7 Rules For Baking The Perfect Cake (And What To Do When You Mess Up)
1. Always grease the pan and line it with parchment
It’s insurance that your cake will slide out cleanly after cooling.
2. Allow the oven to fully preheat first
The cakes need to bake at the right temperature, with no shortcuts.
3. Bake in the center of the oven (unless otherwise specified)
If it doesn’t specify otherwise, that’s how the recipe was designed. Changes will alter your results.
4. Bake in the size of the pan specified
Otherwise, you’re looking at uneven baking, which means an uneven cake.
5. Your cake broke when you turned it out of the pan
A cake has gone through a lot over the last 30 minutes, not to mention turning from a liquid to a solid! It needs a minute or two to gain its composure once removed from the oven.
Solution: Line the bottoms of your pan with parchment paper.
Cakes should rest in their pans on a rack for 15 minutes after coming out of the oven. By lining the bottom of the pan with parchment, you give yourself some added insurance that the cake will slide out after cooling. (Running a sharp knife between the inside of the pan and the cake is a good idea, too.)
6. Your icing is full of crumbs
Crumbs are the cake decorator’s nemesis! They’re inevitable if you build a layer cake and have to split the layers, but there is a fix to minimize these irritating little morsels.
7 Rules For Baking The Perfect Cake (And What To Do When You Mess Up)
1. Always grease the pan and line it with parchment
It’s insurance that your cake will slide out cleanly after cooling.
2. Allow the oven to fully preheat first
The cakes need to bake at the right temperature, with no shortcuts.
3. Bake in the center of the oven (unless otherwise specified)
If it doesn’t specify otherwise, that’s how the recipe was designed. Changes will alter your results.
4. Bake in the size of the pan specified
Otherwise, you’re looking at uneven baking, which means an uneven cake.
5. Your cake broke when you turned it out of the pan
A cake has gone through a lot over the last 30 minutes, not to mention turning from a liquid to a solid! It needs a minute or two to gain its composure once removed from the oven.
Solution: Line the bottoms of your pan with parchment paper.
Cakes should rest in their pans on a rack for 15 minutes after coming out of the oven. By lining the bottom of the pan with parchment, you give yourself some added insurance that the cake will slide out after cooling. (Running a sharp knife between the inside of the pan and the cake is a good idea, too.)
6. Your icing is full of crumbs
Crumbs are the cake decorator’s nemesis! They’re inevitable if you build a layer cake and have to split the layers, but there is a fix to minimize these irritating little morsels.