Contributed By: Delma
To keep holes and tunnels out of your cake, run a knife through the batter after you have finished mixing it. This removes air holes.
To keep loaf cakes fresher longer, cut slices from the middle rather than from the end. When you're finished slicing, firmly push the two leftover sections together to reform a loaf. This way, you eliminate leaving an exposed, quick-to-dry-out "end" slice.
To plump dried fruit for fruitcake, place fruit in a shallow baking dish, sprinkle generously with water, then cover. Place dish in oven while oven is heating for baking cake. In 10 to 15 minutes the fruit will be soft and plump. Cool slightly and add to cake batter.
To decorate a cake directly on its serving plate, slip strips of wax paper under the edge of the cake, allowing them to hang over the rim of the plate. Frost cake, then, with a quick motion, pull out the paper. This leaves the serving plate nice and clean without a trace of frosting.
To prevent a freshly-baked cake from sticking to the serving platter, dust the platter with confectioners' sugar.
An angel food cake will slice neatly without crumbling if you freeze it first, then thaw it.
To cool a cake quickly for frosting, pop it into the freezer while you make the frosting. By the time frosting is ready, the cake will be cool and ready to slip out of the pan.
To prevent cake filling from soaking into the cake, sprinkle layers lightly with confectioners' sugar before spreading filling.
Cake will be less likely to stick to the pan if you put it on a wet towel to cool as soon as you take it from the oven.
For a fast topping, place a paper doily on top of the cake. Sift confectioners' sugar over it. Lift the doily off gently.
To keep cake moist, put half an apple in the cake box.
If you sift dry cake mix before you stir in the other ingredients, it won't be lumpy.
Use paper coffee filters to line 8-inch cake pans. Just flatten one into a large circle and lay it on the bottom of the pan.
Use cold coffee instead of water when making a chocolate cake from a box. It gives the cake a rich, mocha flavor.
When baking a chocolate cake, don't use flour to "dust" the pan. Use cocoa instead. This way, the white flour "dust" won't cling to the sides of the cake.
To cut a fresh cake, use a wet knife.
A little flour mixed into the remains of melted chocolate in the pan will get the last bit of chocolate out of the pan and into the cake batter.
To keep a cake from sticking to the pan, grease the pan with one part shortening and two parts flour mixed until it has a sandy consistency.
Heat fruits and raisins in the oven before adding them to cake batter. They'll be plumper and juicier.
When testing a large cake to see if it is done, use a strand of uncooked spaghetti. It reaches where a wooden pick won't.
Roll fruits, raisins and nuts in flour before adding to cake batter. The will be less likely to sink to the bottom of the cake.
If you don't have a ring mold for baking a cake, cover an empty, appropriately-sized can with aluminum foil, weight it, and place it in the center of a round, deep casserole dish.
If the cake sticks to the pan and threatens to split, hold the pan over a low flame for about 5 to 8 seconds and the cake will come out nice and firm.
Make a cake decorator by rolling up a piece of wax paper into a cone shape so that one end has a smaller opening than the other. Snip the small end with scissors to make a good point. Put icing in and squeeze it out through the pointed end.
For a fast topping for cakes, place a paper doily with a large design on top of the cake, then dust with confectioners' sugar. Gently lift doily off the cake.
To split a cake into layers, loop a length of waxed dental floss around the outside of the cake at the point you want the cut, then cross the ends and pull gently but firmly. The floss will cut right through the cake.
An easy way to split layers evenly: Measure halfway up side of each layer and insert wooden picks into the cake all around, about 1 to 1 1/2 inches apart. Rest a long serrated knife on wooden picks, using them as a guide on where to slice. Discard wooden picks before proceeding with the icing.
If the top of your cake is browning too quickly, place a pan of warm water on the rack above the cake while it is baking in the oven.
To prevent cakes from cracking while they cool, add one envelope of unflavored gelatine to the dry ingredients of any cake batter. This will prevent cracking, and will also make the cake fuller. The gelatin does not change the flavor or moistness of the cake.
Use unflavored dental floss to slice evenly and cleanly through a cake or torte. Simply stretch a length of the floss taut and press down through the cake.
An apple cut in half and placed in the cake box will keep the cake fresh several days longer.
To frost a cake quickly without having it crumble, freeze the layers in the cake pans for about one hour, then remove them from the pans and frost them. This also prevents the layers from splitting in the center.
If tiers of a multi-layer cake slip as you are applying frosting, insert strands of uncooked spaghetti through the cake for support. Carefully pull out spaghetti when the frosting has set.
Fill cake pans about two-thirds full and spread batter well into corners and to the sides, leaving a slight hollow in the center.
The cake is done when it shrinks slightly from the sides of the pan or if it springs back when touched lightly with the finger.
If you don't have a covered cake safe, try this Insert toothpicks an inch (2.5 centimeters) or so apart over the frosted surface, then drape plastic wrap over the toothpicks. This works for a tray of cupcakes too, or anything with a sticky surface.
Created on ... November 25, 2006