Bakers are easier to buy for than most cooks, because baking has a defined set of equipment and most people who bake are missing at least some of it. The difficulty is avoiding the things they already own three of.
The Reliably Useful
- A digital scale, which a surprising number of enthusiastic bakers still lack
- A precision scale reading to 0.1 g, for yeast, spices and leavening
- An oven thermometer, since most domestic ovens are inaccurate
- A probe thermometer, for bread, custards and confectionery
- A bench scraper, cheap and used constantly
- Really good vanilla, chocolate or spices
Why a Scale Works as a Gift
It is the piece of equipment with the largest effect on results and the one people are least likely to have bought for themselves, particularly if they learned to bake with cups.
It also opens up recipes rather than merely speeding existing ones, since a great deal of serious baking writing is now published in grams only. Ranges covering both general and precision models, such as the Escali Scale lineup, make it possible to choose the one that matches how the recipient bakes.
For someone who already owns a kitchen scale, a precision model for small quantities is a genuinely useful second gift rather than a duplicate.
Tins and Equipment
Risky without knowing what they have. Tin sizes are specific to the recipes someone uses, and a duplicate is dead weight in a cupboard.
Where you do know, quality tins in a size they lack are appreciated. Heavy gauge, light coloured rather than dark, and loose-bottomed where relevant.
Ingredients as Gifts
Consistently well received and never duplicated in a problematic way. Good vanilla paste or beans, single-origin chocolate, decent cocoa, unusual flours, saffron, whole spices.
These get used, take no storage space and are things people rarely buy at the quality level they would enjoy.
Books
Worth giving if you know their interests specifically. A general baking book is likely to duplicate; a book on a particular area they have mentioned wanting to learn is not.
Books with weights rather than volumes are more useful, which is worth checking before buying.
What to Avoid
Novelty cake tins in specific shapes, which are used once. Elaborate decorating kits unless they decorate. Anything requiring substantial storage without checking. Branded items chosen for appearance.
Also worth avoiding is anything implying their current results need improving, unless they have said so themselves.
The Practical Approach
Ask, or ask someone who knows. Most people who bake have a specific list of things they have been meaning to buy, and receiving one of them is better than a surprise.
Where a surprise is the point, a gift receipt removes the awkwardness and is not rude.