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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z AZ Cake Recipes -> Baking Tips -> "C" Cake Tips Baking Cake Tips, "C"
Decorating Cake on Serving Plate. 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. Making Your Cakes Look Professionally Decorated. Professionally decorated cakes always seem to have a molten, silky look. To get that same appearance in your homemade cakes, frost the sides and top of the cake and smooth out with a spatula as usual. Use a hair dryer to "blow-dry" the frosted surfaces of the cake. The slight melting of the frosting gives it that smooth, lustrous appearance. Quick Cake Decoration. For a quick cake decoration, place a large doily over cake then sprinkle with icing sugar. Remove doily gently. Cake Doneness tips How to Test Cake for Doneness. To test for doneness, insert a wooden toothpick in the center; if it comes out clean, the cake is done. 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. Cake Filling tips How to Prevent Soaking. To prevent cake filling from soaking into the cake, sprinkle layers lightly with confectioners' sugar before spreading filling. Cake Layers tips How to Split Cakes. 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. Uneven Cake Layers. If the crust of a cake layer seems tough or if the layer has an uneven top, trim it away with a serrated knife before frosting. To prevent the cut surface from shedding crumbs and spoiling the frosting, spread it with a thin layer of frosting (called the crumb layer) before applying the final frosting. Cake Volume tips For Best Cake Volume. Ingredients should be kept at room temperature to achieve the best cake volume. Bake cakes on the middle oven rack. Checking Baked Goods tips About Checking Baked Goods. Check baked goods at the earliest time indicated. Overbaking will dry out bars and squares. Cheesecakes tips About Cheesecakes. When using a cookie crust recipe in the springform pan, bake the bottom crust first, then add the side crust and filling and bake the whole cake. An easy way to pat the dough up the sides of the pan is to remove the bottom of the pan. After removing a cheesecake from the oven, keep it away from drafts and cold places while it cools. Too sudden a temperature change can cause the top of the cheesecake to crack. Chestnut tips How to Roast Chestnuts. To roast fresh chestnuts, make a one-inch slash on the flat side of the nut's shell with a sharp knife, just barely revealing the flesh. Place the nuts on a cookie sheet in a preheated 400º oven until the skins split and the flesh begins to brown (about ten minutes). Peel away the shell with the help of a knife. Chestnuts can also be blanched. After boiling for 3-4 minutes, wrap them in a towel and squeeze hard to crush the skins and extract the meat. Keep fresh chestnuts up to one week in a cool, dry place, or two weeks in a plastic bag in the refrigerator. Chocolate tips How to Melt Chocolate. Tips for successful melting: follow directions carefully. Do not overheat; these products scorch easily. Microwave directions have been tested with microwave ovens ranging from 500 to 700 watts (output). Times given are to be considered guidelines; microwave ovens differ in timing and heating patterns. Stirring frequently is important whether using rangetop directions or microwave directions. In the microwave oven, chocolate and other chips will keep their shape and may not appear melted after heating, but will become fluid after stirring. Handle glass microwave dishes with a hot pad after melting; the container may be hotter than the contents. Wash and dry the melting utensil thoroughly after each use. Any residue will affect the taste of the chocolate. Do not allow chocolate to come in contact with moisture during melting since this can cause lumping, tightening or "seizing." if this occurs, add one or two tablespoons shortening, such as crisco, for every six ounces chocolate; stir until fluid. Do not use butter or margarine since these may contain water. Do not use oil since this may prevent the mixture from setting up which is especially important if it is being used for a glaze. Break baking chocolate or candy bars into pieces to speed the melting process. Chocolate Cake tips About Chocolate Cakes. 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. Citrus tips How to Section Citrus. Removing the sections of citrus intact from the tasteless membrane seems more complicated than just peeling and eating an orange. However, with patience, a little practice, and a sharp paring knife it will become a breeze. Begin by cutting off the top and bottom of the fruit down to the pulp using a back and forth sawing motion. Place the fruit on a cutting board and cut away the peel in strips from top to bottom using the edge of the previous cut as the starting point for the next. Remember to stay close to the pulp and maintain the sawing motion. Then, holding the fruit in one hand over a small bowl, slowly cut through it along one of the membranes down to the center using the sawing motion. Gently repeat this with the membrane on the other side of the section, which should then come free. Carefully place the section in a container for later use. After you have removed all of the sections, pour the excess juice into the container. You now have perfect