So, I got the advice before I started baking that when you take the cake out of the oven you put a clean kitchen towel over the cake and press down to release airbubbles (and the dome if it has one) and it also creates a more dense cake. I have been doing this with no trouble and it works but I wanted to know if anyone else does this??
I do this with EVERY single cake I make 
Sometimes like last night I'll forget and run up frantically to do it after it's been sitting for a bit but it still worked 
I love this method of giving me a flat surface, as I have always hated leveling by cutting and have never had good experiences with it one time even losing an entire 12x18" sheet cake 
because I was trying to level it and it wouldn't level so I just transfered it to the board and it ended up slipping and falling all over the place lmao.... live and learn and then get a clean towel and press
I have done this method before, but don't really prefer it. I think it makes the cake TOO dense. For my liking, anyway. It really does work wonders in the flattening area, though!
I wait until the cake is warm, but not hot and wrap it in plastic wrap and pop it right back into the pan and into the frig or freezer (depending on when I need to decorate) -- the cold air condenses the moisture in the cake, shrinking it a little bit and making it VERY moist!
How long do you wait to decorate the cooled cake?
I bring it to room temp then decorate it.
OK, I've never heard of this before - don't know how I have missed it on here. Now I will have to try it; I am very curious. I would love to not have to level my cakes! Although, since I started leveling them IN the pan, it has become much easier.
Thanks again, CCers! As always, I learned something new today.
Let me explain what I do -- I take the cake from the oven and put it (still in the pan) on the rack. When I can touch the cake and it's not scalding to my hand but still very, very warm, I turn it out onto another rack (I usually put some wax paper over so it doesn't get the grid marks, but that's just me 
). When the cake has cooled enough so that it's still very warm but not hot, I wrap it thoroughly in plastic wrap and (having already washed the pan) I pop it back into the pan and put it right in the refrigerator (or freezer.) This seals in the moisture (the heat escaping is the moisture in your cake). The trick is to not let the cake cool too much, you want it quite warm when it's wrapped but not so hot it will defrost the frig! If I put it in the freezer, I let it cool for about 2 hours and then wrap it in freezer wrap and I can leave it for up to 2 weeks. If in the frig, I let it chill for about 2 hours until it's cold all the way through, then I take it out and bring it back to room temperature. At that point I can torte without too many crumbs, (although I still like to crumb coat I find it isn't particularly necessary anymore), and my cakes are very moist. I share this with my students and they get rave reviews on their first cakes!
Wow bobwonderbuns, that is really cool. I have never heard of wrapping in plastic wrap like this. I would think it would get too much moisture in the wrap, but like you said the moisture goes into the cake. I can't wait to try this.........thanks for the tip.
Yep - I do it too thanks to great advice here on CC.
As soon as I take the cake out of the oven I lay a piece of Saran Wrap on it, put my cutting board on the Saran Wrap, then put a heavy object on the cutting board. I let it cool in the pan for ten minutes. Then I flip the cake out of the pan with the Saran Wrap still on it. Then I completely wrap it in Saran Wrap until it is cool and I'm ready to decorate it. I'm always getting compliments on how moist my cakes are.
Well, at first, I was using the towel to level it when it came out of the oven, but most of the time I would forget to do it, or if I did remember, I would still get it uneven in certain places. So, I came up with the idea of leveling them while they are still in the pans. I pour more cake batter than recommended for the pan-filling it up almost all of the way, leaving only about 1/4 inch of the pan showing. This way, while it bakes, the cake rises and leaves the dome high over the top of the pan. When it is finished, I let it cool for 10 minutes in the pan, as they say, then get my longest serrated knife and make it level with the top of the pan and saw off the top part clean with no problem. This also makes the cake the full 2 inch height like the pan. Now with this method you will probably need more cake batter than usual if you are doing 2 or 3 cakes because you are filling each pan with more than the normal amount of batter, but it is much easier than using that leveler that is a pain. Also, be sure you have a serrated knife that is longer than your pan. I have yet to find one for my 9x13 rectangle pan, but I don't do many of them so it's not too bad.
Heating core/ baking nail - a piece of metal used to conduct heat into the center of a cake while baking. They sell heating cores, butit is cheaper and works better in many opinions to use an inverted flower nail. Spray or coat the nail as you do the pan, put the wide top flat in the bottom of the pan, nail sticking up, and pour in the batter. This leaves a much smaller puncture hole in the cake than using a core. Some of the largest cakes take 2-3 nails to bake evenly.
Well I'm just new at this but I got myself some baking strips made of towels. I got about four strip with the edges finished. Not bad the towel only cost me three dollars and the strips are long enough for a 10" round.
I like the wrapping method and I never tried before since I put syrup on my cakes. Do you od this in adittion to that?
Lizzie
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%