 93 g.  

The weight is smaller than the volume. 

Density of oil and fats depends on the oil type, and the room temperature, but for the purposes of a recipe, it's good enough. 
(Butter, a fat which melts to an oil, has a density of 0.91, so for 100 ml, measure 91 g.)

SOLIDS

• Flour and other solids have spaces between their loose particles known as voids.  The "bulk density" including the voids varies so much between solids, that most gluten-free recipes will specify the weight of dry goods rather than the volume. 

If you do use a measuring cup instead of a scale: never press the flour down when measuring the volume (cups of flour).  If you press down on the flour when measuring volume (cups/ml), you will have a dense dry crumbly product, because you will get far too much flour.  This applies to any flour, whether gluten-free or not.

CALCULATOR
Lastly, your cell phone comes with a calculator app.  Do use it.  It will help you calculate quickly.  And do write the weight in pencil or pen on your recipes.  It makes life easier for next time.  There's nothing to personalise your recipes like your own hand-written notes!  And there is a lovely old Chinese proverb: "even the palest ink is better than the best memory".  Happy gluten-free baking.

You need to know about egg sizes for egg-cellent baking. And I'm not yolking.

If you know where the recipe was written (UK, US, or other) it helps you to translate what egg size you will need.  For starters, take a look at the chart we've put together of egg sizes (with weights in grams) in the UK, US and RSA:

Very roughly, a UK large  =  US X-Large  =  RSA Jumbo

BRITISH RECIPES 

According to the British Egg Information Service, a UK large (previous size 3) was the standard for recipes, unless otherwise specified.
Translated, this is a RSA Jumbo (or RSA extra-large egg). 

If you use anything smaller, you won't get enough leavening, and your product will be likely to be denser and more crumbly than it should be.

AMERICAN RECIPES

According to The Spruce Eats, American recipes are standardised to a US Large egg, unless otherwise specified.

Translated, this is a RSA extra-large egg. 

USE EXTRA LARGE EGGS IN RSA... at the minimum

So, it's a fairly safe bet you should be buying at least extra large eggs (or possibly Jumbo) if you are baking in RSA.  Buying unclassified egg sizes is risky for baking: you could end with as little as half of the eggs required.

Remember that eggs are classified with the weight of their shells. (This sounds so obvious for now.  But wait till you are in a sticky mess with the wrong size eggs or not enough eggs, and you forget that your lovely egg whites and egg yolks are not all you need to calculate by how much you are short.  You'll need to fish those egg shells out the compost pile reserved for your roses. Or else weigh some unbroken eggs to calculate the average likely size you used.)

IF YOU BOUGHT THE WRONG SIZE EGGS

 Time to open your calculator app on your phone, and get out the scale.

• Firstly remember to do all the weighing of your whole eggs before you crack the eggs.
  (Back up plan 1: for those 'uh-oh too late' moments when you already cracked open your eggs but didn't yet add them to your mixture, and then realised they are the wrong size. You need the weight of all the unbroken eggs.  So do this:
  Weigh your {egg whites + egg yolks} that are already cracked without their shells. Call this "A".  Take them off the scale.  Put an empty bowl on the scale, and then zero (tare) the scale with the bowl on the scale.  Now put the egg shells in the empty bowl and get the weight of the egg shells.  Call this "B".  Calculate how much the original egg contents + egg shells weighed by adding "A"+"B".
  
  Back-up plan 2: If you have already added the eggs to your mixture so that it's impossible to work out the weight of the eggs then do this:
  Get the average weight of at least 3 whole eggs (or whatever you have left over, and use this as your egg weight for one egg).  Multiply this by the number of eggs you added.
  
  Back-up plan 3: If you have no scale and bought the wrong size eggs, then do this:
  Use the average weight for the size eggs you used, from the chart above. Assume RSA Medium eggs weigh 47 g and RSA Large eggs weigh 55 g.  Multiply this by the number of eggs you added.)
• Call this "C".
• Calculate the total weight of the eggs required by the recipe.  Call this "D".
• Calculate the shortfall weight of eggs (due to them being the wrong size) as "D"-"C".  Call this "E".
• Weigh one new whole egg. Call this "F"
• Calculate how many of your (wrong size) eggs are required:  "E" divided by "F".  This is your final answer.  (Don't forget this is the total number of unbroken eggs.  To calculate how many extra eggs to add, you may need to subtract (from this total) the number of eggs you already added to your recipe.)
• For decimal points less than 0.25, round down to the nearest whole egg.
  For decimal points greater than 0.75, round up to the nearest whole egg.
  For anything in-between, add half an egg by beating the egg and pouring in half.
  
