I love to bake, and decorate cakes. I've been having great fun baking cakes, decorating them and then donating them to the local American Legion for fundraisers this year.
Trust me, it's been a labor of love.
And I've also been having fun making cakes that are flat on top, that is they're baking up without a dome, which makes them easier to decorate.
Like this Chocolate Cake with Faux Buttercream frosting.
Awhile back I read somewhere, online, a hint to take some old towels, cut them in strips, then pin them together around the base of a cake pan. Once you have them 'sized' correctly, you soak the towel in water and place back on the base of the pan before you bake the cake.
Simple right?
Something to do with the release of moisture keeps the cake from developing the 'dome' that is the bane of most cake decorators. And many of them just slice that off before they frost.
I've done it, then eaten the piece of cake I sliced off, cause you don't want to throw it away. And after slicing it, you get a really 'crumby' top which is hard to deal with as well. As in little teeny crumbs get caught in the frosting and it looks terrible.
Well, not anymore. I cut a couple strips off an old towel, sewed it together to fit the base of my cake pans. I then soaked them with water, to the point of almost dripping, placed them around the outside of the cake pans, poured in the cake batter and baked away.
NO DOMES!!
They baked up flat.
So, I did it again, and again and now I won't bake a cake without a piece of soaked towel around the pan.
And when I made a three layer cake and only had two wraps, I cut an old (clean) tshirt and used it as well.
Look...
These are amazing. And basically free, cause you use an old but clean towel.
And now I can frost away on a lovely flat cake.
Measure your cake pans, the diameter and the height. Cut a strip of old, clean towel, to fit the height and diameter of the pan. Sew or pin together so that it fits snugly around the pan. It helps to get the towel wet, and then fit onto the base of the pan, cause I found out that toweling stretches when it gets wet. When you're ready to bake, soak the toweling in cool water, pat out the excess water, then fit onto the base of the pan. Grease and flour the pan as usual. Pour your batter in, make sure that the toweling is snug and bake away. The soaked toweling keeps the edges of the pan cooler and helps to prevent the 'dome' building up in the center. And, if you happen to have an old undershirt, clean of course, hanging around, it works as well. I just wet it, doubled it up, to fit the pan, and voila I was able to use three pans at once. I've still got a little of that towel left and I'm making of these.
Best idea ever...
A Cherry Cherry Cake
Above: Carrot Cake
Below: Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting
Three Way Chocolate Cake
Three Way Chocolate Cake
White Cake with Sour Cream Frosting
Three Way Chocolate Cake
and I can't forget my Buttermilk Cake with 'faux buttercream frosting'
This past week I made cupcakes though...
What can I say, I like cupcakes too.
Trust me, it's been a labor of love.
And I've also been having fun making cakes that are flat on top, that is they're baking up without a dome, which makes them easier to decorate.
Like this Chocolate Cake with Faux Buttercream frosting.
Awhile back I read somewhere, online, a hint to take some old towels, cut them in strips, then pin them together around the base of a cake pan. Once you have them 'sized' correctly, you soak the towel in water and place back on the base of the pan before you bake the cake.
Simple right?
Something to do with the release of moisture keeps the cake from developing the 'dome' that is the bane of most cake decorators. And many of them just slice that off before they frost.
I've done it, then eaten the piece of cake I sliced off, cause you don't want to throw it away. And after slicing it, you get a really 'crumby' top which is hard to deal with as well. As in little teeny crumbs get caught in the frosting and it looks terrible.
Well, not anymore. I cut a couple strips off an old towel, sewed it together to fit the base of my cake pans. I then soaked them with water, to the point of almost dripping, placed them around the outside of the cake pans, poured in the cake batter and baked away.
NO DOMES!!
They baked up flat.
So, I did it again, and again and now I won't bake a cake without a piece of soaked towel around the pan.
And when I made a three layer cake and only had two wraps, I cut an old (clean) tshirt and used it as well.
Look...
Measure your cake pans, the diameter and the height. Cut a strip of old, clean towel, to fit the height and diameter of the pan. Sew or pin together so that it fits snugly around the pan. It helps to get the towel wet, and then fit onto the base of the pan, cause I found out that toweling stretches when it gets wet. When you're ready to bake, soak the toweling in cool water, pat out the excess water, then fit onto the base of the pan. Grease and flour the pan as usual. Pour your batter in, make sure that the toweling is snug and bake away. The soaked toweling keeps the edges of the pan cooler and helps to prevent the 'dome' building up in the center. And, if you happen to have an old undershirt, clean of course, hanging around, it works as well. I just wet it, doubled it up, to fit the pan, and voila I was able to use three pans at once. I've still got a little of that towel left and I'm making of these.
Best idea ever...
A Cherry Cherry Cake
Below: Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting
What can I say, I like cupcakes too.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment
I love to hear from my readers, so please feel free to drop me a note, let me know if you like something I made, it makes my day.