Category Archives: cake

Oct13

Cake Pan 101

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Cake Pan 101

On first purchasing a new cake pan it looks spotless, very smooth and sometimes very shiny…. if only they would stay that way!

There are some some secrets to keeping cake pans looking gorgeous for more than a couple of months. (Three batches of something that is!) It is so annoying to think you have a perfectly good pan but when you pull it out of the cupboard its… scratched, rusted, burnt, uneven or scorched… eek. Never mind, you think if  you simply grease it a bit more it will be fine – err NO!!

The secrets are quite old fashioned (like many cake recipes and pans really). I have a collection of my favourite pans that I have had for many years and they still produce a great cake, bread, tart, patty cake,muffin, etc.

Quality goes a long way too. A higher guage strong firm pan will simply outlast other cheapies. A cheapie can’t possible last through more than 6- 10 bakes. There are so many materials to choose from. I have aluminium, tin plate coated in a non stick material, silicon, and heavy weighted metal.

The secret is a little care and yes as with most things in life: you get what you pay for!

Here are my 10 tips for long lasting bake ware:

  • Buy the best you can afford. Definitely worth visiting a specialty cookware shop… ask the advice of the sales person. Ask to see the cheapest and most expensive in the range… pick them up, feel the pan.
  • New: remove any pesky stickers or glue and wash in hot soapy water, then DRY very well with a soft tea towel.
  • Keep it dry dry  dry. After washing and drying pop the pan into the oven. The heat left in there will simply dry out any moisture left in all the little crevices.
  • Crevices: Well choose a pan with a few as possible…. Some have them in the design especially if it’s a patterned pan.
  • Spring form/ removable base. Lots of choices. For spring form you definitely need better quality. The cheapies break, come loose, wobble and therefore leak, so easily.
  • Greasing: depends on what you are making, but generally speaking yes always is my vote, even if you only do the base of the pan.
  • Greasing with butter: NOTHING BEATS IT. It seems to always give a lovely edge. I am not a fan of spray oils, I often think they have caused the cake to stick!
  • Lining with baking paper: It depends on the pan, but generally yes is my vote, sometimes simply lining the base is enough.
  • Turning out: let the cake sit for 5 – 10 minutes, you will see it shrinks away from the edge. Now if you need to, run a flat edged implement around the edge, go easy… yes it will scratch! Try inverting and tapping the base lightly first. Then if you do need to run a spatula around the edge, just gently do a little and see if getting a bit of air in between the cake and the pan allows it to fall out. It depends on the cake/ pattern and type of cake, but again, this is why I like to line with baking paper. Invert onto a cooling rack. Wash the pan, dry well and pop into the oven.
  •  Storing: Whether in a cupboard or drawer take care. If you need to stack the pans inside themselves, be gentle. If you can, pop a sheet of clean dry paper towel in between each surface… this definitely prevents scratching.

Happy Baking!!

Jul12

The secrets to baking.

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The secrets to baking.

How often have we all made a great recipe but something has gone wrong?

The simplest of recipes are often ruined by simply not knowing little tips.

Baking tips seem to be the most requested topics on ask jo. So due to public demand here are a few more of my classic tips or further explanations.

Oven temp:

I tend to use non fan forced for baking cakes, but tis is my personal preference. If you can turn off the fan please do.  I personally I like aneven steady oven temperature. Often the dryness and harsh nests of a fan oven can cause cakes to crack. If your recipe is old fashioned and ‘like grandma would make’.  Turn of that fan (again if
you can)!

Oven shelves:

The best rule is to place the pan into the oven so the TOP of the cake pan is in the middle of the oven. I find generally I bake on the shelves in the bottom third of the oven. Except pizza or dishes I want very crispy.

Lining the pan:

Yes I am liner! Even if the pan is a super doper non stick, I love the texture of the outside of the cake when baking paper is used. I love to line the base and sides.  Often I will allow the paper to raise above the tin to produce a little collar. This always helps with a flat top result.  If there is not a collar, the cake will tend to want to peak in the middle. This however can be caused by a titch too much liquid also.