  
  

IF YOU RAN OUT OF EGGS OR CANNOT TOLERATE EGGS

• If the wheels really fell off and you don't have enough eggs, or if you can't tolerate eggs, then make up the shortfall with egg-replacer.  See the separate Tips for substituting eggs.
  
  
  

Egg has many functions: binding, thickening, gelling, emulsifying (holding water and oil phases together), providing structure to baked goods, contributing proteins to the Maillard reaction (browning which adds unique flavour due to the reaction of proteins with carbohydrates), to name a few.

There are many options for egg replacers.  Aqua faba, pronounced aqua fava is chickpea water and is all the rage for replacing eggs, as it is one of the few options for adding protein (great for the Maillard reaction, as above).  Some food companies incorporate pea protein as part of egg replacement, but both aqua faba and pea protein can be hard to digest.  We also made meringues with aqua faba.  They were surprisingly tasty, although my own body was a bit bloated with the proteins - apparently not uncommon. We also had reasonable success baking with other options from the list below, including using carbonated water.  But to be honest, doing all three together: gluten-free, dairy-free and egg-free is a challenge without adding extra gums.  Our policy is to add as little gum as possible, as some gums can cause bloating, and keep it as natural as possible. 
If you do all three: gluten-, dairy- and egg-free baking (without adding extra  gums or using other animal milks), please take pictures of your baked good with the Coleman Royal Bakeries packet in the background (then we know you legitimately used our products), and we will happily publish it with credits to you. 

Below is a list of egg-replacers, with comments:

A. CAKES + MUFFINS / CUPCAKES + BROWNIES

1. Commercial egg-replacer: Organ No Egg.

This is a go-to egg replacer.  It is a good product, except for meringues and where there is heavy reliance on eggs for the recipe.
Usually about 2-3 eggs can be replaced successfully in a recipe.  It has no major protein source, in which case I recommend adding protein to assist with getting a Maillard reaction (browning that imparts flavour).  The easiest natural source is as part of the milk (e.g. soya milk has proteins, as well as ordinary dairy milk).  

1 egg = 5 ml  Orgran No Egg + 30 ml water 

2. Aqua faba. (Pronounced aqua fava)

One of the few high protein options, but some people may struggle to digest it.  Meringues were made successfully, and tasted good.

It is an excellent option for replacing eggs where there is a high dependence on egg, like Swiss Roll.

1 egg = 45 ml aqua faba.

(1 egg white = 15 ml aqua faba.

1 egg yolk = 30 ml aqua faba)

Remember you may need to reduce/eliminate salt in the recipe if there is salt in the chickpea brine (aqua faba).

Beat the aquafaba till stiff and white before using. Dry ingredients should be mixed with any other liquid first,  and then gently folded in to retain air bubbles. (In other words, mix the aquafaba in last, by gentle folding, to preserve air bubbles.)

3. Carbonated water (sparkling)

This works surprisingly well, but adds liquid and obviously does not provide for a Maillard reaction, so make sure your milk source has proteins if possible for your diet (soya or dairy). There is no need to adjust baking times. Definitely not appropriate for biscuits. Just make sure the bottle was freshly opened. Replaces up to 3 eggs.
1 egg = ¼ (one quarter) of a cup = 62.5 ml carbonated water

4. Bananas.

Bananas impart a banana flavour (not exactly rocket science!).  The  banana is mucilaginous: i.e. it has a polysaccharide (i.e. a complex long-chain sugar) that swells in water, and helps with gelling and thickening.  It gives binding with a slightly heavy result.
1 egg = ½ (half) a ripe medium peeled banana, mashed.
              (1 medium banana:

               120 g with the skin still on)

5. Apple sauce

Pectin in the apple swells and provides gelling.  Granny Smith apples tend to have more pectin than red or golden apples. Can be quite sweet if a red or golden apple was used, so reduce some sugar (reduce sugar in the recipe by 10 g per egg being replaced).

