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Gorgeous cakes
Appears in
By Lucy Cufflin
Published 2013
Follow my advice to ensure you turn out perfectly cooked cakes every time.
- Why go to the bother of making a cake to be disappointed when it does not turn out? Line your tins with baking parchment. For a round cake, you need a circle of paper 10cm larger than the diameter of the tin. Do this by folding a square piece of paper into four and, holding the middle fold, cut a quarter circle. While still folded, cut towards the centre for 5cm so you are cutting ‘sunray’ strips in the paper. Make 4 cuts. When you open it out you will have a circle with 16 cuts from the edge going 5cm towards the centre. Push this into the tin and the cut pieces will automatically sit up at the sides.
- If you are making a cheesecake or any recipe with a runny mixture, do not cut the paper or the mixture will leak through. Pleat and fold the parchment as you push it into the tin. When I’m making tarts, I cut the paper into a circle about 6cm wider than the diameter of the tin (as it is shallower), lay my pastry on to the paper and lift it into the tin. I then ease the pastry up the sides of the tin by pleating the paper to fit behind the pastry and pressing the pastry up the side over the paper. You do not have to be super-accurate – you want your food to look as if you have made it, not bought it on the way home!
- When baked, a cake should be risen, browned on top and it should feel firm and bounce back when you press it with clean fingers in the centre. You can poke a skewer into the centre of the cake and see if it comes out clean, but I think if the cake is not cooked this can cause air to escape and it may sink so I prefer the finger-pressing method.
- In recipes where cakes are made using a blender or electric whisk, always add the flour at the end and mix it by hand using a spoon. Over-mixing flour allows it to release its gluten and makes the texture rubbery.
- Use your butter at room temperature. It is much easier to mix so get the butter out of the fridge at least two hours before you start. It is fine to leave butter out of the fridge overnight.
- If your tin is too large or you want to make half the quantity but still want your cake to look substantial, here is a way to use half a large tin. For a loaf tin simply cut a piece of card slightly smaller than the shape and size of the end of the tin. Cover in foil and slot into the tin half way along. You need to support the opposite side to the cake-filled side and you can do this with an empty jam jar or anything that is heat-proof and will keep the card in place. If you are dividing a tin for a non-cooked recipe you can use something like a pack of butter to support the card. You can then line the end you want and fill it with mixture.
- I tend to use butter as I love the flavour, but you can use margarine for most recipes. Do not use a soft-blended margarine (made for spreading) if the recipe doesn’t require baking. These need the power of the butter to set and many of the spreads will not set hard again once melted. Some American cake recipes use oil instead of our more traditional butter or margarine. These work very well as it is one fat replaced by another. Make sure you use an oil with little or no flavour, such as sunflower or vegetable oil. Olive oil or corn oil will dominate the flavour of your cake.
- Use a wire rack for cooling if possible. You can live without one, but your cakes and cookies will cool quicker and be lighter if they are cooled on a rack as the air can get all around them.
- Most cakes shouldn’t be iced before they are completely cold, so if you are planning a cake for a special occasion make sure you cook it at least one day ahead so it is cold and ready to ice on the day you want it.
- Never cover an iced cake with cling film because when you remove the film the icing comes with it.
- Cakes last for several days in an airtight container. A cake tin can last forever so when you see a lovely one for sale, buy it!
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