Cake Baking Temperature and Time | Crafty Baking | Formerly Baking911 | CraftyBaking | Formerly Baking911

Cake Baking Tips

Our cake baking tips are here for you to browse so you can get you started on the right track. You do not have to memorize this list because with our recipes, we give ample and detailed, step-by-step information with color photographs, specifying everything you need to know as you bake. In addition, you can ask us questions on our Forum, and get professional answers with each and every recipe before, during and after trying our recipes! We know our recipes best because we develop and test them ourselves! You can read other members’ questions and comments, too, and ask for their input, as well.

The CraftyBaking.com’s Cake Baking Tips for Success:
TIP #1: Read through the entire recipe several times. Review important cake making techniques such as important mixing methods, for example, creaming or beating whole eggs, whites or yolks. Check out out helpful How Baking Works Section, as well as our numerous How To Tips and Techniques A to Z. Be aware of any High Altitude adjustments you should be making to your recipe.
SARAH SAYS: A great way to start learning how to bake a cake is from a boxed mix from any brand.

TIP #2: Use excellent and reliable baking equipment, but you need not go overboard. Check to see how your layer cake pans will fit on an oven rack. Some layer cake recipes use 3 round baking pans. In the cold oven, make sure you can stagger the pans on the upper third and lower third rack. There should be 1 inch between each pan, and between the pans and the sides of the oven. The oven door should close completely.

TIP #3: Use the pan size and type called for in the recipe, and substitute it only if necessary; all influence the appearance, texture and success of the baked cake. Pan characteristics affect cake quality, too, so it is important to select the best cake pan for the job. Dull, smooth-surfaced and heavy gauge pans are the best for baking cakes because they absorb heat more readily. This bakes the cake more quickly, resulting in a larger volume, a finer grain and a more velvety texture. On the other hand, shiny surfaces reflect the heat, causing the cake to take longer to bake, resulting in a coarser grain and lower volume.

When using glass or dark pans, reduce the oven heat by 25 degrees F (14 degrees C), because they lead to shrunken corners and crusty edge from overcooking and cause the exterior crust to brown readily, not desirable for cakes.

Types of pans used for cake baking: Layer cake pans, layer cake pans set in water baths (surrounded by water), fluted tube pans, angel food pans, sheet pans, jelly roll pans, muffin pans and Madeleine or other decorative-shaped mini pans.

Check our pan substitution chart if you don’t have the right size.

TIP #4: Use the best and freshest ingredients you can afford; substitute them only when necessary. National brands are very reliable. Carefully wash and dry any fruit or vegetables in advance. Smell your flour and any ingredients right before you bake to make sure they are still fresh. Store them properly.

TIP #5: Preheat the oven for a minimum of 20 to 30 minutes before baking and prepare the baking pans. Cake pans are prepared prior to mixing the batter. For shortened (butter or oil) cakes, the pans are typically greased.
For unshortened (foam) cakes, the pans are not necessarily greased all over or greased at all. Make sure you follow the recipe’s instructions carefully.

Cakes typically bake between 325 to 450 degrees F (see chart with Tip #9). Most convection ovens require lowering the temperature by 25 to 50 degrees F, as well as turning off the fan. Use the correct oven temperature by checking with two oven thermometers (placed on both sides) and bake as close to the center of the oven as possible for proper air circulation. Crumb formation is dependent on the degree of rising when the cake is first placed in the oven, and rapid heat absorption plays a role.

The pans should not be allowed to touch each other or the sides of the oven or be placed directly above or below one another; leave at least an inch between each pan and the sides of the oven. If you do not have space to place them on one oven shelf, stagger the pans on two shelves placed on the lower and upper thirds of the ovens.

TIP #6: Pre-measure all ingredients (called mise en place). Weighing ingredients for some is faster and easier, but measuring by volume, with measuring cups and spoon in a home setting will achieve excellent results, too. For all of our recipes, if measuring dry ingredients, use a dry measuring cup with an unbroken rim. Spoon the ingredient and allow it to mound over the top and use a flat blade or metal spatula to run across the rim to sweep off the excess. Do not tap or shake the cup to avoid packing in excess ingredient that could result in a dry heavy cake. Use a liquid measuring cup with a spout for liquids and take the reading at eye level. The bottom of the meniscus (clear bubble at the top of the liquid) should be read at the line marking on the cup.

