The newspaper trick worked!

[Peeps]

The other night I made the Lemonade cake (I won't get sidetracked on a review here since we've done much of that! :D) but I did want to share that I tried the wet newspaper trick I read about here somewhere that worked great!

To make the cake rise evenly across the top, as opposed to having it rise up more in the center and be a bit domed as most cakes tend to do, I wrapped the outside walls of the pan in folded strips of wet newspaper. I was convinced they were going to dry out and catch fire and I'd be having to explain to some fireman why I put newspaper in the oven but nope - no flames - and it worked great! My cake rose nicely but was perfectly flat across the top, very even (it was a 9x13). I can't wait to do this with round layers too since it will be so much easier to stack them if they're not domed!

Sorry if I'm the last one on the planet to try this trick but I found it pretty cool. I think you can also use an old wet towel and I think someone said Wilton or someone sells some sort of contraption you can wrap around your pans too - but I'm sticking with the wet newspaper just because its cheap and works great!

[lorilei]

Yes -- I own those "contraptions" that you wrap around the cake pans. You soak them in water and pin them around the pan. They're reusable, non-flammable, and work like a charm.

Good to know about the newspaper trick, though...

[lisas3575]

Did you just wrap it around the sides of the round cake pans or the bottoms too? What kept them from falling off?

[ISAIAH30_18]

Originally posted by lisas3575
Did you just wrap it around the sides of the round cake pans or the bottoms too? What kept them from falling off?

me too!!! it sounds like a great solution but I just don't get it. I had no idea there was a way to make a cake flat!!

[Peeps]

You just wrap around the outside "wall" of the cake pan - you don't have to do the bottom (that doesn't seem as safe either to have paper right on the racks). Though I did have some of the paper touching the racks - I just checked it often to make sure it was OK. The newspaper being wet makes it stick right on to the sides of the pan with no problem. It was all dried out by the time the cake was done but it had done its job by then.

[Wendy w]

A friend of mine was listening to a cooking radio show recently and told me that the hostess suggested taking one of those terrycloth sweatbands (yes, the kind worn around the head for exercising), soak in water and put around the cake pan.

[Gilgamesh37]

I love the WIlton Magic Strips, they work great. A friend's mom does wedding cakes professionally, and she pins a wet dishtowel around the outside, same idea.

Here's a link to the strips if anyone's interested. I scorched one of mine by not soaking it sufficiently.

http://www.wilton.com/wiltonos/default.asp?search=search&nProd=1291&nCat=69&itemno=415-262

[carolyn.1]

My cakes are ALWAYS crowned. I normally bake layer cakes and this is real problem.

I'll have to give this a try:)

Thanks Peeps!

Carolyn

[Melina]

Peeps, I here to tell you that you don't have to apologize for being the last person on the planet to try the "wet newspaper" method of baking; I'm the one who has to. I've heard about the commercical bands you can buy, but this is the first time I've ever heard of using "wet newspaper". Thanks for posting your success. I'm going to try it the next time I bake.
Melina

[beejayw1]

...taught by a Wilton instructor.

You pour the batter into the pan, and then tap the bottom of the pan 30 or 40 times to settle any air bubbles. That done, you scoop or spread the batter out toward the sides, making a sort of hollow in the center. This helps prevent a 'crown'. Caution: if you're making a really stiff, rich homemade cake - a Wellesley Fudge Cake springs to mind - you don't have to do that.

[Jewel]

So basically you're doing your pan in paper mache? :confused:

[ISAIAH30_18]

I am sooooooo sllllllloooowwwww......how does this make the top flat????
I will have to try it just to see how it works!!!!!!

[lhall]

I'm not really sure how it works, but I'll give it try. It has something to do with "drawing" heat and/or batter to the sides of the pan.

I have the Wilton Bake Even Strips (I think that's what they are called) at home and it is explained in the instructions. I have those somewhere too (really!).

I have one rectangular pan which has slight angled sides and the strips don't work well on that pan, but maybe the newspaper trick would.

Leigh

[Gilgamesh37]

It slows down the baking time around hte edges of the cake by keeping them cooler. The edges of the batter heat up more quickly (because it's in contact with the pan) and "set"--finish cooking quicker (think how sometimes you'll have soemthing that isn't quite done in the center but hte edges are starting to burn). The cake domes up because that part in hte center has longer to rise before it "sets". So the strips keep the edges cooler, so the whole thing rises for the same period of time.

