Alyssa Sybertz/CNN Underscored

Many people consider cooking an art and baking a science. In order to turn out a perfect cake or loaf of bread, your ingredients must be in precisely correct proportions and combined in just the right way. If something is off, even a little bit, it can alter the flavor or texture of your finished product. Likewise, some baking processes can be tedious or time-consuming, and the last thing you want is to lose a significant portion of your meringue or your buttercream because it’s stuck to your whisk.

Enter the Whisk Wiper. This flexible tool fits snugly over the included whisk and sits right above the handle as you hand beat your frosting, cream or pancake batter. When you’re done, it simply slides off the top and picks up anything still clinging to the whisk — which can then be added straight back to your bowl. Just…genius. Plus, it doubles as a kickstand for your whisk to minimize mess and can be used to scrape out your bowl (a task nobody but your kids looks forward to).

Thankfully, you can also nab it for just $19.

This simple whisk attachment catches all that extra goodness from your wire whisk. Not only will you never waste a teaspoon of frosting or batter but it also makes cleanup a cinch.

How I found the Whisk Wiper

I enjoy baking, but I don’t enjoy the cleanup. Likewise, I’m often trying to be as efficient as possible in the kitchen, making sure I have all my ingredients, tools, bowls and pans out on the counter before I begin so I can move through the recipe as quickly as possible — not because it isn’t fun, but because I have an allotted amount of time.

One of the things that most trips me up when I’m baking? Sticky ingredients that wind up glued to my fingers, bowl or whisk and require precious time — not to mention the dirtying of additional knives and spoons — to put them back where they’re supposed to be.

The Whisk Wiper virtually eliminated this sticky pet peeve during my hand whisking. (FYI: They also make Whisk Wipers that fit over the whisk attachments on tilt-head and bowl-lift stand mixers, though these are sold separately.) The one thing I did worry about was lining up all the wires when sliding it on on the whisk, but I’m happy to report that this ended up being shockingly easy. The flexible material of the Whisk Wiper molds around the wires as you push it on so you only need to line up the first one or two. Then it’s just as easy to slide it off when you’re done whisking and tap the collected goodness back into your bowl. Finally, once the Whisk Wiper is off, you simply use it as a spatula/scraper to scrape out the inside of your bowl.

Alyssa Sybertz/CNN Underscored
Your whisk also won’t fall into the bowl.

While it primarily cleans your whisk so you don’t lose any of that precious mousse, it simultaneously ends up keeping everything else cleaner. You won’t need to lay your dirty whisk flat on your countertop, your whisk handle won’t slide into your bowl and you won’t need that extra knife or spoon you would typically use to scrape the batter off your whisk. All in a day’s work.

Why it’s a score

The Whisk Wiper saves you two of the most precious resources in baking: time and ingredients. It keeps you from having to carefully scrape the cream from between the wires of your whisk and saves cleanup time in a variety of other ways. What’s more, in addition to things like pancake batter and pudding, whisks are often used to whip up delicate baking components like whipped cream, meringues and frostings. These are recipes you want to get just right, and if you’re running short on time it always stings a little to see that frosting clinging to your whisk being washed down the drain. Whisk Wiper makes this maligned waste a thing of the past.

Producing a perfectly light meringue or subtly sweet homemade whipped cream can be a big accomplishment, one made even more satisfying by the knowledge that you didn’t waste a drop. Add a streamlined cleanup to the process and it’s a no-brainer. The Whisk Wiper gives you all this satisfaction and peace of mind, bringing added ease into your baking experience. And at just $19 for endless uses, you can’t beat the price.