OK, my DH and I are stumped! We want to know what everyone else out there does and what the "proper" method is. He thinks I'm a total boob because when I bake my cake, I flip it out onto a cookie sheet (so now it's upside down) and then I re-flip it onto my cooling rack (so now the top is back up again). This would then be the generally rounded surface that gets leveled off. He thinks I go one step too far. He says the part that cooks on the bottom should become the top (flipping only once out of the pan)--that's how his mom did it. IS THIS MAKING SENSE? Please, don't spare me if I'm wrong. I'd rather find out now b/f someone else finds me out SO....what's corrrect? But if I'm right, let me know quickly so I can tell him

I've seen a thread about this topic before and many people do it both ways. I agree with him, though that the bottom of the cake (that sits in the bottom of the pan) should be the top of your cake. I always put the bottom layer the right way and the top layer upside down. Then I know for sure that the top of my cake was perfectly level. Even if you do this, though, I don't think it matters which way you cool the cake.

I cool my cakes right in the pan. Then, once cool, take a serrated knife and, using the edges of the pan to keep my cutting straight, do my trimming. Then I flip the cake onto the cake board. If you use cake release, then there are no crumbs, and if I don't trim perfectly straight, it's no big deal because the bottom of the pan IS perfectly straight.

I do it the same way that you do so im bumping this question

I am a "reflipper". I tend to find the the top of the cake sticks to the cooling surface if I don't.

If I am not going to freeze right away I double flip. If I freeze I only flip once.

The reason I flip twice is because on the cooling rack the rounded edge always sticks to my counter through the Rack. So I flip it back onto my pan turned up side down ou a wrap covered cake board.

cCc

hmmm . . . well, I cool 10-15 minutes in the pan, level the top off with a large serrated knife, & flip out upside down onto a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet. All my layers are assembled "bottoms up".

I flip my cakes out onto the cooling rack, bottom up to cool. I usually make 2- 2" cakes. After the cakes are cool, I flip them onto cake boards (one covered with saran wrap) then cut off the tops. The bottom layer is left on the cake board and the top layer ( on board covered with saran wrap) is flipped onto the bottom one ...so the top layer is bottom up. This gives you a nice clean edge and is easier to ice than the other end that has been cut to level. The saran wrap keeps the cake from sticking to the board and protects it so I can use it for another cake. Also, cooling them upside down keeps the grid pattern of the cooling rack from making an impression on the bottom which will eventually be the top of the cake. I think everyone finds there own method that works best for them and just sticks with it. Stick with what works for you.

I've heard that the bottom of the cake should be the top. When I put them together I have one bottom on the cake board and the other bottom as the top if that makes sense. I do 2 2 inch cakes and torte them.

Well...i make the rounded part of my cake straight with a serrated knife...and then flip it cause the underside is the straightest part of the cake..

I do it both ways, depends on the shape of the cake and how level it is. But if your going to level it, you have to reflip at one point!

Sorry I'm on the fence!

Good Luck.

The bottom becomes the top, just as if it were a character pan, I do level the top in the pan - or use the push-down method while in the pan to level, then flip onto a rack or cookiesheet to cool then onto the cake board once it is torted so I don't get crumbs all over the cake board.

Umm, I don't think there's necessarily a right or wrong way, at the end of the day it's about what you feel happy doing and if you are getting the effect out of the cake you want then tell hubby to go bake his own cakes his way!

Bottom on top always. Unless you are using a slanted or angled pan(as in a regular 8 inch pan, non-magic line or wilton). Then you put bottom layer bottom side up and top layer top side up. This gives you the straight up and down sides you want in a cake.

Magic line and wilton pans are straight sided and so the "bottoms up" method works best. Keeps the layers from separating or developing cracks when "flipping" them. The idea is that the less manipulation you have to do to the cake the better chance you have that it doesn't crack or start to spread.

Hope that solves your debate.

If I'm doing a layer cake ~ on the bottom layer the bottom (level) part is on the bottom (touching the plate), but I level off the dome. The second layer the dome is leveled and placed down so the level part of the cake is up.

If I'm doing a sheet cake, the bottom part that touches the pan is actually the top of my cake.

I hope this makes sense.

I do the double flip for a couple of reasons.

Unless you have leveled it PERFECTLY, gravity will work against you. If the corners of the cake are unsupported (not leveled perfectly therefore the corners of the cake are sticking up in the air with nothing under them), then gravity will pull those corners down and you have a higher chance of cracking or breaking.

When the cake is sitting on the cooling rack top side up, then after I level it, I lay the cardboard on top the of cake and flip it onto the cardboard. The top of the cake is now face down on the cardboard; the bottom of the cake is now face up and I have a perfectly flat surface to ice.

But honestly, there is no right or wrong .... whatever works best for you. And unless he's the one doing it, why does he care? It's not causing HIM any extra work.

I cool the cake in the pan for 5-10 min. then flip it out, bottom's up, onto parchment paper on my cooling rack to finish cooling.

Wilton recommends placing the cooling rack on top of the cake pan, then flipping both over to cool:

http://www.wilton.com/cake/cakeprep/baking/index.cfm

To level, after cake layer is completely cooled - flip again and level:

http://www.wilton.com/cake/cakeprep/leveling.cfm

HTH

Bottoms are tops with me !

This is so interesting to read b/c until he opened his mouth with a "Huh...my mom doesn't..." I had no idea that I was doing anything out of the ordinary. And since no one ever taught me how to bake/cook, I have no idea where or when I decided that this was how to do a cake (BTW--I'm sure everyone here can agree...nothing good ever comes from a husband saying "my mom doesn't...")

Ditto grama_j... bottoms are tops for me too!

I flip mine out directly onto the cake board so the flat side is facing up. I use bake-even strips, so there's never a crown to make it uneven. But if it were, I'd slice it off before flipping it out.

I just flip mine once, unless there is a big dome, which I usually don't have. I also don't trim unless there is a big dome or I'm stacking two layers.

For single layered or torted cakes, I put the top against the cake board, so I have the nice flat bottom and crisper edges at the top.

If I am doing a two layer cake I will put the first one bottom down, then put the second one buttom up. So the two domed (trimmed) parts are together in the middle.