Cake Baking Tips
Whether you’re making homemade cake or baking cake from a mix, it’s always helpful to have a collection of tricks that make your baking easier! Try these easy cake baking tips and save time making fluffier cakes!
- Use chocolate drink mix or cocoa to flour your cake pans when making a dark cake (like chocolate).
- Homemade pan grease: 2 parts solid vegetable shortening – 1 part flour. Mix and place in a container. I keep a paper towel in mine that I use to rub it into the pan.
- Add 1 tsp. lemon juice in your cake recipe when creaming butter and sugar to make the cake fluffier. If you keep it on hand, you can also use 1 Tbsp. meringue powder to do the same thing. Meringue powder is found in your cake decorating section at Wal-Mart.
- Another way to lighten a cake is to separate the eggs, beat the whites and fold them in at the end of mixing.
- Cream the butter well (5 minutes) when making a cake. This adds air to it and also helps make a lighter cake.
- Line the bottom of the pan with wax paper. This is an extra step but it makes it so much easier getting the cake out of the pan and really saves time in the long run. To get the right size of wax paper just set the pan on a piece of wax paper and trace around the pan with the point of the scissors. It leaves enough of a mark for you to see to cut around.
- Soften leftover custard in the microwave for a few seconds and use between the layers of a cake (like a Boston cream pie) or to frost a cake.
For more cake baking tips along with lots of easy home cooked recipes, grab a copy of our Dining On A Dime Cookbook!
photo by: southernfoodwaysalliance
I like that cocoa powder idea for flooring the cake pan! Never thought of that!
I have had problems with cakes sticking to the pan, usually I have the problem with a bunt pan or I also have a sunflower pan. I usually grease with shortening and then flour. Any suggestions? I normally use wax paper in round or rectangle pans, it just makes life easier!
The wax paper is what I use too and it works the best. For the other pans I’m not sure what else to tell you I do have a couple of pans that no matter what I do they stick too. What you might try is to be sure and not be skimpy in with the shortening when you grease the pans and flour them. It did help me a little when I used more and made a thicker coating. Sometimes a pan is just not worth the trouble and I have to break down and toss it. I know this is the best but some pans are made of materials which aren’t good. That doesn’t mean you have to have expensive ones either I have many cheap pans that work better then my expensive pans.
I have noticed that it is easier to get the cake out of the pan if I let it cool a bit more, plus go around the edge really well with a knife. In bundt pan make sure to do this either hole in the centre as well.
I bake all the time. Grease the bottom of the pan generously. It should be white. Then flour . Only the bottom of the pan. If you do the sides the cake bakes unevenly and rises too much in thwe center. bake 9″ or 8″ exactly 30 min on 350. Cool 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the pan . SHake the pan gently until you feel the cake loosen up. Immediately turn onto a plate. If stacking turn onto waxed paper and cool. I place my in the frezer about 20 minutes and then they are easier to handle. If I won’t need them for a day or so, I leave in the freezer and then get them out the day I need them and ice them frozen. If you bake a 10″ or larger cake , cool it 20minutes before removing from the pan. My cakes rarely stick if I follow the cooling time to the minute. If they rise too much in the center, I use a hot pad to gently press the center level with the sides. Works great.
I have separated my eggs before, but I’ve never heard of the lemon juice/meringue powder! I’ll have to try that when I bake my husband’s b-day cake this weekend :)
I like using the chocolate drink mix to flour the pans. Neat idea.
I have faced a certain problem .The fruit cake after baking remains somewhat soft in the center portion whereas the remaining part is just as it should be.I am somewhat a complete newbie ,an amateur who tried this for only half a dozen times,recently.Please help.
P.S.Thank you for all the invaluable tips!
You might try turning the oven down by about 25 degrees and bake it longer. That helps keep the outside from burning while baking long enough to cook the inside.
Thank you Jill for your ultra-swift response!I’ll do so accordingly very soon and let you know.Thanks again!