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 Going from Flat to Fabulous:
Basic Cake Baking Techniques
Anticipating your award winning gourmet cake, you open your oven onlyto find a cake that looks like someone put a fist in the middle. Your cake has fallen and all the time, and energy spent on this disaster has now left you frustrated and confused. How did this happen? You followed the recipe completely. Truth is, it happens occasionally even to the best cooks, but there are some simple tips and techniques to help keep it from happening a lot.The secret is in understanding that the art of baking is a type of chemistry. I hear the moans from here. I too never reallydid well in chemistry but don’t worry. It is really quitesimple. There are ingredients and the way you mix these elements will determine whether your chemistry experiment achieves the desired outcome.
When baking cakes, the best rule is to always start with the best ingredients. Yes, there are sometimes when you can substitute foran ingredient you don’t have on hand but then don’t look for the exact same results. For any change in the ingredients will affect theresult. This is not always a bad thing. If you want to cut down on the oil in your cake, for example, many use applesauce. The cake usually comes out slightly lighter. Some people replace water with milk or milk with buttermilk, which leads to a richer and densercake. Just know what the effects of the substitution will have.
Use measuring cups and spoons to measure all ingredients accurately. Too much of one thing and not enough of another canbe a recipe for disaster. Only experienced people, like mygrandmother can accurately measure by sight alone. I wouldn’tsuggest anyone go by sight to measure, even grandma has gotten wrong once or twice.
Another tip is to start with room temperature ingredients. Temperature is one of the key deciding factors in whether your creationbecomes a masterpiece. If ingredients get too hot or are toocold, the chemical reactions that are essential maybe affected with adverse effects. Temperature is most often the culprit in fallencakes.
The most common mistake made is that the oven is not the right temperature when the cake is placed in it. Always make sure thatyou preheat your oven. This is crucial because the air that makesthe cake fluffy quickly leaves the batter when it sits too long. Also, make sure that your oven temperature is correct. This isimportant because oven temperatures can be off by more than 25degrees. An oven thermometer can be purchased to check for accurate readings.
Always bake your cake in the middle of the oven so that heat evenlydistributes around the entire pan. Never overcrowd your oven. There should be at least an inch between pans and two inches between the pan and the oven wall. Also, cook all cakes onthe same level, never place on rack above or below the other. When using glass pans, decrease temperature by 25 degrees.
Altitude also can flatten your cake. The oxygen from the airhelps in some of the chemical reactions when you are blending andmixing your ingredients. The higher the altitude, the less oxygen there is in the air to benefit your baking. This is easily rectified by adding more liquid and increasing the temperature in theoven. At elevations over 3500 feet, the oven temperature shouldbe increased by 25 degrees higher than the temperature used at sealevel.
Over beating, the batter can cause too much air and under beating doe snot allow enough air to penetrate. If using store bought mixes,two packages can be used but do not increase beating time. Too much airwill make a cake holey, to little and it becomes dense. A neat trick is to tap the pan on a counter to relieve access air before going into oven.
Bake the cake at the correct temperature for the correct amount oftime. Jarring the cake can also make it fall so keep the kidsfrom running through the kitchen when baking. Colder air hittingthe cake will also flatten it so avoid opening the oven door unless absolutely necessary and then only after at least 2/3 of the baking tme as lapsed.
Keep these simple tips in mind the next time you bake your cake. Following these techniques will guarantee you a better baking experience and give you a cake you can be proud to serve. Nexttime when you open the oven, you may actually find a gourmet cake ofyour dreams.
Jennifer Wilson Freelance Writer
For Valleyx.com C2Cnetworks Inc.
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