This peak can be trimmed off and the cake served upside down so no ones knows! But it is better without any peak. Peaks are also caused by the incorrect sized cake pan.

 The cold bowl!

Butter and eggs do not beat or whip if cold! The remedy is to warm the bowl.  Either by filling the bowl with warm water and setting aside for a few minutes or washing the bowl in warm water. If using a stainless steel bowl you can also gently move it over a gas flame to warm.

Creaming:

Essential the beginning to most cakes. The volume and texture of the cake depends on this. Cream until the butter and sugar and  very very light and  fluffy.  The sugar needs to be almost completely dispensed through the butter. Often many just do not cream enough.

 Eggs:

Buy a nice heathly free range and large mimimum 60g. Always best stored in the fridge for freshness, but don’t use for cakes and baking if cold and stright from the fridge.  The egg if added cold to the creamed butter and sugar will not want to incorporate into the mixture. This will effect the volumn and end texture of the cake. Sit the eggs in a bowl of  warm water until ready to use. Drain and add to the creamed mixture. Make sure you only add one egg at a time and beat well
in between each addition.

 Flour:

Buy the best you can afford. Cake flour which is lower in protein produces a softer result. Often I add a couple of teaspoons of cornflour mixed with normal plain flour. This is a sneaky substitute to cake flour. I do not sift in the old fashioned way. Goodness I hate sifting.  Simply add the flours of choice add the fla beater or whisk to the standmixer, pop on the food shield and turn to speed 1. You can also add into the flours to the food processor with the all purpose blade and pulse. The mixer or processor will sift and combine for you.

Baking powder:

I always prefer to use plain flour and add my own raising agent. There is a rule of thumb for this.

Normally speaking 1 cup flour (150g) plain flour needs 2 teaspoons of baking powder….but this depends on the recipe. Baking powder is made of cream of tartar and bicarb soda. There is often a filler such as cornflour. One is an acid the other alkaline, the two react to give the raising. Self raising flour has the raising agents added, the trouble is it is often stale and produces a denser result.

Icing sugar:

There are two common types  - mixture and pure. If you want a firmer icing use pure! “Sift’ as above to remove any lumps.

Use a timer:

I always use a cooking timer either on the bench or some microwaves have a setting to use the clock. A cake is so easily ruined with a simple extra 5 minutes of unneeded cooking!

Cooling a ‘must’ before icing.

If icing you just must completely cool. Even I am guilty of thinking it will be fine icing the cake and yes finding the icing has melted off and is now all over the bench. The  icing on a warm cake also produces a soggy top… …. all in all just wait for the
cake to be cold!

A fluffy icing can be make up to 1 day in advance, but make sure you remove from the refrigerator and allow to come up to room temperature.

Any other queries, please contact me on ask jo.

 Happy Baking

Sep29

Grandma ‘s favourite cake – the classic Victorian Sponge

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Grandma ‘s favourite cake – the classic Victorian Sponge


Who can resist a fluffy tender crumb good old fashioned sponge cake, complete with softly whipped cream, lashings of berries jam and fresh berries.  This fabulous cake is said to have been named for Queen Victoria in the mid 1860’s – when it was very so fashionable to be invited for ‘tea’ at around 4pm.

Many good old fashioned cooks today ‘cut their teeth’ learning the tricks of a great sponge. There are a couple of versions and many swear by their own technique. Some beat the egg whites with sugar and fold in the egg yolks and flour, others beat the whole egg with sugar and fold in the flour – which can be plain, self raising or cornflour.

Some fold in hot water, while others fold through melted better. There are also versions with no yolk (Angel cake) and French versions that beat the eggs and sugar over simmering water.

