You’ve got just a few days before your good intentions and lofty goals get the better of you on January 1^st. You’ve got just a few more days to overdo it on the sweets and treats. To go out and get chicken wings or a big burger and fries (or whatever your vice) one last time!

Maybe you’re going to go a little crazy in the kitchen and make all sorts of goodies. Whatever the case, here are some helpful baking hacks you’ll be ever so thankful for come Valentine’s Day when you’re most likely back on sugar again :)

1. Put bread slices on the ends of a sliced cake to keep it fresh.

There is always leftover cake, but how do you keep it as moist and fresh as when you first cut into it? Secure sliced bread to the exposed ends using toothpicks. The bread will get stale, but the cake will remain soft and fresh.

2. To give your icing a glossy finish, use your hair dryer.

Put your hair dryer on a low, warm setting to slightly melt the icing and give it an amazing sheen.

3. Use a colander to hold your cake pops or truffles while they dry.

Ever wondered how you could let cake pops or truffles dry without having a flat side where it laid? Well, here’s a hack on how to do it using a colander you already have in your kitchen!

4. Store cookies with a slice of bread to keep them soft.

I don’t know about you, but I want my cookies to be super soft and chewy. So, to keep them as soft as when they are freshly baked, you can store them with a slice of bread.

5. Use a toothpick to create a guide before writing on a cake.

We’ve all been there. You are piping “Happy Birthday” on a cake and it’s all going well until you realize you don’t have room to fit the whole word or it is going to be off center! Save yourself the hassle and trace where each letter goes using a toothpick.

6. Use a cookie cutter as a sprinkles stencil to decorate your cake like a pro.

The cookie cutter acts as a stencil to create whatever shape or number you’d like. Then, if you want to make sure it stays put, you can spray it with warm sugar water to set it in place.

7. Keep all your chocolate chips from sinking to the bottom by coating them in flour first.

If you are baking with chocolate chips, you may notice that they all seem to sink to the bottom. Well, to keep them from sinking, you can coat them in flour first. This hack also works for chopped up nuts and other baking add-ins.

8. Don’t have a rolling pin? Use a wine bottle in a pinch.

Simply sandwich your dough between sheets of plastic wrap and use a wine bottle to roll out your dough.

9. Use unflavored dental floss to evenly slice cake or baked goods.

Unflavored dental floss is sure to come in handy when cutting cakes, cinnamon rolls, and cookie dough.

10. Use masking tape on any container to level spoons without the mess.

11. Dust your cakes or cupcakes with powdered sugar sprinkled through lace.

Your guests will be blown away by these lace cupcakes that look so elegant and difficult to make. However, in reality, they are beyond easy! All you need is to sift powdered sugar through a piece of lace that acts as a stencil to create this gorgeous design.

12. Use a heating pad to make frozen dough rise faster.

Rather than wait all day for your dough to rise, use this brilliant hack to have homemade bread ready in a fraction of the time using a heating pad.