Yes. Batter bakes from the outside in. Batter in contact with the hot pan bakes first and sets. The batter in center remains raw. Depending on oven temperature and type of metal, the batter in contact with the metal will set too soon. The center continues to bake and rise. When the cake is finally baked, the sides are lower than the center of the cake. So sliced layers will not be of even thickness.Does it make any difference whether you bake cake batter for multiple layers in one high cake pan or use several cake pans that are shorter ?
Yes. Pastry chef Stella Park is a big fan of filling 3” pans. But domed tops and overbaked crusts will still occur if the metal pan is made of anodized, aluminum, coated in a dark or non-stick finish, and it baked at 350°F. So techniques to mitigate these issues will still need to be taken. Use of cloth baking strips and reducing oven temperature go a long way in baking a cake that does not form a hard dry crust, rises high and is level.If I already have high cake pans, can I fill them half way for a single layer and get the same result as from a shorter cake pan ?
Can you elaborate on issues of formula and mixing that she had and maybe go into how to troubleshoot different problems. Thanks.Yes. Pastry chef Stella Park is a big fan of filling 3” pans. But domed tops and overbaked crusts will still occur if the metal pan is made of anodized, aluminum, coated in a dark or non-stick finish, and it baked at 350°F. So techniques to mitigate these issues will still need to be taken. Use of cloth baking strips and reducing oven temperature go a long way in baking a cake that does not form a hard dry crust, rises high and is level.
This photo is from Serious Eats website. The cake was baked using Stella Parks method of filling a deep cake pan with less batter. The cake has a overbaked crust and a domed top. The dense crumb and bumpy and uneven color crust are more formula and mixing issues than pan and oven temperature.
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