Level-up Your Cakes

While we saw (and tasted!) it first in red velvet cakes, any type of cake can benefit from the wonders of vinegar. Adding a few tablespoons of white vinegar into your cake batter helps tenderise the gluten, resulting in a softer, more delicate crumb. It also helps cakes retain moisture. The best part? You can experiment with flavours. Dark vinegars like red wine, balsamic, and malt vinegar compliment      chocolate cake well. Lighter and fruitier vinegars such as white wine, champagne, and apple cider go well with butter cakes. If you’re looking for a milder alternative, go for unseasoned rice vinegar.

Make a Vinegar Pie

Here’s what we know: Someone in Midwestern U.S.A during the 20th century wanted pie for dessert, and the lack of fruits available didn’t stop them from baking one. Hence the vinegar pie—a sweet custard-filled pie with a sharp tang reminiscent of lemons—was born. Like cakes, the type of vinegar you use will determine your pie’s flavour profile. White vinegar works well, although apple cider vinegar is the popular choice for its subtle apple taste. In fact, there’s a whole world of fruit vinegars out there for you to try, including raspberry, cherry, pomegranate, passionfruit, and strawberry balsamic. Get the classic vinegar pie recipe here.

In Place of Eggs

Vinegar as an egg replacement is an effective, no-fuss solution for vegan baking or when you’re out of eggs. For each egg in a recipe, you can mix one tablespoon of vinegar with one teaspoon of baking powder. This mixture acts as a leavening agent and can help bind the ingredients together, just as an egg would. No more biting into eggshells!

Keep Breads Fresh for Longer

As a natural preservative, vinegar extends the shelf life of bread by slowing down mold and bacterial growth. You also have the added benefit of giving your bread more depth and a mildly sour taste. If you’re not a fan of bread with extra tang (sorry, sourdough), measure out as little as a teaspoon of vinegar for every cup of flour—proceed to mix, knead, rise, fold, etc.—and still get loaves that last two to three days longer.

Whip and Frost

The purpose of vinegar in buttercream is twofold: cutting down the sweetness and creating a velvety texture. The acidity is a good way to balance the amount of sugar required in most buttercreams, while also smoothing out the graininess. But beware: Adding too much can cause your mixture to curdle. Avoid this by making a vinegar reduction, mixing small amounts to your bowl of whipped frosting in batches. Balsamic vinegar works best, but wine and cider vinegars with some sweetener or jam make great reductions as well.