TIP #7: Different mixing methods produce different types of cakes. Follow all the mixing steps in order, and be aware of ingredient temperatures, below. Do not delay in between. Take care not to under- or over-mix. Mix the batter starting on low speed and gradually increase the speed to the designated number or description such as medium, or medium high. When using a stand mixer, make sure you are using the proper attachment, and at frequent intervals turn off the mixer and then scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Be sure to reach to the bottom and sides of the bowl, and scrape the mixer attachment, too.

INGREDIENT TEMPERATURES:
Ingredient temperatures are important in a recipe. Most recipes specify using room temperature butter and eggs. and other perishable ingredients, such as milk. SARAH SAYS: But, that is not really necessary any more when using today’s stand mixers. At CraftyBaking.com, I have found, through extensive testing, that you can use them COLD right from the refrigerator; no more waiting for ingredients to come to room temperature. I have added this special innovation to my cake cake recipes, making it faster, easier, more foolproof to make cakes.

SHORTENED CAKES: My research through scientific cake journals shows that the temperature of finished butter cake batter, whether its a yellow or white, Devil’s Food or pound cake, should be around 68 to 72 degrees F. It is very important because its end temperature affects the viscosity of the batter which in turn affects both the stability of the batter and its ability to incorporate air throughout the mixing process.
Healthy Oven Carrot-Pineapple Layer Cake Recipe
I have found that cake batters will reach the proper 68 to 72 degree F end mixing temperature when using cold ingredients. Instead, when using room temperature ingredients, and then mixing with a stand mixer, the finished batter temperature can often be around 75 degrees F or higher, which is considered too warm to ensure a successfully aerated baked cake. Cakes will tend to be flatter and dense, as a result.

SHORTENED (BUTTER) CAKES: Through my extensive research, I have found that there are a type of recipes called “ice water” cake recipes, where ice water or milk is used instead of room temperature ingredients, resulting in very tender cakes. Upon adding water to a recipe, it hydrates the starch particles, the dough is initially formed, and it begins to hydrate the gluten proteins in wheat flour, where gluten is formed when it is subsequently mixed. The reason that ice water or milk will result in tender cakes is that it is a known fact that cold temperatures will help to inhibit gluten formation in recipes.

UNSHORTENED (FOAM) CAKES: Typical recipes will specify “whip the egg whites” or “beat the yolks.” These cakes rely upon eggs and/or yolks for their leavening. I have found through extensive testing that you can start with cold eggs right from the refrigerator. Its because they will quickly warm from the friction produced from the beaters, and will achieve their proper volume. It’s really the age of the eggs (the fresher the better) that determines how well an egg will hold air, not their initial temperature when using today’s stand mixers.

TIP #8: Quickly place the batter into the prepared pans. Gently and quickly smooth the top of the batter with an offset or rubber spatula; do not press down when doing so. Unless otherwise specified, the pan should be filled no less than half and no more than two-thirds full, and sometimes 3/4s. The batter in tube pans is an exception as it is usually about 1-inch from the top, as are cheesecakes.

TIP #9: Bake your cake immediately after filling your pans.
USEFUL CHARTS – BAKING TIMES AND BATTER AMOUNTS

If the batter is allowed to sit too long after mixing, carbon dioxide and air will escape, leading to poor volume and increasing the coarseness of the cake. The pans should not be allowed to touch each other or the sides of the oven or directly above or below one another.

The optimum baking conditions for cakes are determined by such factors and the richness or leanness of the cake recipe, the flow and density of the cake batter, pan size etc. Cakes which are larger in size and / or are richer in formulation generally are baked at lower oven temperatures for longer periods of time when compared with leaner formulations and/or smaller size cakes.
SARAH SAYS: Know your oven; some bake faster or slower than others. However, it could be because of the type of pans you are using (shiny pans reflect heat; dark pan retain heat); oven shelf placement (too high or too low); age and how well your oven holds and circulates heat (oven too crowded or not vented); improper aeration of your cakes (not creamed or emulsified enough, too much or too little folding); cake batter too dense, (too much flour from mismeasuring).

