21 Baking Tools for Your Favorite Chocolate Desserts & Beyond

This article is a part of Chocolate Week—seven days of recipes and stories, all chocolate—presented by our friends at Guittard. A fifth-generation family business, Guittard has been crafting an array of chocolate offerings (from top-quality baking chips to bars) in San Francisco since 1868.

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The store aisles in February are always the same: overflowing with pink and red stuffed animals, flashing heart-shaped trinkets, and rows of chocolate boxes. You walk down the aisles of your drug store or grocery and you’re face to face with chocolate, heart-shaped marshmallows, bonbons, truffles, and any seasonal candy that just might help you say I love you.

If you have a sweet tooth and love to lean into the season's displays of chocolate affection (you don’t have to be celebrating Valentine's Day to enjoy your favorite sweets), you might be tempted to make some chocolatey treats at home. Bake a rich chocolate bundt cake, dip strawberries into glossy melted chocolate, scoop servings of a stout chocolate pudding, or try your hand at tempering chocolate—the options are endless.

So we’ve pulled together 21 essential baking tools (for chocolate desserts and so much more) that’ll help you turn your kitchen into a temporary bakery, fondue spot, or sweet shop.

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1. A Digital Kitchen Scale, $49.99

The key to a good bake is making sure your measurements are precise. Use a baking scale to ensure you’re putting just what the recipe calls for.

2. A 3-Piece Mixing Bowl Set, $83+

These nested glass bowls make baking prep a breeze. Use one for your wet ingredients, another for dry, and the third for your scraps (like egg shells or lemon peels) to keep things tidy while mixing. Want a bowl perfect for pouring? Mosser makes a matching batter bowl.

3. A Glass Measuring Cup Trio, $25.99

Keeping with the theme of ensuring precision, these Pyrex glass measuring cups will help you perfect your oil, water, and milk pours. The tempered glass makes these exceptionally durable—they can withstand your dishwasher, freezer, microwave, and oven.

4. A Baker-Approved Rolling Pin Set, $25+

This set of rolling pins is a Food52 Community favorite for a reason: Designed by two bakers who were searching for a more functional rolling pin, these wood pins come in different sizes customized to what kind of dough you’re rolling out.

5. A Bench Scraper, $15

If you’re going to be dealing with any sort of dough—pie, pain au chocolat, or cookie, to name a few—you’ll want a bench scraper to help slice it up (and then scrape off the counter) with ease.

6. A Stainless-Steel Double Boiler, $10.99

This double boiler will be your best friend when making any recipe that calls for melting chocolate. Small enough to not take up too much kitchen space, but big enough to fit on top of your go-to boiling pot, it’ll help you get your chocolate of choice melted in minutes.

7. Aluminum Baking Sheets, $28+

Whether you’re making cookies, brittle, or chocolate macarons, this set of aluminum baking sheets will help you get the job done. More of a cupcake or single-serve brownie fan? Our Five Two line has silicone baking cups.

8. Oven-Safe Glass Ramekins, $32+

If you’re looking to master the chocolate soufflé or a chocolate crème brûlée, try these oven-safe glass ramekins. Feather light, shock proof, and thermal shock resistant, they can withstand temps as low as -40°F and as high as 660°F.

9. A Highly Rated Cake Pan, $28

This charming cake pan (dubbed “Patty Cake”) from Great Jones often has a waitlist for a reason. With three bright colors (raspberry, broccoli, and blueberry) to choose from and a budget-friendly price, this dishwasher-safe pan is great for chocolate cake—or any cake, for that matter.

10. Emile Henry Pie Dish, $40+

Emile Henry makes stunning ceramic dishes, and this pie piece is no exception. Available in four colors (clay, flour, blue flame, and burgundy), this French dish has ruffled edges that’ll help shape your pie crust into its perfect shape. (Psst! Don’t forget to use something to help weigh things down during the pie-crust baking. These ceramic pie weights will do the trick; these silicone brushes will help with buttering the crust’s edges, too.)

11. A 10-Piece Baking Set, $109.99

If you’d rather buy everything you need in one swoop, this 10-piece baking set is a fantastic option. With a large baking sheet, a 12x17-inch cookie sheet, two 9-inch round cake pans, one 9x13-inch brownie pan and cake pan with lid, one cooling rack, a loaf pan, and one 12-cup muffin pan, you’ll be covered.

12. Nonstick Baking Mat Set, $34+

To help keep cleanup simple, try these nonstick baking mats from Silpat. Just place them at the bottom of your round cake pans, pour the batter on top, and remove from under the cake once it’s baked. No more soaking and scrubbing your pans to get those last bits of cake off. Silpat has other shapes and sizes, too.

13. A Budget-Friendly Hand Mixer, $34.97

If you don’t have space for a standing mixer (or simply don’t want to deal with the fuss of figuring out which one to get), you can rely on this hand mixer to help get your batters, doughs, and icings mixed. Ringing in at under $40 with an almost five-star rating, it’s a reliable choice.

14. Apron With Built-In Pot Holders, $45 $35

Streamline your kitchen linens drawer with this multipurpose apron from our Five Two line. Not only does it have pockets, a built-in conversion chart, a handy hanging loop, and adjustable neck ties, the two bottom corner pockets are lined with stitched-in pot holders so you have heat protectants at your disposal when the timer goes off.

15. A Copper-Plated Cooling Set, $34

Baking tip: Don’t frost your bake until it’s completely cooled. These two copper-plated cooling grids will help hold your cookies, brownies, or mini cakes as they reach toward room temperature.

16. A Colored Glass Cake Stand, $44

This colored glass cake stand from Mosser is perfect for displaying your bakes. Available in three sizes, with or without a glass dome, and seven different colors, there’s an option for everyone.

17. A Comprehensive Cake-Decorating Kit, $21.90

If cake decorating videos or your favorite baking shows have inspired you to try it out yourself, this 65-piece kit will help you get a jump start. You're set to start practicing with piping bags, icing tips, spatulas, a non-slip turntable, an icing scraper, and a cake leveler.

18. A Refillable Kitchen Torch, $18.64 $9.98

You’ll need something to help toast the top of a chocolate crème brûlée, the marshmallow top on a s’mores icebox cake, or the meringue on a baked alaska.

19. Chocolate Bar Mold, $11.99

Who said you technically needed to bake anything? If you’re a pro at tempering chocolate (or just like a good challenge), try making your own chocolate bars.

20. Footed Dessert Dish, $2.95

If chocolate pudding is more your speed, these pretty dessert dishes are perfect for individual servings of the classic dessert.

21. Boska Ceramic Fondue Pot, $100

Chocolate fondue is a great dessert for any party, date night, or really anytime you feel like dipping your favorite treats into chocolate. This ceramic fondue pot from Boska comes with everything you need to fondue in minutes.

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What are your favorite chocolate desserts to bake? Let us know below!