Tips from professional Chef Tallyrand:
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Tallyrand
Food and Cooking Tips
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Food
tips on cake baking
 Preparation
of cake tins
Cake
tins are made from many types of material, stainless
steel, aluminium, silicon, non stick surfaces etc but
if one is unsure of the non stick properties of a cake
tin, it is best to line it with lightly greased, greaseproof
paper. This is achieved by:
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Cutting
a greaseproof paper cartouche 2 cm wider than the
cake tin
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Cutting
a collar 2cm longer than the circumference and 2
cm higher than the cake tin
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Lightly
grease both the cartouche and collar
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Place
the cartouche in the cake tin first and neatly crease
the extra 2cm up the sides
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Place
the collar neatly around the inside of the cake
tin: the 2cm sides of the cartouche should be outside
the collar; to allow a neat finish to the finished
cake
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Many
chefs will lightly grease both sides of the cartouche
and collar, so they cling neatly to the cake tin
Testing
for a cooked cake
Insert
a slender bladed knife into the thickest part of the
cake (normally the centre) and remove. The blade should
come out clean. If it comes out with the batter clinging
to it, the cake requires further cooking.
Turning
a cake out
Once
cooked, remove the greaseproof paper.
| Common
faults when cake baking |
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1. |
The
oven door is opened too soon
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This
sudden rush of cold air into a warm/hot oven
will result in the cake collapsing and coming
out flat. The oven door should not be opened
until ¾’s the way through allowed cooking time.
Thus controlling its browning process is essential,
this can be achieved by:
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knowing
the oven’s hot and cold spots
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placing
the cake tin on the middle shelf with a
tray on the top shelf to deflect the falling
heat particles
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lightly
covering the cake tin with tin foil before
it is placed in the oven and removing later
to brown if required
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2. |
The
oven door being slammed shut
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This
sudden and violent action will shock the cake
mixture, knock out or deflate all the trapped
air bubbles and will result in the cake collapsing
and coming out flat
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3. |
Incorrectly
weighed ingredients
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Unlike
many areas of the kitchen, cake making is more
of an exact science, in most cases a slight
variance in measurements can make all the difference.
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4. |
Incorrect
flour used
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Cake
making requires a ‘soft’ or high ration flour;
it must be one that is low in gluten content.
A medium to high gluten flour will result in
a heavy textured, non risen cake.
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5. |
Flour
not sufficiently sieved
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To
increase the air in the mixture and to ensure
what gluten content is there, the flour should
be well sieved (2-3 times) and from a reasonable
height from sieve to bowl.
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6. |
Fruits
sinking
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Cakes
with dried fruits or nuts added to them, will
often turn out to have most of the dried fruits
or nuts sunk to the bottom. This can be remedied
by lightly tossing/coating them in flour before
incorporating them into the mixture. This forms
a kind of chemical bond with the batter and
prevents them sinking.
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Related
Recipe:
Published
15
October 2001
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