OPTIMAL CAKE BAKING TIMES & TEMPERATURES: The ranges of optimal baking times and temperatures for each cake variety provide the needed margins, however there are always exceptions and variables. It is ALWAYS important to follow the recipe’s instructions, though, and not use this chart for guidance; the chart is strictly for educational purposes.

TIP #10: Do not open the oven door for at least 20 to 30 minutes into cake baking; heat plays several important role during cake baking, and when the oven door is opened, it loses about 50 degrees F, and more. When this happens, the cake can dip in the middle and never recover. Check for doneness at beginning of the baking doneness time range – during the last 5 to 7 minutes of baking, and done as infrequently as possible. DON’T pull the cake out of the oven, by pulling out the oven shelf or removing it to test because if it hasn’t set, it will collapse in on itself and you can’t save it from there. Open the oven door very slightly, leave the cake where it is and test for doneness. Be careful not to burn yourself while you do.

SARAH SAYS: SHORTENED CAKES ~ CraftyBaking.com’s test for doneness: If you insert a WOODEN skewer or toothpick in the middle and remove, there should be a few moist crumbs attached, but not batter. A metal cake pick or plastic toothpick will slide in and out of the cake and crumbs will not stick to it as readily, but will stick to a WOODEN skewer or toothpick, my preference!
In addition, when cakes are nearing doneness, they start to “wrinkle” at the pan edges. They should be removed before a gap forms between the cake and the pan. Another way to test for doneness is to touch the top of the cake lightly with a fingertip. You will hear a few air bubbles popping and it should spring back a little bit, indicating the cake is done. But, the skewer / toothpick test is the most reliable.

UNSHORTENED CAKES: The unshortened cake is baked when its surface is lightly browned and springs back when touched or feels firm. Using a toothpick to test for doneness does not work. Some will sound when tapped on the side of the pan with the handle of a wooden spoon.

TIP #11: Cool cakes properly. Shortened cakes – should remain 10 minutes in their pans, and then unmolded and optionally, turned upright to the wire cake rack. Unshortened cakes – Sponge cake: unmolded immediately; angel food and chiffon cake: suspended upside down until cool; cakes in rectangular or square pans, jelly roll/sheet and springform pans: many remain in their pans to cool completely. The warm interior of a cake needs a chance to become firm, so any drastic movements jeopardizes its structure. The cake rack allows even air circulation to prevent condensation and sogginess. A spatula or thin knife can be inserted and moved around the edges of the pan to loosen the cake before unmolding it to the cake rack.

SARAH SAYS: If you have trouble removing a stubborn cake from a pan and it starts to crack, don’t force it. It’s more than likely still too hot to remove. Let the cake cool a few more minutes more and try again. However, it can also mean you left it too long in its pan and the sugar has cooled and stuck to the pan (place the pan in warm / hot water to melt the sugar, and try, again), or did not prepare the pan properly. Unfortunately, sometimes you will have to get it out as best you can.

TIP #12: Finish the cake or eat as is.
Options for finishing a cake are numerous, such as filling, crumb coating, frosting and decorating. Some varieties, such as pound cakes and Bundt, a quick glaze is all they need before serving. Crumb and coffee cakes are finished already when they come out of the oven, and sometimes all they need are a simple glaze, a dusting of powdered sugar or cocoa powder. Fruit compote makes a perfect pairing with a freshly baked Angel Food Cake.
USEFUL CHARTS:

To cut layer cakes: use a sharp, long, thin knife; pound cakes: use a thin serrated knife. To prevent pressing down and crushing angel food and chiffon cakes, cut in a gentle sawing motion with sharp, thin serrated knife or electric knife. If the frosting sticks to knife, dip the knife in hot water and wipe with a damp paper towel after cutting each slice.
USEFUL CHARTS – CAKE SERVING SIZES:

TIP #13: Properly store cakes. Food Safety and Storage Charts. Know what is perishable and what is not. Be aware of food safety information so no one gets ill.
SARAH SAYS: With every recipe, we have done ample research in advance and we advise you the best way to store your unfrosted and frosted recipes. Food safety is always at the top of our list!