I saw a post recently asking how to avoid hard, crusty sides on the cake. My problem in a big way even though I bake at 325. There were some suggestions to that poster - two of which I tried. Homemade cake release instead of the spray on stuff and homemade baking strips with old towels (who doesn't have old towels hanging out in the linen closet?) The cake I have been cooking lately has been the sour cream almond. I love the density of the cake but those crusty hard sides were driving me nuts. Anyway, my husband is a member of a professional organization that is having an auction on Saturday night to raise scholarship money and I signed up for a cake (of course).
I have just finished making 2 eight inch cakes - baked one at a time using the cake release and the water soaked towel strips. They came out PERFECT. Don't know if it was one or the other that did the trick (and I don't care.)
Now I will try to overcome my next obstacle - torting. I have tried the Wilton leveler, a serrated knife, and dental floss - still no luck. My cakes are coming out thick in some areas and paper thin in others.
As a person who has mostly just been lurking for almost a year I hope my observations will help somebody as some many of you have helped me.
To another day in beautiful, sunny Okinawa - Joan
Is the wire tight? if it is loose at all it can cause that to happen. I use the wilton leveler for that size cake and it works great for me. Also I saw in a different post that the surface needs to be completely level and the cakes need to be 100% cooled. With these things then I think the leveler should work for you (as long as the cake baked uniform). I have done cakes that did not bake evenly (probably my oven causeing that).
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