 1 egg = 60 ml apple sauce. 
Can use Purity applesauce (but it is not from Granny Smith apples, so will be sweet.  Reduce sugar content of the recipe as above).

6. Silken Tofu

There is a quick summary at the end of this section if you prefer to skip ahead. 

Dairy is often a problem, in parallel with gluten.  We hope you like our guide, and that it leads to enhanced results.

Oil can be used instead of butter, to convert a recipe to being dairy-free.

• Cakes: This is often the case when baking cakes: oil can be used instead of butter. 
• For biscuits: margarine tends to be better than oil if the dough needs to hold its shape.
• However, if the biscuits are first baked as a cake, and then cut and dried out in the oven in phase 2, then you could use the oil method to substitute for butter.

This guide is for dairy substituion using oil.  There is a separate guide for dairy substitution with margarines.

This guide is split into:

1. Weight measurement from volume

2. Proportions: Getting the balance of oil and water/dairy-free milk

3. Flavour profile: doing a few more tweaks.

If the recipe called for butter in a volume (ml, cups, teaspoons), then we need to get the weight first (see FIRSTLY).  If it was specified in weight (g) then skip to SECONDLY (or go straight to the summary table).
--------
FIRSTLY Weight: convert the volume to weight first. First convert the volume of butter to ml, if it was in cups or spoons.  Then take 91 % of this number to get the weight in grams. (The density of butter is 0.91 g/ml.)
So 100 ml butter weighs 91% of this:  91 g butter.
--------
SECONDLY let's think about how butter is divided into the fat/oil and milk/water portions:
1. fat/oil:                85 % fat on a weight basis, and
2. milk/ water:      15 % on a weight basis. It contains some acids and salt.

We're going to calculate this for our recipe:

1.  fat/oil:         85 % of 91 g is --->77.5 g.  So we will measure 78 g of oil.
2.  milk/water: 15 % of 91 g is --->13.5 g.  We will measure 13 / 14 g water or dairy-free milk.

You could stop here.  It's reasonably good enough for a quick and dirty approach. THIRDLY is a step for the higher grade students who can keep up and want to get the flavour right :).
--------
THIRDLY:  let's get the flavour profile closer to butter.
1. Fat/oil:
Olive oil and cinnamon contain some compounds found in milk and butter. (Butter is very complex, so this guide will never be complete.  But these are two easy ingredients commonly available, which move the flavour closer to something we recognise.) We will substitute a little of the sunflower oil with olive oil, and add a pinch of ground cinnamon.
- sunflower oil:  75 % (as grams) of the original ml of butter required.
This is 75 g of sunflower oil in our example for the 100 ml butter. 
- olive oil: 3 % (as grams) of the original ml of butter required.
This is 3 g olive oil in our example for the 100 ml butter.
- Add a pinch or two of ground cinnamon.


2. Milk/water portion: we need a bit of salt and acid. 
So let's split the water/milk:
- water/dairy-free milk: 12 % (as grams) of the original ml of butter required. 
This is 12-13 g water/dairy-free milk in our example for the 100 ml butter and 
- White spirit vinegar: 2-3 % (as grams) of the original ml of butter required. 
This is 2-3 g white spirit vinegar in our example for the 100 ml butter. 
(Balsamic vinegar tends to be too sweet, so avoid this. A dry vinegar like pomegranate can also be used.)
- And add a pinch of salt.  

SUMMARY:

**The percentages for the volume column (left) don't add to 100%, because we converted the density (mass portion) to make it easier for you.
Well done, higher grade students :).

QUICK CHEAT: I usually just take the two main ingredients oil and DF milk (vol 75 % or mass 82 % oil and 12-13 % DF milk) and add pinches and drops of everything else:  a few drops of olive oil and vinegar, and a pinch of cinnamon and salt. 

Not all margarines are created equal. Using a 75 % fat margarine is a lot easier when trying to mimic butter, even if the other margarines appear cheaper (but in fact do not actually work out cheaper). The main reason to substitute butter with margarine, instead of using oil, is for structure: i.e. when baking biscuits which may spread if oil were to be used, or else for icing which requires stiffness. Margarine helps to hold shape while baking. If the margarine is a low fat version and contains more water, this structure is lost.

