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Tips for Successful Baking

This is an ongoing compilation of baking tips for visitors by the Sugar Inc. community. We would love to hear from you, so do share with us your baking tips and tricks! Please send your baking tips to sugarinccakes@yahoo.com.sg with your name and residential area eg. Hougang (Singapore), Johor Bahru (Malaysia) etc.

Note: Your contribution must be original, and cannot infringe on existing copyrights. Your name and residential area will be published with your contribution, but your email address will be kept confidential.

Preheating your oven

 Preheat your oven to the correct temperature before baking. An oven thermometer is essential. It can be bought from specialty baking supply stores such as Phoon Huat. An oven that is too hot or too cold (by 10 or 20 degrees) will affect the cake and the baking time.

 If the oven is too hot, the sides of a butter cake may be cooked but the inside may still be undercooked. A cheesecake may be browned at the sides but liquid in the middle. The top of a sponge cake may be burnt well before the bottom is cooked. The cooked top half may also weigh down on the lower part of the cake and cause a dense rubbery layer at the bottom.

 If the oven is too cold, the cakes will obviously take a longer time to cook. A cooler oven is not necessarily better as some cakes need a strong blast of heat for a good lift and height. (Having said that, some recommend using a lower temperature for larger cakes.)

 Sponge and butter/pound cakes are usually baked at 170-180 degrees. Fruitcakes and cheesecakes should be baked at 150-160 deg Celsius.

Preparing the batter

 Use a kitchen scale and measuring spoons to measure your ingredients. Because baking is an exact science, (while cake-decorating is an art) it is important to have the correct proportions of ingredients.

 Bowls, utensils, mixer attachments, measuring spoons etc must be bone dry. The smallest amount of water can spoil baking powder and prevent egg whites or cream from being whipped properly.

 Unless otherwise stated in the recipe, allow the ingredients to come to room temperature before using them. Room temperature butter can trap more air bubbles during the creaming process and room temperature eggs blend into the batter more smoothly. Egg whites whip better at room temperature as well.

 When using an electric mixer, scrape down the bowl once or twice so that the ingredients will be more evenly mixed.

 Do not beat a butter or pound cake batter longer than necessary as this may cause the cake to be tough and rubbery.

 If the recipe calls for folding, use a large spatula. You will be able to incorporate more air in the mixture, more quickly. To fold, cut vertically down to the bottom of the bowl, scoop some batter up towards you and flip the batter over on itself. As you fold, turn the bowl by a quarter of a round. Stop folding as soon as the ingredients have been incorporated evenly. Over-folding, like overmixing, will result in a denser cake.

 As a rule of thumb, do not add hot liquid to a batter unless the recipe requires it. Hot liquids will cook the eggs in the batter and cause the cake to be dry.

 Sponge cakes have to be prepared quickly and baked immediately so that the batter will not deflate, as they depend mainly on beaten egg whites for their structure. (The exception is if you are using a premix sponge recipe. Sponge batters made from premix can sit on the counter for as long as 2 hours without deflating.)
 Butter/pound cakes benefit from sitting on the counter for 30 minutes or so, as the chemical leaveners (baking powder/soda) will have time to work.

 Try to use double acting baking powder instead of baking powder if it is available. The double-acting baking powder has two leavening actions – it reacts once when liquid is added and a second time in response to heat, so it is doubly effective.

Filling the pan and baking the cake

 Baking pans and cupcake cases should not be filled more than 2/3 or 3/4 full.

 If possible, divide the batter equally into two same-sized pans. (Use a scale to weigh the batter-filled pans to make sure they are equal). The cake will be moister as it spends less time in the oven - two shallow layers will cook faster and rise better than 1 thick layer. This also saves the trouble of torting (splitting) the cake into layers.

 Rotate the pans halfway through the baking time for more even baking.

 Most cake recipes require you to place the pans on the middle rack of the oven. For butter/pound cakes, the pans can be placed on the upper middle and lower middle racks and rotated halfway if your oven is too small.

 For sponge cakes, place the pan/s on the middle rack. Cover the pans with a cookie sheet for the first 10-15 minutes. This is so that top of the cake doesn’t cook first and weigh down on the bottom.

 The larger or deeper the cake, the longer it will take to bake. Check the cake for done-ness towards the end of the baking time. Oven times differ quite greatly, so the recommended baking time is only a guide.

Checking the cake for doneness

 Butter and fruit cakes are done when the wooden skewer emerges clean but moistened.

 Baked cheesecakes are done when the centre is still slightly wobbly and a skewer emerges with sticky batter still adhering.

 Sponge or chiffon cake is done when there are a couple of loose crumbs on the skewer. Also, the top of the cake should spring back when very lightly pressed.

 Chocolate cakes (butter or pound type) are done when a wooden skewer inserted in the centre emerges clean with a few crumbs attached. If the skewer is clean and dry, the cake may be overbaked.

Cooling the cake

 Remove the cake from the oven as soon as it is done.

 The exception is cheesecake, which should be cooled in the oven for an hour, with the door open and the oven switched off. The cheesecake should then be cooled on the counter top for a few more hours and then transferred to the refrigerator to chill overnight. This method of cooling prevents the cheesecake from developing unsightly cracks.

 Cool sponge/butter cakes upside down on a cooling rack. This will stretch the crumb and make the cake ‘lighter’ in texture. Do not cool the cakes in an airconditioned room as the dry air will suck out moisture from the cake.

Storage

 When the cakes are completely cool, store them in airtight containers. The airtight box will keep out excess moisture and also prevent the cake from drying out.

 Both butter and sponge cakes can keep for up to 5 days at room temperature (in an airtight box) or in the fridge for longer. Cheesecakes can be refrigerated for a week or more. Fruitcakes can be kept for up to 1 or 2 months at room temperature.

 Freshly baked and cooled cake can be frozen. Simply wrap the cake in two layers of plastic (ziploc bags are ideal) and one layer of aluminium foil. The package should be well sealed with scotch tape so that it is airtight. Under optimal conditions, the cake can be frozen for 1 or 2 months. Thaw the cake for a few hours in its package, so that any condensation will be on the package and not on the cake itself. (Cheesecake can be frozen in its pan covered foil.)

 Filled and frosted cakes can only be stored for as long as the filling and frosting will stay fresh. In general, filled and frosted cakes will stay fresh for 3 days in the fridge. If fresh cream, fresh fruit or custard is used, it is best to consume the cake within 1 or 2 days.