Irrspective of the baking menu you are looking into, there are certain ingredients which are part of all of them. That is what the blog is all about. Check out what all are the common ingredients of a baking menu.

Flour

Always choose self-rising or plain flour.  It is easy to handle and bakes sooner than whole wheat or mixed grain flour (which used in some of the "health cakes or breads".) 

Baking Powder

This is readily available in any grovery store.  When you add it in a controlled quantity while baking it increases the volume and lightens the cake/bread/muffin/cookie. This rising agent is usually added at the end when the whole batter is ready and has to be poured in the desired tin for baking.  That is done for a specific purpose because the moment you add baking powder, it starts to react with the moisture in the batter and creates carbon dioxide.  If that batter is kept for too long it becomes heavy and results in a flattened cake.

Butter

While baking you have to use unsalted butter.  It is essential because it keeps the cake moist and provides the soft texture to the cake.  Butter is beaten throughly with sugar to create a light and pale mixture.  That is the base of most of the baked goods.  

Sugar

All of us use sugar everyday in different forms.  For baking you can opt for demerara sugar, castor sugar or icing sugar.  Demerara sugar is used more in tarts and pies.  It lends a caramalised taste and more crunch to the preparation.  Icing sugar is used primarily in preparing the icing of the cake and is at times used while preparing brownies.

Extract

Extract adds a flavor to the cakes, brownies, muffins, cookies and breads.  It is in liquid form.  Extract is basically a concentrated essence of almost anything.  The most common extract that is used is vanilla extract.  A tiny amount creates a delicious aroma.  It is used to substitue adding the actual vanilla pods in the preparation.  There are fruit, dry fruits, and chocolate extracts that can be used by innovatively adding while baking.  

Eggs

Eggs provide the body to any baked good.  It you want a more rich and smooth cake then you can add more egg yolks.  While preparing egg yolks are beaten into the butter and sugar mixture.  Egg whites are beaten till they form stiff peaks.  The egg whites incorporate air in the batter.  Eggs are seperated in the above mentioned manner only for cakes or mousse.