So firstly, let's say the oil method in the previous tip is simple and works well for cakes because oil is soft. For biscuits that shouldn't spread, margarine is better.

Margarine comes in so many different fat contents and fat types that it can wreak havoc with recipes. It's all about the fat content first.

A 75 % fat margarine only needs a small adjustment in quantity to convert from butter. 40 % fat margarine, in contrast, needs a lot of planning and drying time. 40 % and 50 % margarines tend to add unnecessary difficulties in baking, so I personally don't use them. They also contain a lot more emulsifiers which can make drying out a problem.   

STRATEGY: FIRSTLY you will need to calculate the right amount of FAT/OIL. (This is the main goal, as the fat/oil portion will not evaporate during baking, whereas the water portion WILL evaporate away when being baked and dried.) SECONDLY reduce milk or water in the recipe to cater for the extra water from margarine (if possible).  THIRDLY evaporate (dry off) any excess water from margarine with extra drying time in the oven, where possible, at a reduced temperature around 105 °C. FOURTHLY add some small tweaks to help mimic butter flavour.

In detail:

FIRSTLY

Oil and water required by butter
Let's calculate our required oil and water from the butter:
For 1 cup of butter (250 ml), using steps 1 and 2 above:
1.  Oil/fat: 193 g      (78 %   of 250 ml)
2.  Water:    34 g   (13.5 % of 250 ml)
(Yes, they don't add to 100 %. See the guide for oil for explanation: the density of butter has been accounted for.)

SECONDLY

Total margarine and excess water
Calculate the total required margarine to meet the required oil/fat in butter (or just read the information row for your margarine), and the amount of milk or water that will need reducing.  In our example of 250 ml butter in the recipe, we want 193 g fat:

For 75 % fat marg:  193 g  /  0.75: you will weigh 257 g marg.
For 60 % fat marg:  193 g  /  0.60: you will weigh 322 g marg.
For 50 % fat marg:  193 g  /  0.50: you will weigh 386 g marg.
For 40 % fat marg:  193 g  /  0.40: you will weigh 483 g marg.

The original plan with 250 ml butter was only 193 g fat and 34 g water/milk (butter contents).
For 75 % fat marg: 

  water = 257 g - 193 g 

             =   64 g water:   30 g excess 
For 60 % fat marg: 

  water = 322 g - 193 g 

             = 129 g water:   95 g excess 
For 50 % fat marg: 

  water = 386 g - 193 g 

             = 193 g water: 159 g excess 
For 40 % fat marg: 

  water = 483 - 193 g 

             = 290 g water: 256 g excess
(The excess water from the margarine is calculated by subtracting the original 34 g of water that the butter would have contained.)

It can be seen that 50 % and 40 % fat margarines have a HUGE amount of excess water (from 159 g to 256 g of excess water).  Compare this quantity to the original recipe which only had 227 g of butter, which was the 250 ml butter.  It is a lot of water to be adding into the biscuit dough, and will likely result in biscuits spreading.  For this reason it is better not to use 40-50 % marg. for biscuits.  Even 60 % fat margarine needs a lot of extra drying time.  If you can buy 70-75 % fat margarine or higher, it is a lot closer to butter in fat content, and holds its shape very well.

If there is milk or water in the recipe, you will need to REDUCE the milk in the original recipe by the calculated excess water.  If there is no milk to reduce, then you will need to rely on extra drying time - but this is after your biscuits have already spread and possibly lost their shape. Hence low fat margarines are not ideal for substitution from a butter recipe.

THIRDLY

Drying time
For biscuits, add extra time for drying if you could not reduce the milk/water sufficiently.  The drying phase should be done after cooking and when the oven is at 105 °C. (The oven needs to be above 102 °C to evaporate the water in which sugars, salt and acids dissolved, and below 110 °C, to prevent sugars/carbohydrates from burning.) You may need as much as 1-3 hours drying time if you have a lot of excess liquid.  (Please note that trying to dry out cakes is a bad idea - they will likely end up too flat and dry.   It would be better to use oil for cakes.  This method should be used for biscuits.)