I think.

[valchemist]

thanks for this thread, peeps.

I don't make cakes all that often, but when I do, I always have this problem. I hope I remember to use this trick!

we have all heard neat tricks on the boards, but the key is to remember to use them! (like the freezing lemons thing posted by ashleenicole on the "what I've learned" thread. that is the first I have heard about that - and the microwaving thing too.)

val

[ReneeV]

Hi All,
Gilgamesh is correct! It slows down the baking around the edges of the pan by keeping them cooler than the center.

One word of warning: If you are baking at a high temp (over 375 degrees) or for longer than an hour at the regular temp of 350 degrees, the paper may scorch and smoke. This could be dangerous at worst and give the cake a smokey flavor at best, so be careful! The terry cloth stips work great and you don't run as high of a risk of scorching or smoking. I love the idea of the sweat bands! I'm going to try that. I have the Wilton baking strips and they work great, but "pinning" them around the pan is a big pain. And keeping track of those little "T" pins,... don't even get me started!

Renée

[kimmurphy94]

another trick for layer cakes my aunt (who bakes wedding cakes professionally) taught me is to take some plain dental floss and run it across the top. This makes the cake perfectly flat, so you can stack multipke layers. The bonus is that you can eat the scraps!

[ISAIAH30_18]

Originally posted by kimmurphy94
another trick for layer cakes my aunt (who bakes wedding cakes professionally) taught me is to take some plain dental floss and run it across the top. This makes the cake perfectly flat, so you can stack multipke layers. The bonus is that you can eat the scraps!


Finally a tip I've heard of!!!!!! Never think to do it though....obviously I need to bake a cake now!!!

[Angela]

Ok....Peeps you are not the last one on the planet to hear of this...I had no clue about this tip or any of the products.

This is great to know! I'm thinking about making my wedding cake. I love to bake and would love to make the cake for my special day. I've never attempted a fancy decorated cake, but I've got at least a year to practice.

[Gilgamesh37]

Angela--as they say about how you get to Carnegie Hall: Practice, man, Practice.

I was volunteered to do a wedding cake for some friends a few years ago. It was not particularly elaborate, but it wound up being WAY harder than I thought it would be. I must have made 30 practice cakes in the months leading up--everyone I work with was glad when the wedding finally happened! The things that really tripped me up were: plan your transport (oy), plan your garnish (the cake will look naked just sitting htere, no matter how fancy the piping is--plan for some small flowers or ivy or soemthing around hte bottom), and have a contingency plan if the weather does something weird (in my case, it was suddenly about 20 degrees hotter than it should hvae been htat time of year)

[ISAIAH30_18]

UGH, all this cake talk!!!!! I am soooo making a cake this weekend!!!

[Angela]

Gilgamesh37---thanks for the tips.
I was figured I'd be making a lot of cakes and that I (and everyone I know) would be sick of cake!

[SusanMac]

Does the newspaper/sweatband thing work for both glass and aluminum pans? What a cool trick!

[Norma]

Wow, how interesting. With all this new cake advice on the boards recently, I'm ready to tackle that infamous lemonade cake.
:D

[Tiger]

Peeps- I'm so glad you used this tip and it worked! I know that I do this and have posted this tip. (Although who knows who posted it when you read it!) But I had a good laugh because my DH is a fireman so talk about having to explain if the fire dept. comes to your house!
For those who are confused: Roll the newspaper like a log. (To fit the sides of your pan) Wet it well and stick it to the sides overlapping. It will dry while cooking. I hope this helps.

[Norma]

How thick is the log? It just sounds too heavy to stay in place.

[ISAIAH30_18]

Originally posted by Norma
How thick is the log? It just sounds too heavy to stay in place.

I'm with you Norma! I think I need pictures!

[Tiger]

Say you have a 2inch deep rectangular pan, than you make it 2inches. The wet newspaper just covers the sides of the pan. Do understand now? Maybe someone else can explain it better.

[Norma]

Okay, it's two inches wide...how many layers of newspaper two inches wide should it be. Sorry to be so dense....:o

[Peeps]

Tiger I'm glad you spoke up - I probably did get the tip from you! I searched to try and find the original thread where I read it so I could give credit where credit is due but I couldn't find it.

