Anniversary Time! - 12am 12th May 2014
Simple and delicious butter cake without any icing. Perfect and soft as Love! :)
How To Bake a Cake - 9 Perfect Steps
1. Read Through the Recipe
This sounds obvious, but cakes in particular have certain requirements, such as the temperature of ingredients, that cannot be altered. You don't want to realize too late that the butter you just mixed with sugar was supposed to be softened.
2. Assemble Ingredients and Ensure Their Correct Temperature
Get all of your ingredients and equipment out on the counter before you begin and make sure they're at the proper temperature. This is especially important for butter and eggs: Soft butter makes for a smooth batter and a lofty cake, and room-temperature eggs keep the batter's temperature consistent.
To soften butter, leave it out for several hours; it should offer no resistance when you press on it. Or, you can hurry the process using a microwave: Cut the butter into 1/2-inch cubes, arrange them in a single layer on a microwave-safe plate, then microwave on high for 3 seconds at a time, testing in between, until the butter is softened but not melted.
3. Preheat the Oven
Before preparing the batter, your oven should be at the correct temperature. A batter will not react properly to heat if it sits at room temperature for 10 minutes waiting for the oven to heat. Nor will it rise properly if the oven continues to warm up after the pan has been placed in it. Avoid burning your cake by setting a rack in the middle of the oven for cake layers or in the lower third for a tube cake so that the top of the pan is not too close to the top of the oven.
4. Prepare Your Equipment
To ensure that your finished cake has the right shape, it's important to make sure that it will come out of the pan in one piece. The most common way to do this is to coat the pan with butter, but the specifics may vary depending on the type of cake. For cake layers in general, you coat the inside of the pan with very soft but not melted butter using a brush. Follow that with a disk of parchment paper cut to the size of the inside of the pan. For a butter cake baked in a Bundt pan, coat with soft butter, and then coat the buttered surface with fine, dry bread crumbs, tapping the inverted pan to dislodge any excess. Follow with a quick coat of vegetable cooking spray for a guarantee that the cake won't stick. Line a rectangular or square pan with foil by molding the foil first on the back of the pan, then pressing it into the pan. Butter the foil. This makes it easy to lift a cake that you don't want to invert, such as a crumb cake, right out of the pan.
5. Prepare the Batter
nstructions will vary depending on the type of cake: For butter cakes, the ingredients will typically be combined using the creaming method; for sponge cakes the eggs will generally be beaten, then folded in. For the proper texture, be sure to follow the instructions closely, and then pour the batter into the pan or pans and bake.
6. Test for Doneness
To test a cake, plunge a thin knife or cake tester into the center (or halfway between the side and the tube if using a tube pan). When a cake is finished, you will find a few crumbs sticking to the knife or tester when you withdraw it. If the cake is not ready yet, there will be wet batter on the knife or tester.
7. Cool the Cake
Most cakes are cooled on a metal rack for even air circulation. A recipe will indicate whether the cake should be cooled in the pan or unmolded immediately. Follow instructions carefully—leaving certain types of cakes in the pan for too long may cause them to stick. Angel food cakes and chiffon cakes need to cool suspended upside down in their tube pans or they will deflate and look squashed and unappealing when you cut them. Invert the pan over several inverted ramekins so that the edges of the pan are supported by them. It is best to figure out the system for doing this before you begin baking the cake by testing the empty pan over the ramekins to make sure your system will be stable.
8. Unmold the Cake
When you are ready, gently run a sharp, thin knife between the edge of the pan and the cake. Then invert a rack or platter (as indicated in the recipe) over the top of the pan. Turn the pan over and lift it off the cake. You may be asked to finish cooling the cake upside down or instructed to turn it right side up again. Be sure to follow instructions, as each type of cake cools best in a different way.
9. "Finish" the Cake
As described in the section on fillings, frostings, and glazes, options for finishing a cake are numerous. Some varieties, such as pound cakes and crumb cakes, are finished already when they come out of the oven and don't need any embellishment at all. For others, a simple dusting of powdered sugar or quick brush with a glaze may be all that's required. And some cakes, such as European-style layer cakes, can be filled with multiple fillings, frosted with a different frosting or glaze, and then adorned with elaborate decorations, such as piped buttercream or marzipan crafted into roses and leaves.
Baking Tips and Tricks
Cakes celebrate the ceremonies and milestones of our lives. Birthdays, weddings, and almost any other festive occasion and for good reason. No matter the variety.
Layer cakes, sheet cakes, Bundt cakes, cheesecakes brought to the table at the end of the meal, a cake always elicits admiration. Cookies are delightful and pies are tasty, but no dessert is quite as impressive as a beautifully baked and finished cake.
Cake recipes don't have to be fussy and difficult, however. Simple, unfrosted varieties such as pound cakes and coffee cakes are just as delicious as their showier layered cousins. Between the various types, as well as the basic steps that are common to nearly all cake recipes. If you're a novice baker, you can start with a simple butter/chocolate cake and move on to more complicated recipes as you gain confidence. And if you're already experienced, understanding the different categories of cakes and the various options for finishing them will give you a basis for experimenting and creating recipes of your own.
