[Image description: a partially eaten slice of cake on a blue plate with a fork. The cake has three layers, the bottom is a brownie, the middle is a chocolate chip cookie, and the top is vanilla cake. There’s white chocolate frosting between the layers, chocolate frosting on the outside, and chocolate ganache on top.]
Oh darn, no I don’t. Not to sound like I’m an actually good baker, but standard desserts like brownies, (simple) cakes, and cookies I’ve made often enough that I know the gist of the recipes. Sometimes I’ll look up a recipe or two online to confirm I’m on the right track, but usually I make them on the fly.
Like for example, my basic cookie base is a super easy 1:1:1:1 ratio. One stick of softened butter creamed with one cup of sugar, add in one egg, then one cup of flour. Depending on what I’m going for and what kind of butter, sugar and flour I used, I’ll add vanilla, salt, baking soda/powder at the right stages.
People say cooking is an art and baking is a science, but a lot of the simpler things you actually can eyeball and get away with it (especially if you’re like me and are okay with the occasional odd result 😅). So like if I use brown sugar, I know that’s got more moisture than white, so I’ll probably need an extra spoonful of flour to get the dough looking right.