The log description is right. I'd say I used maybe 3-4 pages, tore a strip about 6 inches wide and then folded it lengthwise to get it to be about 2 inches wide (that's how tall my pan was) and then just soaked it - it was probably half an inch thick or so. The water just makes it stick right on there no problem (my pan was metal - don't know if glass would be harder). I had to use a few strips to get it all the way around and I just stuck them to each other where they overlapped. Very simple -took all of about 30 seconds to do.

The hardest part was having to check on it every few minutes to make sure it wasn't on fire - I was so scared of burning the house down! Next time I'll be a bit more relaxed but will still check on it from time to time because the paper does touch the racks a bit. Firemen are great and all, but I'm not sure I want to be standing in my kitchen going "but you see sir, it makes the cake have such a nice even flat top! That's why I put highly flammable newspaper in the oven!" :D

Happy cake baking!

[Norma]

Okay, thanks, Peeps. I'm going to try this for sure!

PS My husband is also a fireman. I think I'll just keep quiet and stick close to the stove until it's out of the oven. Then I may or may not tell him. After all, he doesn't give a rip if the cake is high in the middle or not. He just likes cake.
:D

[RebeccaT]

This is by far the most interesting, unusual tip I have gotten on the BB!! I will definitely try this! (although we don't get the paper, so I might try the terry band thing instead!)

:D

[JennieL]

Peeps!

Thanks for the great tip! I've never heard of such a thing. I'm going to try it this weekend on the deaded Lemonade Cake.

[little_bopeep]

So, I never saw an answer---does this trick work on glass pans, or would it cause the glass to break?

Thanks!

Susan :cool:

[CKL]

Bump.. bump... bump..... b/c I'd like to see an answer to this one too, if anybody has one :)

[AD]

I have another question (as if there weren't enough on here already). :rolleyes:

I was wondering how this would be done (or if it could be done) if I used parchment paper. If I did not use parchment paper, wouldn't the ink and newspaper "smell" affect the cake? I would also think it might stick to the sides of the cake. :confused:

[lisas3575]

CKL, I would think that it would be a-ok on glass pans, since the batter, pans and wet newspaper would all come up to temp together.

AD, I doubt parchment would work because it doesn't soak up water like newspaper does. If you're concerned about it, they sell pads of plain newsprint at office supply stores, you could use that. I didn't have any smell associated with mine though, and I was careful that the ink didn't touch the batter. (I'm not sure what you mean about sticking to the cake-- the paper is around the outside of the pan so it doesn't touch the cake).

Hope that helps.

[valchemist]

I agree with Lisa regarding the parchment paper. I don't think it would absorb much, if any, water. Newspaper absorbs water much better.

[Little Bit]

Peeps,
Thanks so much for posting this. I keep forgetting to try it, and, in fact, hadn't managed to get the details of 'how' to do the newspaper technique before. :)

AD: Another technique you might prefer to try, is to make some cloth strips that fit your pan and pin them in place with a straight pin. I've got some old terry cloth hand towels that will be performing this duty in the near future, since I don't get a newspaper any more. HTH! :)

[BarbaraL]

Okay, I think I've got it! You put the newspaper around the outside of the pan . . . for some reason, I was thinking you cut newspaper strips and draped them over the cake - DUH.

I don't see why this wouldn't work for glass pans, since you'd be putting it on a cold pan. Glass shattering is usually only a problem when adding hot liquids to a cold pan, or cold liquids to a hot pan.

[Beth]

A new use for recycled packing paper after you move!

I didn't see this thread the first time around and got linked via the Texas Sheet cake one. I have heard that the ink in newspaper is toxic, so -- even though it doesn't touch the cake -- I am thinking I would feel better using unprinted paper, fabric or just trim the top of the cake. Anyone else heard this or concerned?

[Svadhisthana]

Originally posted by Beth
A new use for recycled packing paper after you move!

I didn't see this thread the first time around and got linked via the Texas Sheet cake one. I have heard that the ink in newspaper is toxic, so -- even though it doesn't touch the cake -- I am thinking I would feel better using unprinted paper, fabric or just trim the top of the cake. Anyone else heard this or concerned?


Call up your local paper and ask them. Here in central Illinois (the home of all things soy) our ink is soy based and non toxic.