Shion’s 14 Cake Tips

Inspired by my friend Allison’s friend’s homemade cake (granted, she’s a professional chef) I decided to try my hand at one of my own. I’ve never made a cake from scratch before so this task was rather daunting despite everyone saying it’s quite easy.

So I went back to my tried-and-true Better Homes and Gardens dessert cookbook and found a three-layer truffle cake just waiting to be baked. I kid you not, I studied this recipe every morning for 3 days just to make sure I had all the ingredients, materials, and skills.

But as they say, “the best laid plans…”

This cake tasted great but I made a few rookie mistakes (and other ones I can’t quite identify) so instead of posting the recipe and a how-to online, I thought I would give you some cake tips! I promise, I’m going to try another less-complicated cake, and when I do, I’ll post it. In the meantime, if any of you have a delicious cake recipe, please send them my way!

I used a gift certificate to buy this fancy-shmancy Williams Sonoma non-stick cake pan – mostly because I don’t like the look of grey pans but also because I’ve had terrible experiences getting the cake out of the pan. You know what I’m talking about.

Even though I made sure to buy an over-priced non-stick cake pan, my paranoia prevailed so I went to my go-to baking/cooking guru, Erin, and she advised me to line the bottom of the cake pan with parchment paper.

So…

Cake Tip #1: Line your cake pan with parchment paper and then grease the pan. If you grease the edges first, the paper will stay down a little better because it acts as a sort of “glue”. I used the packaging as a template and used a pencil and scissors to make three perfectly shaped circles.

Cake Tip #2: When greasing your pan, use a piece of paper towel to smear the unsalted butter around. Make sure to really get the butter in the edges of the pan where the cake sticks the most.

Cake Tip #3: Line up all of your little chocolate squares cuz they are just so darn cute! Take picture.

Cake Tip #4: Use a wire whisk when stirring your melted chocolate so that it doesn’t form any lumps – being especially careful to scrape up the bottom so you don’t get any sludge forming.

Cake Tip #5: Invest in an electric mixer. Just kidding – you don’t have to. But if you did, it makes your baking life a little easier.

Cake Tip #6: Make sure to dole out your cake batter evenly over the three pans. I used a huge soup ladle and put one scoop in each pan until it was all gone.

Cake Tip #7: Make sure you have toothpicks to test the cake for doneness. Stabbing a huge wooden chopstick into the cake kind of ruins the look.

Cake Tip #8: Do not cool the cake on a plate. It gets all mushy and gross. Find another wire, breathable alternative.

Cake Tip #8.5: As pretty and perfect as it may look, do not get over-excited that the cake came out perfectly out of the pan and cradle the cake like a weirdo because it will split in half. Not that I did that…

Cake Tip #9: No matter how good this next image may look, remember that it’s actually just unsweetened chocolate and that it’s not worth you sticking your finger into the mixture and burning a line through your middle finger.

Cake Tip #10: When making the frosting for the inside of the cake, do NOT melt the butter (read: TURN OFF THE STOVE). It’s supposed to stay at room temp and melt just slightly.

Cake Tip #11: Sift your confectioners sugar, for God’s sake, because you’re going to get tiny pebbles of white powder in your frosting.

Cake Tip #12: Give Shion an easier, less complicated and time-consuming cake recipe. Preferable one with only two layers.

Cake Tip #13: Even though the outer layer may be ganache, resist the urge to refrigerate. It’ll get dry and hard.

Cake Tip #14: Never have only 13 tips, it’s unlucky.

Tags: Cake