FOURTHLY
Flavour profile

Remember (summarised from the previous tip about substituting butter by using oil) that adding
 - a few pinches of cinnamon (e.g. 3 pinches for 250 ml of butter),
 - a few drops of olive oil (1 teaspoon for 250 ml butter), 
 - 3 pinches of salt and
 - 1-2 t vinegar
will help the flavour profile. You can also add this to your icing, if you are substituting the butter with margarine.

For short-term storage: a week or so, keep baked goods in a cake tin or tub on the counter.
Never store cakes, breads or muffins in the fridge. Starch crystals grow and staling begins. (Staling is defined as the process in which starch crystals grow.)

For long term storage: put the cakes, breads and muffins, un-iced, in an air-tight container. For cakes, pre-wrap them in cling wrap AND put them in a seal-tight (air-tight) container. If your container isn't suitably air-tight, then cling wrap your container, too. Then put it in the deep freezer. 
When the item is required, defrost it for a day at room temperature before opening the container (and before removing cling wrap around the container, if you had done this). If you open the container before your baked goods have defrosted, condensation will ruin your cakes, breads and muffins, and also cause mould to grow quickly. For a quick solution from frozen, instead of waiting several hours: muffins and cupcakes can be served hot, if popped in the microwave usually for 20 seconds to a minute, depending on how cold the freezer was and the strength of the microwave.

Labels, a final tip for freezing: sticky-tape a piece of paper describing whether it is gluten-free, dairy-free and/or egg-free, what it is (banana bread, madeira cake, etc.) and the date when you made it. Bear in mind sticky tape becomes brittle in the freezer and may lose its stickiness, so if you can put your label inside one layer of cling wrap, or inside the tub or ziploc, this will help not to lose the labels in the freezer. (Two labels are ideal: one inside and one outside.)

This advice applies, whether you are doing gluten or gluten-free baking:

Re-usable coated parchment paper (which is brown and usually can be purchased from a baking store) is a fantastic time saver. In the picture above, you can see they come in varying shades of brown.  I have already cut mine to shape.

To cut: simply place the cake tin with bottom-side down on the re-usable coated parchment paper, use a pencil to trace around the edge, and then cut with scissors slightly inside the line.  Cut one for each of your tins.  Store them clean and dry (they are re-washable) in a zip-loc, ready for use next time.  

Line your cake tins with your precut re-usable parchment paper, and then pour your mixture in.  (Do a final spray on the sides and corners with non-stick cooking spray.)  This saves a lot of frustration with cakes that might stick to the bottom of the tins. 
They can also be used uncut for lining cookie trays, and roasting pans which saves a lot of scrubbing time.  

To remove cakes from a tin:
Once baked, after removing the cake from the oven and allowing it to cool for a few minutes: simply free the edges of the cake with a thin (blunt) knife (with the broad part flat up against the tin), by running the knife around between the tin and the cake. 
Then check the corners between the vertical walls and the base of the tin are free: with the knife inserted between the cake and pan (broad part flat up against the tin), press slightly towards the centre of the cake to check the cake is not stuck to the bottom at the corner or where the paper does not cover the base.  Repeat at a few points around the edge of the cake.  When it seems like the cake is free, first check by tilting the pan slightly, to see if the cake starts coming away from the tin freely (use your flat open hand over the cake to prevent the cake flopping out).  Repeat this at different points around the cake tin, to check the entire cake is free.  Then tip the cake tin upside down on to a rack, mat or plate.

The re-usable parchment paper can be peeled off, washed and left to dry, ready to be used next time.
Preferably turn your cake over again immediately after peeling off the parchment paper and before cooling so the top is facing up.  This will allow you to decorate your cake later without getting crumbs from a broken top layer in your icing or ganache.

Cool thoroughly before icing. 

We've been asked how to make self-raising flour.  Scones traditionally need self-raising flour.  We have a recipe for this, but you may need to tweak your own recipes for other items which you are baking. Here's how:

It needs more protein, salt and baking powder. 

This is what was done for the scone recipe on the website (since scones traditionally need self-raising flour):

Please take note of weight (g) and volume (ml). These are not per cup/s of flour.

**There are other options for adding more protein, such as using bean flours, but firstly this starts changing the flavour profile (not my favourite!), and secondly, it’s less easy to get hold of it, as opposed to the above method.