Hey, y’all, I’ve been getting really into baking lately—like, super into it. I seriously make a new cake, cupcake, or cake pop creation every day. I’ve been dedicating any time I can to experimenting and finding new fun ways to customize my treats. After straying from box mix and finding my own ratio and recipe for the base, I started to wonder if I could make my cakes taste like different fun flavors. After a little research, this is what I found on the different ways to flavor your baking. Check it out.
Flavor extracts
I started by playing around with flavor extracts. These are super-fun and flavorful. These are oil-based flavors that come in little jars with droppers in them. You just make your batter, drop about a half a dropper of your chosen flavor into the batter, gently mix it, and get to baking. The one thing I did notice about these is that the oil can minimize the extract’s flavor, so with extracts, try to choose just one flavor for the baking and leave the mixtures to a different method. You can order different flavor extracts online or find them at most grocery stores. I like to get mine online because there’s usually more of a selection.
Flavor emulsions
I remember reading about these and thinking how weird they sounded! Y’all, I had never even heard the word “emulsion,” yet it’s turned out to be one of my favorite things to bake with! Flavor emulsions are just like flavor extracts, except instead of being made of oil, the flavors are suspended in water so that the flavor keeps its full punch—even after baking. This is my favorite method of flavoring for multi-flavored cakes. I love making chocolate- and strawberry-flavored cake pops, so I like to add flavor emulsions of each to my batter—and a little swirled food coloring for extra pizazz—to make them taste and look outstanding.
Flavor powder
Eventually, I started using flavor powder in my box mixes as another way to flavor my baking. You can start by experimenting with flavored powders to get a good grip on free-styling your baked goods. Flavor powder is a little different than the other two methods, as it comes in a powder form, just like the cake mix! Be careful to put just a little bit in at a time, and taste test during the mixing process to ensure you don’t under- or over-flavor—these powders can be overpowering at times.