The Angel cake is also a fabulous cake, but with American origins. It has become very popular in recent times as it contains no fat. You need a large pan with a removable centre & base for this cake and preferably a proper ‘Angel’ cake pan. These are sold at good cookware stores.

My fail proof recipe for a classic Victorian sponge uses whole eggs and plain flour  and begins and ends completely in the marvellous KitchenAid standmixer – even when adding the flour. For my recipe above you can use plain flour or gluten free plain flour. I also always like to add my own baking powder and prefer to not use commercial self raising flour. Specialty ‘cake’ flours also provide a wonderful soft texture, as they contain less protein. They are opposite to pasta flour which contains more protein making it harder flour. Specialty flours are now available from good supermarkets and are labelled cake or bread / pasta flour.

Here are my tips for success:

  • Weigh & measure all ingredients and preheat that oven.
  • I like to bake without a fan, so if possible turn the fan off!
  • Butter and line the pans with baking paper.
  • I whisk the flour (gluten free for me), baking paper and salt in the standmixer ( but some prefer to sift by hand!)
  • Make sure the bowl and whisk attachment is sparkling clean & dry.
  • Whisk the (room temperature NOT cold) whole eggs & sugar until very thick and fluffy. Working quickly adds the flour and remaining ingredients and mix on speed 1 only – JUST until mixed. Remember the KitchenAid planetary action is amazing and mixes incredibly fast.
  • Divide the mixture between the pans (you can weigh each pan to make sure even) and quickly spread the mixture smooth.
  • Bake in the centre shelf for about 20 minutes. Do not over cook.
  • Invert onto a cake rack and cool.Spread with your favourite berry jam and whipped cream and sandwich the two together. Sift over a little extra icing sugar and maybe some fresh berries.

It just doesn’t get any better in my book oh except to serve with a fabulous cup of Earl Grey tea!

Jul13

The PERFECT lemon tea cake

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The PERFECT lemon tea cake

This week – as with all others I delight in chatting with new KitchenAid customers. Many questions are tossed around and usually they are about the actual use, brilliance and love of their beloved new KitchenAid mixer, processor or blender. But sometimes I have to admit the questions are about their recipe ‘disasters’.

Mrs Erikson, who I might add sounds like a delightful lady, contacted me as she found her beloved recipe just was not good. An established cook who had been making her two most favourite cakes for many years (and at once stage professionally) and had always had a fabulous result.  But on using her new standmixer found the results where not good!! – Well eeek, I have to say my heart sank with her – how horrible and what went wrong?

The standmixer is the most wonderful mixer ever… but it does work differently to others and initially over mixing or incorrect mixing can result in all sorts of problems –  low volume, heavy dense textures and uncooked centres.  The planetary action of the standmixer ensures it beats like no other – but if a butter & sugar mixture or egg & sugar mixture is under beaten in the initial stages & then over beaten at the final stages the recipe is a disaster.

So the lovely Ms Erikson sent me her recipe and I tested her cake.  It is the best and most delicious lemon tea cake, I have ever made! She is kindly sharing her recipe (just for all the Ask Jo readers) and below are my tips. The result is perfect! I hope to speak with Mrs. Erikson this week and hear her result is now prefect too!

The tips:

  • Pre heat the oven, (an external thermometer (available from kitchenware shops or hardware’s is excellent for confirming the oven temperature is accurate) and I prefer to bake static – that is not fan forced, turn off that fan if possible.
  • Place the oven shelves in the correct position – for a thicker batter, I like to bake in the bottom third of the oven – this helps to eliminate the cake cracking and also ensures the cake cooks in the correct time.  Many oven manufacturers promise all ovens are the same temperature throughout – but I follow the tried & true old fashioned tips.
  • Ingredients: accurately weigh & measure – have them all ready to go before you begin cooking. Scales are my preferred choice, but if you use ‘cups’ – measure accurately.
  • Room temperature - for the eggs, butter & milk too. (If the ingredients vary too much – this can cause inadequate mixing. Ensure that butter is soft, so it beats up beautifully)
  • Warm the bowl (needed in winter. The stainless steel bowl is designed to chill the mixture, perfect in summer but cold in winter. Rinse the bowl in hot water and quickly dry).
  • Cream and beat the butter & sugar with the flat beater until very light & fluffy, wiping the sides down a couple of times with a spatula (I like to add about half of the sugar, beat this a little, then add the remaining) This is not essential but a technique many professional bakers use. The speed for creaming- I start initially on speed 4, and then increase to 8.
  • Beat in the eggs one at a time –  the eggs must be at room temperature (If the eggs are cold they will separate and not beat into the creamed butter and sugar – this reduces the volume and alters the cooked texture.
  • Flour: Turn the mixer off. Add the flour and milk (scattering it around the bowl.  Turn to speed 1 ONLY. Mix for 1-2 seconds ONLY. Quickly add the remaining flour and milk and mix another 1-2 seconds DO NOT OVER MIX. If there is a little flour around the out side, scrape this into the mixture when pouring the batter into the pan. Add the flour must be done very quickly & lightly. The planetary action of the standmixer is so very quick it easily can over beat the flour.
  • Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake for around 50 minutes. Let cake cool for 5 minutes before inverting onto a rack.  Pour over the lemon juice, while cake is hot and sprinkle with sugar.

Mrs. Eriksons Lemon Tea Cake:

125g butter

1 cup caster sugar

2 large eggs

1/2 cup milk

1 cup self raising flour & ½ cup plain flour

grated rind & juice 1 lemon

1 tbsp caster sugar, extra

Preheat oven to 180 C. (Grease a large loaf pan and line with baking paper).

Cream the butter & sugar for 8 minutes or until light & fluffy (use the flat beater & beat on a high speed)

Add the eggs one at a time, beating well in-between each addition. Add the lemon rind.

Add the combined flours alternately with the milk (working quickly on speed 1 and don’t over mix)

Pour into pan and bake (in bottom 1/3) of the oven for about 50 minutes.

Pour over lemon juice (while cake is hot) and sprinkle with the extra sugar

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Jun20

The Art of Creaming

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The Art of Creaming

Creaming butter and sugar is an art!  Really, well yes I think so. This easy first step (once mastered) can make or break your cake!  This technique is used for about 90 % of most cake and batter style desserts. The trouble is winter.

The butter is cold and that beautiful stainless steel bowl on the standmixer simply makes it colder. This is such a benefit in the middle of summer but oh not in the chilly months.  I have used stainless steel bowls for years.  All commercial based cooks / chefs & bakers love it – simply because the kitchen is hot and the stainless keeps it all cool.

However, for the new players to the world of stainless steel is it tricky – essentially.  So for the many who have written and asked how to easily cream butter and sugar …. here are the golden tips.

Use the flat beater only. This is the wooden spoon to the mixer. The wire whisk is used only for whipping cream & egg whites.

Make sure the butter is always at room soft temperature (not chilled) – this means you can lightly squash it between your fingers if you touch it. Now you can either gently warm it in the microwave – using short bursts on defrost (30 % power) or pop it into a bowl over hot water and allow to warm a little but don’t melt it. Melted butter will not beat up. This means your cake will not have a wonderful light texture.

In cold weather the stainless steel bowl can be quite cold (touch the outside of the bowl with your hands and you will feel this). Just before you begin the actually mixing, fill the bowl with hot water, or rinse in a sink of hot water then quickly and thoroughly dry. Stainless steel quickly returns to a cool temperature so work quickly.

Place the soft room temperature butter into the warmed bowl and beat (with the flat beater) begin on speed 1 then move up to speed 6and beat for about 20 seconds before you start to add the sugar. Whipping up the butter just a little first lightens it and allows the butter to easily incorporate with the sugar. Add the sugar in two additions, a little then the remainder. (Many pastry chefs believe adding the sugar in one go, causes the butter to choke and therefore you stop the mixture aerating)

Caster sugar (not A1 standard sugar). A1 sugar is very course in texture and is very difficult to ‘cream’ or dissolve in the butter (or in egg whites or cream). Treasured family / old recipes may have sugar listed as an ingredient – In years gone past only one sugar was available. In the past 20 years ‘caster’ sugar was created and A1 sugar has become much ‘courser’ in texture’ than it used to be, making it now not suitable to use.

The mixing is initially begun on speed 1, and then quickly moved through the speeds to 4, and 6 during the mixing it is best to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula. The mixing time is generally around 3-5 minutes. This depends on the recipe. In some traditional recipes creaming could be up to 10! The mixture should be very pale and fluffy and the sugar well dissolved into the butter.

Quantity being mixed. Most home stlyle recipes begin with 125g butter and 1/2 – 3/4 cups caster sugar.   However, the mixer easily beats more than triple these quantities. Very small quantities can be creamed very successfully (75 g butter to 1/4 cup caster sugar) as well.

Add the eggs one at a time and beat well between each. Remember to wipe the sides of the bowl down as needed. Reduce the speed to 1 if mixing in the flour, milk etc and beat lightly and quickly once the flour has been added. Do not over mix or the air will be beaten out. Many remove the bowl and hand mix to fold in the flour. NO you can mix in the flour using the mixer but this must be mixed quickly – 2- 3 turns of the beater only.

Beater to bowl clearance: You may need to slightly correct the clearance of the beater to the bowl (see details in the instruction manual “Beater to Bowl Clearance” – use the flat beater when adjusting). This will only be needed if a little of the mixture right at the bottom of the bowl is not mixing.

Whole Poached Pear Cake

Happy Birthday Butter Cake

May7

What a birthday Week!

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What a birthday Week!

Happy Birthday to me and yes what a week. Celebration after celebration has been the rule for the last week… goodness I hardly knows where to begin.

Birthdays are made even more special when you can choose all your favourite places to celebrate. This week has been very little cooking at home (I am sad to say) but I have loved every mouthful.

Melbourne has a huge amount in fact an enormous choice of sensational wonderful cafes, restaurants, bars, clubs and the list goes on.  In 100 birthdays I do not think I could eat at them all so.

So which meals where the highlight of the week, here are my top three. Read the rest of this entry →

Nov21

The Christmas Pudding – do I have time?

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The Christmas Pudding – do I have time?

Oh my do you feel over whelmed by it all – I must admit spotting all those Chrissie decorations at the shops does tend to pop me into a spin! A million and one lists start running through my head – I must make that pudding, and the fruit cake, buy the turkey, have I ordered that fabulous double smoked ham – or maybe we should have seafood this year and the list goes on and on.

Number 1 on the list is the pudding.

Simple moist Christmas pudding

Simple moist Christmas pudding

Now if you are super organised you will have already made one, so you for organised cooks it’s onto no. 2 and that’s the Christmas cake on my list.  Two years ago I was super organised and made my pudding in late October.  Last year well it was the week before – however my recipe truly is so delicious matter how early or late you are! Every single person I know who has tried this pudding just loves it – I have adapted it from some lovely old techniques and thrown in a handful of modern twists –

Read the rest of this entry →

Sep27

A Grand show in the Grand Pavillion:

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A Grand show in the Grand Pavillion:

It has been a little while since I last posted…. But what a 10 days I have had!

The 2009 Royal Melbourne show has been my home for the last week or so . You could spend the entire visit to the show just in the Grand Pavillion  – with over  120 wonderful foods to sample and learn about, beer & wine sampling and great gadgets for your home  exhibitors… I have purchased so many great things for my test kitchen!

The stage has been a flurry of fabulous non stop activity. I  cooked myself into a frenzy and as always the robust, calm and reliable KitchenAid  appliances  performed and performed.  Everychef and presentor has loved using them. And to those wonderful fellow foodies who stayed back and chatted with me - I loved your  and questions and the joyful expresssions.  Several of you were also lucky enough to take home a very special KitchenAid or Profiline gift too.

Vanilla Snow Pavlova

Vanilla Snow Pavlova

Favourite KitchenAid recipes were definitely the brown sugar meringues with many ooohs from guest chefs and the audience. The mixer does many great things but the quality of the meringue produced is spectacular. The chocolate beetroot  cake was also a winner.  The other favouties…..potato au gratin, Mexican meatballs,   French apple muffins and petite coconut cup cakes  to name but a few.

Read the rest of this entry →

Sep14

The love for Chocolate continues

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The love for Chocolate continues

At Chocolate Rush this year ( held on the 8th & 9th August at the Melbourne Show Grounds) I was  delighted and privileged to meet a sensational pastry chef and chocolatier Pierrick Boyer. Pierrick is the executive pastry chef at le petite gateau in Little Collins Street Melbourne.  Oh, how wonderful is this superb little patisserie. It’s in a swish little section on little Collins Street (just up the road from Vue du Monde).…. A wonder around this section of the city always reminds me ‘just why’ I love living in Melbourne.IMG_1822

Chatting with Pierrick, I soon heard the passion he has always felt for KitchenAid and I was very impressed when he told me  he has visited the factory (yes where these beautiful machines are actually made) in Ohio. The mixers are still hand made which is a remarkable thing in it self in this throw away plastic era of appliances.

Here is  Pierrick and some of his team with him holding his new mixer ( if looks little different it because its from the commercial range. A large mixer with a special thermal cut off – so if the motor gets too warm it will stop – excellent for pastry chef’s as they push the mixer hard). Read the rest of this entry →

Sep2

Let Them Eat Cake

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Let Them Eat Cake

Cakes – oh how I adore a delicious piece of cake. So did Marie Antoinette, according to tradition.  I think we all do and any time really, not just  morning or afternoon tea or as dessert.

The finale to all celebrations and occasions is the cutting (and eating) of the cake.  So much love and effort and maybe for some a few tears  ’ tears’  can go into producing a soft crumb, moist, high sided cake. So to ensure a fabulous result every time  here are some important tricks of the trade:

  • Your mixer – of course my choice has always been and will always be my KitchenAid Standmixer. Make sure the mixing bowl and attachments are clean and dry. And for the beginners – the flat beater is for creaming and beating while the whisk is used for whipping egg whites.  Speed 6 or 8 is normally used for creaming butter and sugar and speed 8 for whisking.
  • Always read the recipe at least once before beginning to cook and use a recipe written by a credible source.
  • Use fresh ingredients and the best you can afford especially with butter, eggs and flour. (if available use cake flour, you’ll find it at good supermarkets and specialty food stores– it has a lower protein content which produces less gluten therefore the cake has a softer texture)
  • Prepare the pan or tin and line with baking paper or grease well and preheat the oven
  • Test the oven temperature with a thermometer (just because the oven says it is 180 C – does not mean it is)!
  • Measure and weigh the ingredients accurately (even 1-2  extra tablespoons of flour or liquid will change the texture and end success of a cake)
  • Most cakes are best baked in the centre shelf of the oven and for me I like to bake without a fan – meaning conventional not ‘fan forced’. If your oven is fan forced, I recommend placing a shallow bowl of water in the bottom of the oven. The steam and moisture produced ensures a moist cake.
  • Use a timer and test the cake either with your finger (it will spring back when cooked or gently insert a thin skewer into the centre of the cake – if  comes out  clean the cake is cooked. Your nose will also tell you the cake is cooked!
  • Stand the cake for 10 minutes in the pan before inverting
  • Cool completely on a cake rack before icing and or cutting.

Some of my favourite cake recipes on the Peter Mc Innes web site are: Read the rest of this entry →