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Baking S.O.S. says: Once a cake has cooled completely, it is not a good idea to put it back in the oven. It would take a long time for the internal temperature of the cake to rise enough to finish baking it in the middle. In the process, the rest of the cake would over-bake and become dried out. It’s best to count this as a learning experience and try to do it differently next time.
There are several ways to test for doneness of a cake: 1) Insert a toothpick in the center of the cake. If it comes out clean or with dry crumbs on it, it is done. 2) Gently touch the center of the cake. If it springs back, it is done. If you hear it “squish” a little, it still needs more time. That is the sound of raw batter.
Good luck next time!
Judy asks: When I bake a pound cake, it tends to crumble when I remove it from the pan. Why does this happen? And how can I prevent it?
Baking S.O.S. says: You may be trying to remove the cake from the pan when it is too warm. You can prevent this by allowing the cake to cool completely in the pan before removing it–at least a couple of hours. It could also help to prepare the pan so that the cake does not stick to the sides. Try using a baking spray that includes flour in the spray, such as Baker’s Joy. Crisco also makes such a spray. Both can be found in the baking aisle of a regular grocery store. Finally, lining the pan with a piece of parchment paper cut to fit in the bottom of the pan can also help remove the cake from the pan easier. Be sure to spray the pan also–even when using parchment paper.
Stacey asks: 1. What causes some muffins to stick to the paper liner- is this the fault of the liner or the cooling process or the recipe? 2. When I take my muffins or cupcakes out of the oven they are beautiful and round but then they shrink down to whimpy little things- How come?
Baking S.O.S. says: One of the first things I learned in cooking school is the proper procedure for preparing pans to bake items such as cakes & muffins. My chef instructor taught us: “Spray-paper-spray.” Meaning: spray your pan first with cooking spray, then line it with parchment paper (cut to fit the bottom of the pan exactly with no overlap) or a muffin liner, and then spray again. It’s that last step–spray again–that will prevent your muffins or cupcakes from sticking to the paper liners.
As for the shrinking, that is a little trickier to explain. All baked goods will shrink a little after they are removed from the oven and allowed to cool. But typically, muffins should retain their crown on top, whereas cupcakes (and cakes, too) should actually be flat when they are done baking.
If they shrink too much, the problem could be that there is not enough batter in the pans. You should fill them about 2/3 full for best results. If they actually fall in the center, it could be that there is too much baking powder or baking soda in the recipe. In general, there should be about 1 tsp. of baking powder or 1/4 tsp. of baking soda per 1 C. of flour in a recipe.
I hope one of these solutions will work for you. But if not, please let me know, and we’ll try some other ideas!
On March 5, 2008, I took a basic bread baking class at Omega Artisan Bakery located in the North Market in Columbus, OH. Amy Lozier, proprietor of Omega, taught the class.
I have to say that I was not originally planning to attend the class. My father wanted to take the class, so I paid for his class as a birthday present to him. I also signed my husband up for the class because he has become quite interested in bread baking as a hobby lately. So I though my husband and father would have fun taking the class together. I told them I didn’t need to take the class because I used to teach bread baking classes myself, so I didn’t expect to gain any new knowledge from a basic bread baking class.
However, my husband ended up going out of town for business on the day of the class, so I stood in for him instead. And it turns out I was WRONG about not learning anything new!
I have to say that Omega makes the best bread in town by far. I got spoiled by having fabulous European-style artisan bread every day when I worked at Firehook Bakery in Washington D.C. And I have found very few bakeries that produce bread nearly as good as Firehook’s. But Amy’s bread is absolutely wonderful: excellent flavor, wonderful crust, truly enjoyable. So it was a pleasure to take a class with Amy and to learn from her experience.
We produced 3 types of bread: Italian White, Focaccia, and Berne Brot, which Amy described as a traditional bread from Switzerland. I would compare it to brioche or Challah because it is a rich egg & butter-filled bread. All 3 of the breads were fabulous, and we got to take home our finished loaves as well as recipes for each bread.
The two main principles that Amy stressed in the class are: 1) Bread is forgiving–it is almost impossible to make a mistake UNLESS you forget the yeast! This I already knew from my own experience. 2) Amy said her personal philosophy is that bread is still DOUGH when it first comes out of the oven after baking. She said it is not truly bread until it has cooled completely–for several hours. Amy told us if you slice bread while it is still warm, it destroys the texture or crumb of the bread, making it “gummy.” Most of us have probably experienced this at some point, but we may not have understood why it happened. So this was a new and interesting concept to me. I never thought of bread as “still dough” even after it has been baked. But Amy is completely correct.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the class, and I would highly recommend Amy’s bread baking class to anyone interested in learning more. She was very thorough in explaining the importance of each ingredient, as well as the how’s and why’s of baking bread.
But even if you don’t have the time or the interest to take a class, you should certainly try Omega’s breads. They are the best in town!
Eric asks: The amount of shortening I put in my butterscotch oatmeal cookies disgusts me. Is there a “less bad for me” substance that I can substitute, or a type of shortening with only “good fat?”
BakingSOS says: That is a good question, Eric, but there is not one easy answer. Which type of fat you use in baking depends on the results you are looking for.
But in answer to your question about whether there is a substitute that contains only “good fat,” I should explain that the “good fat” is called monounsaturated fat. It is called “good fat” because it raises the good cholesterol and lowers the bad cholesterol. Examples of monounsaturated fat include olive oil, peanut oil, and canola oil.
When baking cookies, most recipes call for the fat to be in a solid form, so simply using liquid oil such as canola won’t produce the desired results. So what type of “good fat” can you use that comes in solid form?
