Not sure where to put this, but since this is the place for “art, drama, literature, movies, music, comics, cuisine – all the artistic disciplines – if it’s about creativity, entertainment, or leisure, it goes here.”
I make a pretty mean cream cheese pound cake if I do say so myself. I decided to make a bunch of them using mini loaf pans.
I couldn’t believe how f’d up they were. They all sunk down in the middle, and overflowed the edges like it boiled over. The bottom of my oven is a mess. They still taste good, but they look like hell. I don’t want to give them out as gifts. I lowered the temp a little. That obviously didn’t help.
Any of you experienced bakers out there know what I did wrong?
Compared to baking your usual pound cake…how long did you bake the smaller ones for and at what temperature? If you’re baking something smaller out of a recipe which has a larger yield (cupcakes from a cake recipe, for example), you bake the smaller portion at a higher temperature for a shorter amount of time. With something as heavy as cream cheese, the temperature probably could even be a touch higher.
The other thing I’m wondering…too much leavening, perhaps? If you accidentally mis-measure your baking powder and/or soda, it can cause your batter to not set properly when it’s heated.
Based on some advice from some random Google search, I actually lowered the temperature to between 300 and 325. In normal loaf pans I bake between 325 and 350. I guess I need to just experiment a little bit. Clearly lowering the temperature didn’t help any. I’ll try raising the temperature next time. That’s so counter-intuitive to me But the reality is, while I like to cook; at the end of the day, I’m just a recipe follower.
It sounds like the edges of your loaf pans had more grip or texture than the usual pan? If so, the mixture would “climb” the sides. Some cakes need that (why we flour the pan) and with some you want to avoid it (then we just grease it.)
The increased surface area would also make the cream cheese melt faster, so I actually agree that lowering the temperature makes intuitive sense. But then baking is not always intuitively sensical . . .
I would try a test with parchment paper rings around the edges.
No big deal, most people are just recipe followers:) but being willing to play with your food means you will ruin a few batches of something but you will learn.
Actually, refrigerating something before baking is a way to temper something and make it less likely to blob - especially cookies. Many cakes can benefit from buffering the heat to the outside by baking them with a thermal band around the tin. The same effect is baking in a water bath like is recommended with custards.
My daughter also suggested that had too many of the many loafs in the oven at once. I’ll have to try the parchment paper; one of the things I read on several Google searches was along the same lines as this; in that they suggested only greasing or spraying the bottom of the pans.
Too many at once would tend to lower the temperature, and this really sounds to me like they ehated up too fast. Likewise, spraying or greasing only the bottoms would mean that the edges would have more grip, and the product would climb higher.
An obvious point I failed to make earlier is: Fill the cups less. With more surface area the final product will climb higher, so if you normally can fill the pan halfway, it may simply be that 1/3 is all you can put into these cups. But that doesn’t solve the concavity. . . gotta grease or paper the sides.
But the reality is, while I like to cook; at the end of the day, I’m just a recipe follower.