You may have seen people listening to their cakes on the Great British Bake Off and wondered why?
Listening to my cakes was a wonderful tip I got from the amazing John Whaite on one of his baking classes and I went through a stage of doing it, but why? Testing to see if your cake is baked can be done in various ways by inserting a cake tester into the cake and checking to see if it comes out clean, by also pressing it with your finger to check the ‘spring’ and believe me I do both of these but to be doubly sure John Whaite said you can also listen to them.
So what am I listening for? I’m listening for nothing or silence as crazy as it sounds and I don’t want to hear bubbling or popping.
When my cake has baked for the designated time I will use a cake tester to see if it comes out clean, but I will also put my ear close to the baking tin, to see if I can hear the popping sounds.
I can’t deny I had stopped taking this advice but recently when I’ve been baking sponge cakes for upcoming classes I’ve had a few ‘naughty’ cakes, which was really annoying. And when I say ‘naughty’ I mean that I inserted the cake tester into the cake and it came out clean, I pressed the top of the cake and it sprung back just as it should, so I thought they were baked and I left them to cool down.
But some of the cakes had domed in the middle whilst baking and after they had cooled, I sliced off the dome to help get them level and really annoyingly a couple weren’t cooked in the middle.
You’d think I’d know better and on Friday when I was teaching a baking class I got one of the ladies to listen and she could hear the bubbles so we baked the cake for an extra few minutes and listened again and they had gone. So we knew we were safe and the cakes were definitely ready.
So my advice to avoid under baking your cake is:
Insert a cake tester into the cake in a few places and make sure no cake mixture is visible. If it is, bake for another few minutes and try again.
Press the top of the cake gently to see if it springs back, if it leaves an indent, its not ready.
Lean closely to listen to your cake (don’t get too close, I’ve been known to burn my ear!), if you hear bubbles or popping it needs a few minutes more of baking. If you can’t hear anything it’s ready!
Why not try it the next time you bake a cake and see if this method works for you.
Happy Baking, Love Caroline xxx
You may have seen people listening to their cakes on the Great British Bake Off and wondered why?
Listening to my cakes was a wonderful tip I got from the amazing John Whaite on one of his baking classes and I went through a stage of doing it, but why? Testing to see if your cake is baked can be done in various ways by inserting a cake tester into the cake and checking to see if it comes out clean, by also pressing it with your finger to check the ‘spring’ and believe me I do both of these but to be doubly sure John Whaite said you can also listen to them.
So what am I listening for? I’m listening for nothing or silence as crazy as it sounds and I don’t want to hear bubbling or popping.
When my cake has baked for the designated time I will use a cake tester to see if it comes out clean, but I will also put my ear close to the baking tin, to see if I can hear the popping sounds.
I can’t deny I had stopped taking this advice but recently when I’ve been baking sponge cakes for upcoming classes I’ve had a few ‘naughty’ cakes, which was really annoying. And when I say ‘naughty’ I mean that I inserted the cake tester into the cake and it came out clean, I pressed the top of the cake and it sprung back just as it should, so I thought they were baked and I left them to cool down.
But some of the cakes had domed in the middle whilst baking and after they had cooled, I sliced off the dome to help get them level and really annoyingly a couple weren’t cooked in the middle.
You’d think I’d know better and on Friday when I was teaching a baking class I got one of the ladies to listen and she could hear the bubbles so we baked the cake for an extra few minutes and listened again and they had gone. So we knew we were safe and the cakes were definitely ready.
So my advice to avoid under baking your cake is:
Insert a cake tester into the cake in a few places and make sure no cake mixture is visible. If it is, bake for another few minutes and try again.
Press the top of the cake gently to see if it springs back, if it leaves an indent, its not ready.
Lean closely to listen to your cake (don’t get too close, I’ve been known to burn my ear!), if you hear bubbles or popping it needs a few minutes more of baking. If you can’t hear anything it’s ready!
Why not try it the next time you bake a cake and see if this method works for you.
Happy Baking, Love Caroline xxx
