My baking core fell over during baking. This is so annoying. It's not the first time either.

I'm baking a big ole 10" pound cake and the baking core does a nose dive half way through the bake. It's one of those for really baking cores you buy just sitting in a 3" deep 10" pan. Well not sitting anymo-ore, is it now.



I mean how do you anchor it down. I've seen people use them upside down where the opening is up and the narrower end is touching the pan. So it's in a funnel shape rather than a volcano shape in the cake. If you can picture that.

But It's a parchment lined pan.

Oh, I thought of something. I moved it over a teensy bit after I poured in the batter. I bet I got batter under it. Dang it!

How do you anchor yours down? Do yours ever tip over like that?

i always thought you were supposed to use it "funnel shaped" and fill the inside of the core w/ batter too.

but then...

I just use flower nails (and nearly impale myself on them sometimes!)

You're probably right. But why does it flare out around the lip of the widest part? It makes it look to me like it should sit volcano shaped. However, it doesn't really work that way does it (Kate!).

Type a little slower for me, Doug.

flares to catch the heat?

flower nails -- much easier (tho' always waiting to attack!)

Yah this is a big momma cake that needed a big hole in it. Not necessarily a lopsided hole, but we'll take what we can get.

I'll make another one & do it the other way & report back.

Rather than a rose nail--mine would fall apart, I use folded up aluminum foil with feet.

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=68445&view=findpost&p=936954

It's pictured in that post which is the 12th post, ^^^ the fourth picture.

Just fold it and tear it on one end and fold each 'foot' in an opposite direction so it will stand on the counter. I spray it with pam. Works great.

will have to try that

u fill the hetaing core with batter and that holds it on place

i do not know whay its bigger on top, but i grease the inside and the outside of the core and it slips right out of the cake after baking. i let the core cool and tap the cake out of the core. I have a tutorial here:



http://sugaredblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/i-love-it-to-core.html

Nice tutorial. Ok, I'll go upside down with it. I mean tube cake pan holes are volcanos not funnels. It sure couldn't work any worse than how I'm doing it though.

Thanks

By placing the heating core upside down, the heat is building up inside during baking and it is blowing up--and over. It can't be used this way successfully. You never leave a hole in the center of a cake layer, unless it's a bundt cake.

You have to grease & flour the inside & outside of the core, put it into the center of the batter in the pan, fill the core about halfway with batter, and bake. Remove it and allow it to cool for a few minutes and then turn it out. When the cake is cool,turn it out and turn it rightside up again, put some icing around the inside of the hole, insert the cake plug, and then cut off the excess of the plug that stands above the cake top. If the cake needs to be leveled, you can do that with the whole plug in place and it and the cake will be cut at the same time.

HTH
Rae

Thanks

I learn something new every time I come here! I was using the heating core upside down too! I always set it so it looked like a volcano.

once again the newbie me has never even heard of a baking core. could have used this tip though before!
can it be used in other shape pans, such as a 14x10 rectangle or larger? do you need it for smaller rounds such as 8 or 6?

thanks.
sugarshack, your blog on baking cores was so great. wonderful photos and descriptions. you make everything seem so easy. BTW, your cakes are amazing.

So I baked another one yesterday and the core worked fine upside down with batter in it. But it was only a two inch tall cake. If it was one of the big momma cakes, I'm afraid the larger hole at the top where the cake will rise to will interfere with the crust somehow. I'll have to test that. It'll probably work though.

Honestly, I think the upside down part is a work around--the guys who designed the core meant for it to be used the other way, volcano style, but it doesn't work that way.

I don't know--it seems to be designed backwards of a tube pan--don't you think? In a tube pan the larger circumference is at the bottom like a volcano. But the heating core is best used as a funnel-backwards.

I'm actually thinking about using a foil wrapped coffee can or something like that for larger sizes (in other words making a custom sized tube pan)and placing something heavy in there. Something that can be removed easily, for baking >3 inch tall one layer pound cakes. We'll see.