My favorite fat substitute to use for a healthier option is Smart Balance brand buttery spread. It is made without trans fatty acids (the worst kind of “bad fat”), and it is non-hydrogenated (the process of hydrogenation produces fat that has the same effect of “bad fat”–increasing the bad cholesterol). But I have never baked with Smart Balance, so I cannot say exactly how your cookies would turn out in comparison to those made with shortening or butter.
I personally like to bake with unsalted butter because it has a wonderful flavor. But it is also 80% saturated fat, which is a “bad fat.” Also, as I mentioned earlier, the results are different depending on which type of fat you use. Cookies made with all butter will spread more than cookies made with shortening or with a combination of butter & shortening. Shortening tends to make cookies puffier with less spread.
To answer your question: I went to the Smart Balance web site, and I discovered that they have developed some new products designed specifically for baking. They now make Smart Balance Butter Blend sticks for easier measuring and better baking results than the original Smart Balance Butter Spread. The sticks are a 50/50 blend of butter and Smart Balance. Although the fat is not completely “good,” they do contain 28% less saturated fat than butter. And they are still non-hydrogenated and trans-fatty acid-free. So they are still a better fat substitute than straight vegetable shortening. The sticks also come in an unsalted variety, which is preferable for baking so that the fat does not add to the saltiness of your recipe. The web site (www.smartbalance.com) also includes nutritional information for the sticks, too.
I’m glad you asked this question. I am now inspired to try this new product in my baked goods to see how it compares to my preferred fat of choice!
Tim asks: When I roll out sugar cookie dough for cut-out cookies, the dough becomes dry and tough. Why is that?
BakingSOS says: You have probably worked too much flour into the dough when rolling it out. Flour contains protein called gluten which gives strength and structure to baked goods. But the more gluten in the dough, the tougher it becomes. When rolling out sugar cookie dough, it’s important to dust your work surface with flour to keep the dough from sticking, but here are a few tricks to reduce the amount of flour you use, thus keeping your dough more tender and pliable:
- I place my cookie dough between 2 pieces of waxed paper and dust the dough lightly with flour. Then I roll out the dough with the rolling pin on top of the waxed paper. This requires using less flour, which in turn, keeps your dough from drying out and becoming too tough.
- After you have cut out all the cookies from a batch of dough, gather the scraps into a ball, flatten it into a disk, wrap it in plastic wrap, and chill it in the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes to allow the dough to rest. This will relax the gluten and make your dough more pliable.
- It is a good idea to only re-roll the scraps one time and then discard any leftovers. Otherwise, you will eventually work too much flour into the dough, and it will become too tough to roll out. (Though I have to admit that I usually re-roll my scraps more than once because I like to make as many cookies as possible!)
Judy asks: Please find sugar free recipes for holiday baking of cookies, desserts, and breads.
BakingSOS says: Here are a few recipes and web sites to get you started:
The Splenda web site offers recipes in a variety of categories for baking and cooking with Splenda. I prefer to use Splenda as a sugar-substitute in baking because it produces much better results than other types of sugar substitutes. Follow this link to find dessert recipes on Splenda.com.
Also, Allrecipes.com offers many sugar-free dessert recipes submitted by its users. Here are a few sugar-free holiday recipes that look interesting and tasty: Sugar-free Christmas Cut-outs, Sugar-free Sour Cream Linzer Cookies, Sugarless Pumpkin Pie, and Sugar-free Blueberry Coffee Cake.
Finally, many bread recipes contain little to no sugar. You could simply omit the sugar or substitute Splenda, if you like. Allrecipes.com offers this recipe for a Bread Machine Sugar-free Bread.
Good luck!
Duval asks: When I use my non-stick heavy gauge baking pans, my cakes burn. I then have to do go back to old thin pans to do the job. Please explain.
BakingSOS says: I have had that exact same problem, so I’m glad you asked!
The problem with the non-stick cake pans is that the dark coating attracts the heat of the oven more than a regular cake pan without the non-stick coating. And since it attracts more heat, it also burns the edges and the bottom of the cake–the part that comes in contact with the non-stick coating.
I have given up on using non-stick cakes pans and muffin pans. I prefer traditional metal pans (aluminum), which is what most professional kitchens use, too.
Anonymous asks: I heard that you can leave out some of the sugar in cookies without ruining them. Is this true and what is the effect on the cookies?
Baking SOS says: Sugar has several functions in baked goods: It tenderizes the product, making it softer; it serves as a “liquid” ingredient because it melts during the baking process, which in turn makes the product spread; and it also caramelizes when baking, giving the product a nice, golden color.
If you reduce the amount of sugar in a cookie recipe, the cookies will tend to be puffier and spread less. They will also be crispier rather than chewy, and they will not brown as much.
If you would like to experiment with reducing the amount of sugar in a recipe, I would suggest you start by reducing the amount by only a few tablespoons (2-4, depending on the amount of sugar called for in the recipe) to see what happens. I always advised my students to make a recipe one time through as it is written before they began experimenting with changing the formula so that they know how the recipe was originally supposed to turn out. Then they could make changes and see which results they prefer.
Amy asks: I just made cookies but added too much salt… other than taste, will it affect the outcome?
BakingSOS says: You are correct–too much salt will only affect the taste of your cookies. It should not affect how the cookies bake or look.
Try tasting a bit of the cookie dough to see if the salty taste is too overpowering. Unless you added significantly more salt than the recipe calls for, it should be all right. However, if you think the cookies really do taste too salty, then this may be one problem that can’t be easily remedied. Your options would be to add a proportional amount of all the other ingredients in the recipe, thus making a larger batch, or to start over.
Amy responds: My cookies turned out fine. I figured it would be about the same if I had used salted butter. Since I used unsalted butter (which is called for in the recipe) I figured an extra teaspoon wouldn’t be too bad. And I was right. It was fun. You just never know how much extra of one thing will upset the balance.
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