citrus sections to use as a flavor component or garnish for salads, appetizers, entrees, or desserts. Citrus Curls tips Citrus Curls Preparation. Use a zester to cut the lemon, lime or grapefruit peel into long strips. Wrap strips around a chopstick or drinking straw and let sit for 30 minutes. Cut to desired lengths. Coconut tips How to Eat Coconut. To open coconut, puncture eyes of coconut with ice pick; drain liquid. Bake coconut at 375ºF for 12 to 15 minutes. Remove from oven. Tap shell with hammer to open. Cut meat out of shell. Pare brown skin from coconut meat. How to Grate Coconut Meat. To grate the white meat, put the meat through the grating disk of a food processor or use a hand grater. You should get about 7 cups of grated coconut from the two coconuts, which will keep in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days. How to Open Coconut. Open the coconuts by flinging them onto a cement or rock surface (this is how the monkeys do it!) Don't worry about losing the liquid, as it's not the coconut milk called for in cooking. Each coconut should break in 3 to 4 pieces. It is also possible to open a coconut by piercing the eyes of the coconut with a screwdriver or ice pick, draining the liquid through the holes and placing the coconut in a 400 degrees F oven for 20 minutes. Wrap the coconut in a towel and hit it with a hammer to loosen the shell and split it into pieces. Pry out the white meat and then pare off the dark skin. Cooling Cakes tips How to Cool Cake. Cool cakes in pan: 10 minutes for layer cakes, 15 minutes for tube cakes. Invert onto wire racks to cool completely, then decorate. Quick Cake Cooling. 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. Cream Puffs tips Cream Puff Preparation. Cream puff dough, called "choux paste," has only four basic ingredients: water, butter, flour and eggs. Like all simple recipes, the trick is to get the preparation right. The water and butter should be cooked together fast, on moderately high heat, so that the butter melts quickly, before the water evaporates. It helps to cut the butter into pieces. The water is needed during baking — the oven heat changes it to steam that makes the pastries puff. The next step is to add the flour and salt all at once and stir the ingredients until a cohesive mass forms and comes away from the sides of the pan. A sturdy wooden spoon is a big help because the dough will be stiff. Some recipes suggest adding the eggs at this point, but it is better to wait a few minutes. Adding eggs to hot dough can cook them slightly and the dough won't rise well. Wait two to three minutes to let the paste cool down a bit. Then add the eggs quickly, one at a time. It might seem time-consuming, but it actually is easier to incorporate each egg than to mix them in all at once. You can store the dough for a couple of hours. Rub the surface with butter, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate. It is best to use the dough immediately, though; the pastries come out bigger, puffier and crispier. You can make cream puffs in various sizes. Most typical are 3 inches when baked. One recipe of dough will yield about 12 to 15 pastries. As an alternative, you can form the pastry into tubes (for eclairs), or ovals (to make whimsical swans), or very small mounds of dough (that bake into profiteroles). To puff properly, the dough needs immediate heat — preheat your oven. Once they're baked, cream puffs sometimes deflate and soften because of uncooked dough inside. To prevent sogginess, pierce the baked puffs, then place them in the turned-off oven to dry out. Some small amount of moist, uncooked dough still might remain. It's important to slice the puffs when they're still warm and remove these portions. After cream puffs cool, you can fill them with whipped cream, custard or ice cream. Because these fillings are moist and can soften the pastry, do not fill the puffs until you are ready to serve. You can be creative with the fillings by tucking in a few fresh raspberries or blueberries; sliced, sugared strawberries; or perhaps a bit of chopped, crystallized ginger, some crushed toasted almonds or shaved chocolate. Frostings are not needed. A sprinkle of confectioners' sugar is glamorous enough. Changing the dough to make Gougeres is a cinch: simply add the grated cheese and herbs after you mix in the eggs. Gougeres usually are made profiterole-size. They are delightful served hot (you can reheat frozen ones in a 400-degree oven for a few minutes), but you can split them and stuff them with savory fillings such as shrimp salad or curried egg salad. These are wonderful for cocktail hors d'oeuvre. Paris-Brest is no more than a large, continuous ring of choux pastry. The mounds bake together to form a ring cake. The top is brushed with some beaten egg to give it a shiny finish, and sprinkled with sliced almonds for extra flavor and crunchiness. When fully baked, the top of the cake is sliced off to open the inside for filling. Paris-Brest, like regular cream puffs, may be filled with pastry cream, whipped cream or ice cream, with or without the addition of fresh fruit. Creamed Mixtures tips About Creamed Mixtures. Often a creamed mixture of butter, eggs and sugar will look curdled but this will correct itself once the flour is added. |
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