Top TikTok ASMR baking videos for all your calming lockdown needs

Measuring, mixing, whisking… in lockdown, as we know, many of us turn to baking as a relaxing and calming activity. It gives us a feeling of control in a world full of chaos.

What’s more surprising is that we’re increasingly also seeking baking out as a relaxing activity to watch.

According to internet trend analysis tool Exploding Topics, the term ASMR – or autonomous sensory meridian response, the pleasant, relaxing sensation we get from particular sights, sounds or sensations – reached a five-year peak in June 2021.

ASMR videos cover everything from people whispering, to crinkling paper, to simulating scratching the viewer’s head.

READ MORE:
* Here’s why your business should get a TikTok account
* Wellington cookie artist becomes surprise social media sensation
* TikTok is the massive social network where kids escape adults

And baking, it seems, is the next big thing in ASMR. On video-sharing social network TikTok, videos tagged with the hashtag #bakingasmr currently have 16 million views and counting: views of videos with that hashtag grew by 24 per cent last month.

With videos capped at three minutes, and many coming in at closer to one, only certain recipes can be demonstrated in full on TikTok, but it is the perfect platform for soothing, repetitive motions and mesmerising activities in a tiny looped video.

Here are some of the TikTok accounts to follow for your dose of lockdown ASMR baking therapy.

Juliet_at_home

Her marbled workbench is hypnotising by itself, but it’s what she does on that surface that really relaxes. From plaiting dough to piping icing onto cupcakes to meticulously crafting edible flowers, singer-turned-baker Juliet Ferrar has this “soothing repetitive actions” thing down pat.

Must-watch video: Juliet stretches beetroot-coloured sourdough to the tunes of indie folk band Hollow Caves.

lalapastelera

Laura Arciniegas De is new to TikTok and still building up a following, but if you like your ASMR with a side of cake decorating, definitely become an early devotee of this account.

Laura has one of those cake decorating wheels – like a pottery wheel – which, in most of her videos, she spins around and around to get a perfect even coat of icing on her impressive cakes.

There is nothing more visual ASMR than watching a wheel go round… and round… and round… On a loop.

Must-watch video: Laura puts a glass-effect drip on a cake. Sound on for bouncy Spanish tunes.

sugarandicecakeco

Fondant is the most perfectly ASMR baking component there is. It has to be kneaded, then rolled out, then applied precisely to the surface of the cake to give a perfectly smooth finish.

It’s no wonder videos with the hashtag #fondantart have a whopping combined 177 million views.

This cake decorating account has lots of different videos, but it’s the ones featuring fondant that are the most spellbinding.

Must-watch video: Use an acupuncture needle to burst bubbles in fondant. I’m not even kidding.

montezoolandes

She calls herself a “cupcake and cake” artist and it’s true that each of Monica Landes’ cupcakes is a tiny, perfectly formed, piece of miniature edible art.

Watching Monica pipe intricate shapes onto her cupcakes is both incredibly satisfying and completely transfixing. The addition of her sparkly, patterned manicures is an added twinkly bonus.

One viewer beware: Monica almost always sets her videos to hard rock and metal music, which can be jarring, so for ultimate ASMR outcomes watch on mute (you can play your own soothing soundtrack).

Must-watch video: They’re all great, but I’m particularly enraptured by this blue daisy design.

stickyaustralia

Our friends across the ditch know a lot about relieving lockdown stress at this point, so it’s no surprise one of the most enthralling accounts has “Australia” in its name.

Candy-making is full of ASMR stimulants. The rolling! The chopping! The long, goopy sheets of liquid sugar cascading down onto the work surface!

Must-watch video: Again, so many goodies, but it’s this short loop of a worker stretching, looping, and waving for me. Even the white noise of the factory in the background lulls.

Bonus: bakingsoda_asmr

OK, so this isn’t exactly baking. But it’s baking-adjacent, at least, and bears mentioning as this Russian woman has amassed over 100,000 followers with videos of her taking cubes of artfully detailed, pastel-coloured squares of chalk and crushing them in her hands.

You really have to see it to understand how inherently captivating it is, so here you go: