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 →