Cake trick

[wyopatti]

I made the brown sugar pound cake yesterday and tried something to see if it would work. I heated a bowl of water in the microwave and then placed it in the oven with my cake. I wanted to see if that would put enough moisture in the oven to have the cake top (which is actually the bottom when inverted) come out flat. It worked. Instead of having my bundt cake look like it's sitting on top of a dome, it is now sitting flat on my cake stand and looks very pretty. I recently bought the magic strips which are supposed to accomplish the same thing. I used them on a Wilton character cake and it came out a little flatter than usual but I still had to shave off a little to get it to lay flat on the cardboard to decorate.

By the way, I put cinnamon chips in the brown sugar pound cake-very good. :)

[lisas3575]

Great tip!! What's the science behind that?

I'm going to be making a bundt cake when my in-laws are here in a week, so I'll try this for sure! Thanks!

[Gracie]

Sorry to get so technical, but how big of a bowl do you use? And do you put it next to the cake, or underneath? Do you bake at the same temp and the same time?

Clever you! I hate shaving the top off the cake, especially with layer cakes. It makes too many crumbs and is too hard to frost it and have it be crumb-free.

Loren

[wyopatti]

I just used a small bowl of water which holds probably 2 cups of water. Be sure to heat the water before you put it in the oven. I just put the bundt pan in the middle of the oven, maybe a little more towards the back than usual and sat the bowl on the rack next to it, not touching. My understanding is the moisture makes the cake bake more evenly. I baked it at the same temperature and for the same time.

Whenever you have the shave off the top of the cake, turn it upside down (except, of course, one of the Wilton character pans). That way you're icing the side that wasn't cut. Also, Wilton makes a little gadget for evening layers that is wonderful. Can't think of the name of it right off. It's only a couple of bucks. If you're dividing a cake to put a filling in between, use a pastry bag and just squeeze your jam or icing or whatever you're using, that way you don't have to drag a knife across the cut cake and pick up all the crumbs.