First Victoria sponge was a disaster

[Stephen Booth]

Your very well set up for a beginner @ShuBunny

 

[ShuBunny]

you should look at Cahoot's progress.
the forum's search is a pretty powerful tool. I'm impressed with a good no of relevant posts from keyword searches.

 

[Stephen Booth]

I’ll have a look @ShuBunny

 

[ShuBunny]

The Marks and Sparks was selling Victoria sponge premix for £0.8. Clearance.

So well, I just had to.

This is in no way an ideal! But I thought it might be interesting to see the difference between the pans.

1 & 2 are the same unbranded anodised aluminium. 3rd: Parrish magic line. 4th: Nordic ware. All filled with equal amounts of batter weigh out.
No baking strips. I rotated the pans in my oven at half time.
3rd & 4th took 2-3 mins longer to cook.

I also forgot to knock the pans. Seems to have too many bubbles.

Not sure if the presence of more bubbles for 3rd and 4th is due to the slower heating action of the pans.

 

[Stephen Booth]

@ShuBunny
The 3rd and 4th cakes look decent

 

[ShuBunny]

Happily snacking on no 2 now.
Saving the nicer ones to giveaway tomorrow morning.

Since you are on your Victoria sponge holy grail. Here’s a great thread. Just chanced upon it.

Victoria Sponge Sandwich

Made one today, second time I've made one. First one I made a few months ago was delicious but this one is off the scale yummy! :) I've come to realise, from various baking videos, how important it is to gently fold in flour and not push out the air, because my sponge is super light and airy...

www.baking-forums.com

 

[ShuBunny]

Silly me... I’m sure you can see the similar threads when you scroll down

 

[Stephen Booth]

Ive just read the link,hes doing good,I’m not trying anymore until I’ve had my cooker checked at the end of the month,to be honest I’ve not trolled through the forum a lot yet,I’ll delve deeper when my cookers checked and my new tins get here

 

[ShuBunny]

Can’t wait to see them!

 

[Stephen Booth]

@ShuBunny

well they can’t be any worse than my first effort

 

[Norcalbaker59]

Thankyou so much for your help,which of these do you rate best

The Chicago Metallic uncoated would always be my first choice. The solid seamless Fat Daddio would be the second choice, the third pan is actually for cheesecake so I wouldn’t recommend you get that one at all.

 

[Stephen Booth]

Thankyou for the reply,That’s the tin that I’ve ordered,I’ve ordered 2 of them today.
many thanks.

 

[Norcalbaker59]

Also what is the purple material around your tin in your picture?does that stop the sides from burning

yes those are Wilton cloth baking strips. Do you soak them in water, squeeze out the excess water, then wrap them around the cake tin. Water boils at 212°F (100°C) at sea level. And then turns to steam and evaporates. water can never reach temperatures above 212°F (100°C). So it provides a barrier around the cake tin, regulating the temperature.

The cake batter in contact with the pan will bake first. When that batter bakes it will set. If that batter bakes too fast, The sides will set but the center will continue to rise. So the cake will be domed. When it is too hot, you’ll have severe doming, it’s like a volcano. Our friend @ShuBunny’s chocolate cake with the huge dome and cracking is an example.

when cheesecake is baked in a Bain Marie (water bath) the same principle is used. Water does not exceed 212°F (100°C), at sea level.

any cake strip made of oven proof fabric that you can submerged in water will work. And I emphasize oven proof baking strips that are purchased because some people suggest taking rags and making cake strips. I don’t recommend that because you don’t know if the fabric will melt in the oven, what kind of chemicals are on the fabric, that could become toxic when heated, and you don’t know if the fabric is flammable. So I don’t recommend using rags in the house.

You can make baking strips using wet paper towels wrapped aluminum foil.

 

[Stephen Booth]

Many thanks for your advice on cake strips I’m going to order some Wilton ones tomorrow

 

[ShuBunny]

when cheesecake is baked in a Bain Marie (water bath) the same principle is used. Water does not exceed 212°F (100°C), at sea level.

Instead of using baking strips for 4” pans, should I have placed them into a 9x13 pan filled with water to mitigate the doming? For normal cake batters, not cheesecake. Or does that throw everything out of whack?

Thank you

 

[Norcalbaker59]

Instead of using baking strips for 4” pans, should I have placed them into a 9x13 pan filled with water to mitigate the doming? For normal cake batters, not cheesecake. Or does that throw everything out of whack?

