Baking Tips

Here are some great baking tips to remember when baking your cakes. These tips will help you avoid common mistakes when baking a cake or solve some of your cake baking problems.

Oven Temperature

Make sure your oven temperature is accurate. Problems with cakes rising too high in the center are caused by an oven temperature that is too high. An oven thermometer is a good way to make sure you always have the correct oven temperature.

The Dishwasher

Never put your cake pans in the dishwasher! The dishwasher will eventually cause the coating on your pans to wear off. Your cakes will then stick to the pan no matter how much pan grease you use. So, always wash your pans with soap and water by hand.

The Venting Stove Eye

Make sure when you are baking a cake that the eye of the stove with the vent is not covered up. Remove any decorative eye covers or pans from this eye. When the venting eye is covered during baking, the steam cannot evaporate and your cake will take longer to bake and may be too moist and squishy in the middle.

Not Cooked In The Middle

If your cakes are over-browning and not cooking in the middle, you need to reduce your oven temperature 25 - 50 degrees and bake the cake longer. You may find that the most problems with this occur when using larger cake pans. There are some pans available in 3" deep now. When using 3" deep pans I recommend always lowering your oven temperature and baking longer.

Refrigerating Cake Batter

I never recommend putting your cake batter in the refrigerator after it is mixed. Mix your ingredients when you know you will be able to bake them immediately. Refrigerating batter to use later causes all kinds of problems like uneven cakes, dryness, and not baking properly.

Cake Falls While Cooling

This very common cake baking problem is caused by taking your cake out of the oven too soon. Make sure your cake is completely done before removing it from the oven.

Always start your cake baking and decorating with some good baking supplies.