Tried making a cake this evening. Note that this is hardly my first time baking anything. But it is the first time, AFAICR, that I’ve used a tube cake pan.
Instructions said “Remove from oven and immediately turn upside down over the neck of a glass bottle. Cool one hour.” Odd, I thought. But I found a wine bottle the appropriate size, and when the cake was done, I turned it upside down over the bottle’s neck.
Before I’d even stepped away from it, the cake fell, and is now a pile of chunks on a plate.
Don’t worry; I’m sure it will still be edible. And I try to always make cakes that will be just as good w/o frosting; in fact, I favor bundt cakes, which never get more than a glaze. Frosting is usually where most of the fat is, and I wasn’t sure I had enough powdered sugar anyway.
But…what went wrong? It sounded so outlandish, but that’s what the instructions said to do, so I assumed there was something going on that would prevent what common sense told me would (and did) happen. I’m sure I didn’t misinterpret the instructions. I scoured the recipe book for hints about bakeware and so forth, and they didn’t elaborate on the turn-upside-down-over-the-neck-of-a-glass-bottle method. FTR, it was a nonstick pan. So what should I do next time? Just let it cool in the pan right side up? Or decant it immediately, or what?
My guess is that the idea was that you should remove the cake from the pan immediately and the business with the bottle was supposed to help. With a non-stick tin, just putting a wire rack on the cake and inverting should be fine.
I remember doing that when making angel-food cake as a kid – I assume to keep maximum airiness while the cake cools. I think the fact that it was a nonstick pan may have been the trouble – IIRC, you don’t grease an angel-food cake pan.
Twickster is correct about not greasing an angel food cake pan BUT only when making certain types of cakes, e.g. angel food[DUH!] and chiffon. If you don’t invert them immediately, they will collapse for the reason stated. Were you making a butter or oil cake[chocolate, pound,carrot, etc,] You can certainly bake these in an AF pan, but it needs to be greased, and the bottom lined with parchment or waxed paper, for easy release. These cakes, and many others, are cooled on a rack in the same orientation they had in the oven. Their denser structure will keep them sitting pretty as they cool. I do a lot of baking, and I keep one AF pan that is never greased for any reason, that way there is no problem with the cakes that’ll go into, and be easily released from it. Sorry you had such a crumb-y experience.
Well, I followed the instructions that came with the cake pan as well. They told me that on the first use only, I should lightly grease the pan with shortening, and then I’d never have to grease it again. So I did that. Won’t do it next time because I’m not supposed to have to.
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Okay, but I’m supposed to invert it for one second and then turn it right side up again, right?
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Chocolate.
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I have parchment paper. But I won’t have to grease this pan 'cause it’s non-stick, right?
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In or out of the pan? (Yes, I know these questions may seem like no-brainers, but humor me.)
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Well, it’s still edible. And I’m going to try it again!
Thank you all for the responses! Should have started a thread before I baked…
Hmmmmm… I never heard of inverting the pan except for, as quiltguy said, chiffon or angelfood. (Oil will break down the foamy batter)
On a tangent, the bottle is so that air can circulate below. That’s why many times you’ll see AF cake pans either with support flanges or a tube higher than the sides. No bottle needed then.
Rilchiam – I think the point is that since you weren’t doing angel-food or chiffon, you didn’t need to invert the pan. I sometimes will make a chocolate or other “normal” cake in a bundt pan, and you treat it normally coming out of the oven – let it cool for five or ten minutes on the rack, in the pan, with the same orientation as it had in the oven (curved [bottom] side of the pan down, open [cake] side up). Then loosen the cake with a knife and invert it (flat side down, curved side up) on the rack, removing the pan, to finish cooling. You can then slide the cake in the same orientation (flat side down, curved side up) to a plate for frosting or whatever embellishing you might want to do.
To Rilchiam: If you’re making a butter/oil cake, always grease and flour the pan, no matter what kind it is, even if it says it’s a non-stick one. If it’s an angel food pan, AKA a tube pan, or a Turk’s Head pan[don’t know why] line the bottom with a ringshaped piece of cooking parchment or waxed paper. Grease the bottom of the pan, put the paper in place, grease the paper and the sides of the pan, then scatter a spoonful of flour in it and rotate the pan to evenly coat all the surfaces, tube included.Tap out to remove excess flour. The ONLY types of cake you invert are angel food and chiffon. Leave it in that position til it’s cold. Then run a thin-bladed knife between the pan sides and cake to loosen it. Lift it out of the pan by the tube, then use the knife to loosen the pan bottom from the cake. Thus endeth the lesson.