Baking

Appears in
Professional Cooking: 10th Edition
Professional Cooking

By Wayne Gisslen

Published 2025

  • About
Cake structure is fragile, so proper baking conditions are essential for high-quality products. These guidelines will help you avoid cake failures:
  1. Preheat the ovens. (To conserve expensive energy, don’t preheat longer than necessary.)
  2. Make sure ovens and shelves are level.
  3. Do not let pans touch each other in the oven. If the pans touch, air circulation is inhibited and the cakes rise unevenly.
  4. Bake at the correct temperature.
    • Too hot an oven causes the cake to set unevenly or to set before it has fully risen. Crusts will be too dark.
    • Too slow an oven causes poor volume and texture because the cake doesn’t set fast enough and may fall.
  5. Do not open the ovens or disturb the cakes until they have finished rising and are partially browned. Disturbing the cakes before they are set may cause them to fall.
  6. If steam in the oven is available, use it for creamed and two-stage batters. These cakes bake with a flatter top if baked with steam because the steam delays the formation of the top crust.
  7. Tests for doneness:

    • Shortened cakes shrink away from sides of pan slightly.
    • Cakes are springy. The center of the top springs back when pressed slightly.
    • A cake tester or pick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.