Thank you

@ShuBunny
No not for a cake, there is too much steam for cake. You want to insulate the cake pan but you don’t want the additional steam. That’s why you use the cloth strip.

with your cakes you you ran into problems because you used extremely deep pans, do you have a lot of volume; your pans were very small in diameter, so a significant amount of batter around the sides and bottom baked and set very quickly; but because the pans were very deep a significant amount of batter in the center was still raw, and all that active chemical leavening forced it up through the center. You probably filled them pretty full as well.

When you bake in a deep pan you want a larger diameter, use a heating core, a baking strip, and reduce your oven temperature. This will ensure a more evenly baked cake. And you won’t have an over baked dried out cake.


If you need small cakes (4”), it is best to bake a sheet cake in a jelly roll pan then use a circle cutter to cut the layers.

When you bake a custard like a cheesecake, flan, mousse, soufflé, and terrines use a Bain Marie.

 

[ShuBunny]

Ah! Thanks @Norcalbaker59 for the pics of the rings. That’s clearcut.

And thanks for pointing out when to use a Bain marie. Baking custards sound a little too advance at the moment.

I’m gonna stop fighting my urge to bake in a 4’’ pan and go with sheet pan baking.

 

[Norcalbaker59]

The Marks and Sparks was selling Victoria sponge premix for £0.8. Clearance.

So well, I just had to.

This is in no way an ideal! But I thought it might be interesting to see the difference between the pans.

1 & 2 are the same unbranded anodised aluminium. 3rd: Parrish magic line. 4th: Nordic ware. All filled with equal amounts of batter weigh out.
No baking strips. I rotated the pans in my oven at half time.
3rd & 4th took 2-3 mins longer to cook.

I also forgot to knock the pans. Seems to have too many bubbles.

Not sure if the presence of more bubbles for 3rd and 4th is due to the slower heating action of the pans.

View attachment 3820

View attachment 3821

The air holes is called tunneling. I have a lot of conversations off line. I was just explaining the cause of of tunneling to someone to had a lot tunneling in their cakes.

Over mixed batter: this is the number one cause of tunneling; batter is mixed too long and/or too high a speed—many bakers don’t pay attention to mixer speed and don’t set a timer. I always set a timer. My timer actually has a stopwatch function on it. so when I mix my batters I use the stopwatch function so I can see the lapsed time that I am beating the batter.


Too much leavening: this is the second most common cause of tunneling; ratio of baking powder/soda is too high.


Not sifting dry ingredients: leavening must be sifted in to evenly dispersed into the flour. Young bakers think sifting is old school and a waste of time. That leavening needs to be properly disbursed throughout the flour. SIFT. Back in the day we were taught to sift three times. That is a habit I still practice to this day.


Finished Batter Temperature too high AND batter Over-mixed: batter temperature after mixing should NOT exceed 68°F-72°F (20°C-22°C); home bakers are not even aware of the standards for finished doughs and batter temperatures.


Note: The temperature range listed here are for commercial cake mixes; culinary schools teach 68°F (20°C) as the finished batter temperature for cakes mixed from scratch. To achieve a finished batter temperature of 68°F (20°C) butter is creamed at 65°F (18°C).



Less common causes of tunneling:


Insufficient Sugar: sugar inhibits gluten development; too little sugar in the formula will allow for too much gluten to development in the batter during normal mixing.; that in turn will allow tunneling to occur during baking.


Too much liquid: too much liquid in the batter allows the batter to develop (CO2 activity, starch gelatinization, protein denaturation) to quickly in the early stages of baking, and tunneling occurs

Batter curdled: did not create an emulsion

Add eggs and liquid gradually.


Eggs too cold and butter too warm: the significant difference in temperature between the eggs and the butter resulted in a failure of the water and fat in the eggs and butter to emulsified



Flour too strong: protein level in the flour was too high, and the batter was mixed too long



Hydration too low: formula does not contain enough liquid

 

[ShuBunny]

Wow!!!
Thanks @Norcalbaker59
I’m gonna re-read this carefully. ))

 

[Norcalbaker59]

Wow!!!
Thanks @Norcalbaker59
I’m gonna re-read this carefully. ))

I had a few people ask me about different types of cakes; so I’m writing up a brief description of cake categories (like what’s the difference between a sponge and jaconde). so I’ll post that in the next day or so.