Enjoying a fluffy and delicious cake is a unique experience, but to achieve these results, you need to know some techniques and “tricks”.
Temperature: The average oven temperature for baking simple cakes is around 180°C (about 350°C).
Bake time: A simple cake takes 30 to 50 minutes to bake. If you use a cake pan with a hole in the middle, the time is shorter, from 20 to 30 minutes.
How to tell if the cake is baked: You know if the cake is baked, by inserting a toothpick in the middle (center of cake), not in areas close to the pan (these areas bake faster). If the toothpick comes out clean and dry, the cake is baked.
To prevent the cake from sticking to the pan: Grease the cake pan with butter and dust it with flour. Before unmoulding, let the cake cool on a metal rack. Do not unmold while still hot.
To prevent the cake from breaking when unmoulding: Wrap the cake while it is still warm in a cloth until it cools down. After that, when unmoulding, the cake should come out from the cake pan more easily.
To prevent the cake from not rising: Do not open the oven before the first 15 minutes of baking. Do not use yeast that is not good. To check if the yeast is good, pour some into a glass of water. If it bubbles, it means it’s good and you can use it.
To prevent the cake from wilting after cooling: Remove the cake from the oven, cover with a long dry cloth and let it cool on a metal rack. Don’t let the wind hit the cake while it’s still hot. It may suffer a thermal shock.
To prevent the cake batter from splitting: Mix the batter just until smooth, no more.
To prevent a crust from forming on the cake: As soon as you notice that the cake is golden, do the toothpick test to see if it’s already baked inside. If already baked, remove from oven. If it is not baked, place a baking sheet with water on the top shelf of the oven so that the cake finishes baking on the inside, without burning the surface. If you bake too much, the crust will form.
To prevent the surface of the cake from getting bubbles: Preheat the oven to the temperature that the recipe calls for and as soon as you pour the batter in the cake pan, place it in the oven. The oven temperature can’t be too low and the batter can’t take too long to go in the oven after it’s placed in the pan.
To prevent the cake from getting hard: Add the eggs little by little and mix between one addition and another. Do not add eggs quickly.
To prevent the base of the cake from getting moist: Unmold it while still warm on a plate or tray and let it cool covered with a cloth. In this case, the cake must be cooled out of the cake pan.