1. Ingredients for cakes should be room temperature (can take out of refrigerator approximately 60-90 minutes before needed).
2. To check freshness of eggs, put in a bowl of water–if they sink, they’re fresh. If they float and stand on one end, they’re not.
3. “Eggs” typically means Grade A, large eggs.
4. “Milk” typically means homogenized.
5. You can substitute milk with yogurt or sour cream, to experiment with different textures.
6. To create a replacement for buttermilk, add 1 teaspoon vinegar for every cup of homogenized milk and stir.
7. Weighing ingredients with a digital kitchen scale is the most accurate method of baking.
8. 1 large egg white = 37 grams, 1 large egg yolk = 20 grams. Eggs separate best when cold, but whites whip best when room temperature or warm.
9. Egg whites in carton freeze well–just pull out of freezer night before you need them.
10. For best results, use pure vanilla extract (not from grocery stores)–what a difference! Heck, don’t even be afraid to double the vanilla quantity.
11. To bring cold eggs to room temperature quickly, you can put the whole eggs into a bowl of lukewarm water (not hot) for 30 minutes.
12. To bring butter to room temperature quickly, you can cut into small cubes on a plate for about 15 minutes.
13. Semisweet Chocolate = Dark Chocolate. Bittersweet Chocolate = Extra Dark Chocolate.
14. Semisweet & Bittersweet Chocolate are interchangeable.
15. Unless otherwise listed, use unsalted butter for cake recipes
16. Incorporate dry ingredients together with whisk before adding to wet ingredients.
17. When creaming butter and sugar, get the mixture very pale yellow and fluffy–will take several minutes (around 5).
18. Always start and end with dry ingredients when alternating with wet ingredients (3 dry additions, 2 wet).
19. Don’t overmix once dry ingredients are added. Just mix on low speed until incorporated.
20. Kitchen stand-mixers don’t need to run at full-speed. A small mixer should run no more than speed #4, for most things. A large mixer no more than speed #6. You will add years to your mixer’s life!
21. Be careful with your sugar–too much can cause a dark crust (one of several possible causes), too little can cause too light a crust or tough texture.
22. Watch your flour–too much can cause a cracked top (one of several possible causes).
23. Beat egg yolks with fork before adding to batter.
24. To retrieve stray eggshells in mixture, use the emptied half-shell–eggshell sticks to eggshell. If you don’t get them all, they will sink during baking, so you can turn baked cake over when cool and retrieve them.
25. A pinch of salt brings out the flavours in sweet baked goods.
26. When folding, you should always add the lighter of the two mixtures on top, using a gentle folding motion, to avoid deflating batter.
27. When mixing egg whites for meringue, wipe all untensils and bowl with vinegar or lemon juice on a paper towel before they come in contact with the egg whites (including the mixer whisk attachment). Any trace of grease, will likely jeopordize your meringue.
28. Keep an extra set of rubber spatulas that you use strictly for meringue.
29. Use the electric mixer’s splashguard for liquidy batters–that’s what it’s for!
30. If incorporating more than one flavour into a batter or icing, always start with the vanilla; vanilla enhances most flavours.
31. For evenly-baked cakes, no domed tops, and no-fuss assembly, bake “layer-by-layer.” This means if you’re baking a 3-layer cake, use 3 of the same size/shape pan, and bake 3 shorter layers at same time.
32. Use a small offset palette knife to spread batter evenly in pans. Don’t fill more than 1/2 full–2/3 at the most.
33. Get a separate oven thermometer for an accurate temperature reading–most ovens are either “hot” or “cold.”
34. Always wait for oven to reach necessary temperature before putting cakes in oven.
35. Keep cakes away from sides of oven, and if possible a few inches from each other (when more than 1 baking at once).
36. Rotate cakes after 20 minutes in oven (don’t disturb before 20 minutes).
37. Use middle rack, unless otherwise stated in recipe.
38. Typically, when in oven, cakes are nearing done when you can smell cake in the kitchen. Sounds weird, but you’ll see!
39. Leave cakes in oven when testing for “doneness.” When a skewer comes clean from center of cake, it’s done.
40. Don’t overbake! This is one sure way to end up with a dry cake.
41. Let full cakes cool in pans on wire racks for 20 minutes before removing from pans.
42. Remove cupcakes from pan immediately, placing individual cupcakes on wire rack to cool.
43. Once completely cooled, wrap cake layers in plastic wrap and place in freezer for 30 minutes before cutting and/or icing.
44. Always place cake on a thin foil-covered cake board the same size/shape as the cake for ease of icing/serving, etc.
45. Brush away any stray cake crumbs with silicone pastry brush before icing.
46. Apply even layers of filling using an 18″ pastry bag and large round tip.
47. Apply thin layer of icing to seal in crumbs, then place in refrigerator for 30 minutes before second layer of icing.
48. Use an offset palette knife/icing spatula for frosting top of cake, and straight palette knife/icing spatula for sides of cake. Use a bench scraper for super-smooth edges.
49. If you don’t have time for frosting your cake, a good sprinkling of powdered sugar does wonders! Tastes and looks great on most cakes.
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