To keep holes and tunnels out of your cake, run a knife through the batter after you have finished mixing it. This removes air holes.
When cake mix calls for water use buttermilk instead. It will make the lightest and best cakes. Plus it will give it that homemade taste.
To plump dried fruit for fruitcake, place fruit in a shallow baking dish, sprinkle generously with water, then cover. Place dish in oven while oven is heating for baking cake. In 10 to 15 minutes the fruit will be soft and plump. Cool slightly and add to cake batter.
Cake will be less like to stick to the pan if you put it on a wet towel to cool as soon as you take it from the oven.
For perfect shaped cakes or jelly rolls, first grease the pan, then line it with greased wax paper. After baking, invert pan and peel off the wax paper. No more broken corners or edges!
For best results in cake baking, let eggs, butter and milk reach room temperature before mixing.
A handy substitute for cake flour: 1 cup minus 2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour equals 1 cup cake flour.
To prevent nuts and fruits from sinking to the bottom of a cake during baking, warm them a bit in the oven and toss them with flour. Shake off excess flour before mixing them into the batter.
If cake flour is hard to find, you can make your own with all-purpose flour: for every cup of cake flour called for in a recipe, substitute a cup of all-purpose flour but replace 2 tablespoons of the flour with cornstarch.
If you sift dry cake mix before you stir in the other ingredients, it won’t be lumpy.
Use paper coffee filters to line 8-inch cake pans. Just flatten one into a large circle and lay it on the bottom of the pan.
When a cake recipe calls for flouring the baking pan, use a bit of the dry cake mix instead, no flour mess on the outside of the cake.
Use cold coffee instead of water when making a chocolate cake from a box. It gives the cake a rich, mocha flavor.
When baking a chocolate cake, don’t use flour to “dust” the pan. Use cocoa instead. This way, the white flour “dust” won’t cling to the sides of the cake.
A little flour mixed into the remains of melted chocolate in the pan will get the last bit of chocolate out of the pan and into the cake batter.
To keep a cake from sticking to the pan, grease the pan with one part shortening and two parts flour mixed until it has a sandy consistency.
Heat fruits and raisins in the oven before adding them to cake batter. They’ll be plumper and juicier.
When testing a large cake to see if it is done, use a strand of uncooked spaghetti. It reaches where a wooden pick won’t.
Roll fruits, raisins and nuts in flour before adding to cake batter. The will be less likely to sink to the bottom of the cake.
If you don’t have a ring mold for baking a cake, cover an empty, appropriately-sized can with aluminum foil, weight it, and place it in the center of a round, deep casserole dish.
If the cake sticks to the pan and threatens to split, hold the pan over a low flame for about 5 to 8 seconds and the cake will come out nice and firm.
If the top of your cake is browning too quickly, place a pan of warm water on the rack above the cake while it is baking in the oven.
To prevent cakes from cracking while they cool, add one envelope of unflavored gelatine to the dry ingredients of any cake batter. This will prevent cracking, and will also make the cake fuller. The gelatin does not change the flavor or moistness of the cake.
Fill cake pans about two-thirds full and spread batter well into corners and to the sides, leaving a slight hollow in the center.
The cake is done when it shrinks slightly from the sides of the pan or if it springs back when touched lightly with the finger.
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