So you want to check if your cake or brownies are done? To do that, some really helpful baker has told you to use the toothpick test and left you hanging. You don’t want to sound like a total kitchen idiot, so you say “Thanks for the advice” and continue to look at the phone…completely baffled. Been there, done that!
So what’s the toothpick test? It’s not rocket science. First off, you have to have wooden toothpicks (plastic will not work, I’ve proven that). Here are step by step instructions (feel free to share this with your engineering or computer-science friends, they eat this sort of numbered list up):
- Grab a toothpick and insert it into the brownies or cake, about 2 inches from the side of the pan.
- Remove the toothpick
- Inspect the toothpick for cake or brownie bits
- If the toothpick is clean (or virtually clean), you’ve passed the test…stop baking now
- If the toothpick has bits of cake or brownie on it, bake some more