When To Splurge On Expensive Baking Ingredients, And When To Use Cheap Stuff

Did someone say imitation vanilla?

If you watch enough fancy baking shows for long enough, you’re sure to eventually be exposed to “the talk.” That’s when the pastry chef of the moment pulls out the Tahitian vanilla beans ($378 a pound), To’ak Ecuadorian chocolate ($210 per 1.76-ounce bar) or Plugra European butter ($28.59 a pound) and explains why having the highest-quality ingredients makes a big difference in your baking. You might laugh off the idea of spending that much to try a recipe, but you may also have wondered whether specific items really improve the finished product that much.

Does ingredient quality really make a difference?

Even those of us who love to bake and do it all the time might hesitate to toss those pricey ingredients into a batch of cookies for the scout bake sale. But for a special occasion cake or other dessert, those splurges might make sense. If the occasion calls for it, the chefs we spoke to say it’s worth spending more on ingredients.

“Better-quality baking ingredients definitely make a noticeable difference in flavor, texture and aroma of desserts,” said Yoonjung Oh, executive pastry chef of Hive Hospitality. “Not every high-quality ingredient is essential, as some have a bigger impact than others, depending on what kind of desserts you’re making.”

It’s important to know that not every ingredient needs to break the bank — just the ones that will have the most prominent flavors. Oh said she mixes and matches pricey ingredients with cheaper ones, swapping in pricier choices that will make the biggest difference in a particular dish. “When I’m making chocolate desserts, I prioritize using high-quality cocoa powder and chocolate, but then I’ll use standard all-purpose flour, butter, eggs and milk for the rest of the recipe,” she said. “When I’m making something in which vanilla needs to shine, I’ll invest in vanilla beans for their rich aroma, but then I may economize on other ingredients.”