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January 2003
Tips on baking the perfect cake:
1. Find a cake recipe or boxed cake mix which you prefer in regards to the taste and preparation and become comfortable with it - practice making a few cake layers to ensure that you know how it will react in your environment (your climate, kitchen, etc.). This way if things go wrong, you are familiar with the proper results and can react accordingly. I prefer to use white cake mixes that have pudding or some other moistening agent, as I tend to prefer that taste myself.
2. Always use the freshest ingredients for your cake mix - fresh eggs, baking powder and soda that hasn't reached its expiration dates, etc.; otherwise, you risk damaging the flavor of your cake. In addition, if you make a flavored cake from scratch, always use real flavoring if you can - i.e., real chocolate rather than chocolate morsels.
3. Pre-measure all ingredients for a cake and set aside before actually making the cake batter. It is very easy to forget an ingredient if you get busy or distracted, so it is best to first pre-measure all the ingredients (and double check them) and set them aside before actually mixing it all together. This avoids the "Oh No" when your cake doesn't rise because you forgot the baking powder or soda!
4. Check to ensure that your oven rack is level before baking the cake (many home ovens are not level and hence, the resulting cake layer is lopsided).
5. If baking a large (12" round or larger) cake layer, lower the oven temperature by 25°.
6. When filling the cake pans, grease the pan with shortening and sprinkle flour over the shortening or use a home or commercial canola or vegetable spray. Only fill the pan 1/2 way to ensure a perfect 2 inch cake layer. If using a large, 3 inch deep cake pan, then fill the pan over 1/2 way (there typically is a fill mark designated on the pan to guide you).
7. After you fill the cake pan, tap the pan twice on the counter to release any air trapped in the cake mix before baking.
8. Use a convention oven (if you have access to one as they cook more consistently and evenly).
9. Only open the oven once or twice during baking process and rotate the cake pans at least once during the baking process. Use a toothpick to determine if the cake layers are baked completely by sticking it in the center of the cake layer - the cake is done when the toothpick comes comes out clean.
10. Cool your cake layer in the pan for 10 minutes prior to cooling it on a rack.
11. Once your cake layer is completely cooled, wrap it in plastic wrap and freeze it overnight (at a minimum) before decorating it.
