Cookaholics Bulletin Board

1) are you not supposed to open the oven door when the cake is cooking? It seems now to be deflated in the center.

2) what does "fold into the pan (cake pan)" mean exactly.

3) how full can you generally fill a cake pan? Is 3/4 too full??

4) when beating the eggs into the butter/sugar/creamed mixture, should you use a low speed or a high whippy type speed? It seemed that my batter was very fluffy, and I am wondering if I overbeat it. Should that be a fairly calm procedure or do you really want to get it going?

Thanks. The recipe I used was very short and not much detail. It's a french almond cake.

also, 5) how long do I cool them after they are out of oven and before taking them out of the pan? they just came out of the oven, smell good, look a little sketchy.

1. Don't open the door too often as the temperature will reduce
2. Gently scrape the batter from the mixing bowl with a large spatula into the cake pan
5. Generally, recipes say to cool the cake for 10 minutes before removing from the pan

I'll leave 3 and 4 to the real bakers here.

Fitzie

3 - depends on the type of batter. Something real dense like a carrot cake or flourless chocolate, etc, you can fill 2/3 to 3/4 max. Most batters need room to rise. Half full is a good rule of thumb.

4. - As long as you have a good, powerful mixer like a KA or equivalent, I use medium to medium-high. If your mixer is something smaller, or a handheld, use high. The point is to let the sharp edges of the sugar crystals actually cut air bubbles into the butter. You're not trying to slowly dissolve the sugar. You need those air bubbles for a good rise.

EB
Another thing to consider....if you used the convection setting on your oven, that could have been the cause of the middle falling. Anything that needs to rise should be baked in a traditional (not convection) oven primarily because convection causes the cake to rise too fast before the structure is strong enough to hold up the center (I think that is the theory). Anyway....I learned this the hard way until someone on this board (when we were on TOBB) gave me this valuable info.
ilene

Ah, got it all thanks. I had the husband take some photos but he has a brand new week old droid and for some reason it is not emailing.

I baked the same batter in two pans, one with a darker teflony coating and one light metal. They are dramatically different colors.

I've cooled them and wrapped them in plastic, will unveil tomorrow and put the pow. sugar and citrus rum glaze on them (this will cover a multitude of sins).

Thank you. Any help appreciated. I should have just got a box mix. My mixer is ancient, so I had it at high speed to keep on it, it seems that was the right thing to do. Putzing with them in the oven during the baking process was probably a mistake.

Now I see many many french almond cakes on the internet, this was probably not the best recipe out there for a beginner, only because it was pretty vague.

edit...OK, it's working now, here it is. The one in the fluted pan is really deflated. Both are really. It's way browner on the bottom surface (soon to be the top).

Now you're in my world. Perhaps I can help with several things.

When I convert recipes from 8 inch to 12 inch to 16 inch pans, I usually have to adjust the recipes and/or time & temp relationships. From the photos, I'd guess that the problem was mainly the pan size. It looks like the cake tried to rise right out of the top of the pan. The heat of the oven does 2 things. It makes the bubbles expand, causing the rise. And it dries the moisture out of the batter, allowing it to 'set' around those bubbles. If the batter is too deep in the pan, it gets hot enough for the bubbles to form, but not hot enough to set the batter quickly enough in the middle. If you use convection it compounds the surface drying.

If you don't have the right sized pan, I find it's safer to use a larger pan rather than a too small pan. Just reduce the baking time. If you use a pan whose surface area is smaller than called for, be sure it's deep enough to handle the risen batter, and try reducing the oven temp a bit and baking it a little longer. This could take some trial and error to get the time/temp relationship correct, so is probably not the best choice for a special event or a one-time effort.

Be careful when a recipe calls for 'soft butter'. You have to read the recipe and see what you're going to do with it. If you're creaming it with the sugar, soft means cool room temperature, about 65-72F. You can push your finger into it, but can't spread it easily on very soft bread. If you're folding the softened butter into a batter at the end, it needs to be real creamy, like mayonnaise - almost but not quite melted.

Do you have an oven thermometer? You can bake a potato or roast a joint at any temperature. But when baking a cake, 25F can make a big difference.

Dark pans always give you a darker crust. Color is not an error - it's an option. You choose the lighter or darker pan depending on what result you desire. That fluted pan looks great, but you need a cake with a strong enough structure to support itself up those sloping sides. I suspect your recipe was too delicate for the pan.

The real key is the taste. Take a serrated knife and level the tops. Then invert them and dust with sugar or glaze them as you wish. No one will ever know. OR turn them out on a plate without leveling, then fill the crater with fruit. Everyone will think it's by design.

Good luck, and let us know how they taste.

EB -

What recipe were you using?

I may have a solution to your cake conundrum that won't require evil boxed cake mix.

I never make cakes the "normal" way (creaming butter and sugar, etc.) anymore. I use the "hi-ratio" method for all butter cakes. It is easier and I get consistent results. It can be used with nearly any butter cake recipe (genoise/chiffon cakes require a different method).

Here are the steps:

1. Soften the butter to cool room temp (65 degrees is ideal).
2. Mix all dry ingredients together in your mixing bowl. This includes flour, sugar, salt and leavening.
3. Whisk all the liquid ingredients together in a small bowl. This includes any milk/yogurt/sour cream, eggs, and vanilla/flavoring liquid.
4. Add butter to dry ingredients and mix on low for 30 seconds. It's OK if it doesn't get 100% mixed in.
5. Add all but about 1/2 cup of liquid ingredients to mixer. Mix on low for 30 seconds to wet all ingredients.
6. Mix on medium high (stand mixer, KA #6; high speed for hand mixer) for 1 1/2 minutes. Scrape down bowl. This step does the aerating and provides the structure for the cake.
7. Add remaining liquid and mix on medium high/high for additional 30 seconds.

Pour into pans and bake according to directions.

When I worked at the Biltmore we made hi-ratio cakes all the time. They work beautifully.

I don't make cakes that much any more, except for chiffon.

Amy

Darcie, what a wonderful solution. Don't normally make too many cakes but I can't wait to try this!
Fitzie

Darcie
Thanks, I can't wait to try this method....I wonder if the altitude here will affect it.
ilene