Cake Baking Tips

• When a cake recipe calls for flouring the baking pan, use a bit of the dry cake mix instead, no flour mess on the outside of the cake.
• For perfect shaped cakes or jelly rolls, first grease the pan, then line it with greased waxed paper. After baking, invert pan and peel off the waxed paper. No more broken corners or edges! Great for fudges and bars!
• When frosting cakes, always anchor the bottom cake layer to the serving plate or lazy Susan with a dab of frosting. That way, the cake won't slide about as you frost. This also helps keep a cake from sliding on its plate during transit. The frosting will hold the cake in place deliciously and your dessert will arrive in perfect shape.
• In a pinch, a large bowl makes a handy cake cover!
• To prevent icing from running off your cake, try dusting the surface lightly with cornstarch before icing.
• When filling and frosting a cake, place first layer(s) with bottom side up; place last layer with the top side up.
• For best results in cake baking, let eggs, butter and milk reach room temperature before mixing.
• A handy substitute for cake flour: 1 cup minus 2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour equals 1 cup cake flour.
• To prevent nuts and fruits from sinking to the bottom of a cake during baking, warm them a bit in the oven and toss them with flour. Shake off excess flour before mixing them into the batter.
• If cake flour is hard to find, you can make your own with all-purpose flour: for every cup of cake flour called for in a recipe, substitute a cup of all-purpose flour but replace 2 tablespoons of the flour with cornstarch.