11 Things We Learned About Cakes From Samantha Seneviratne

Cooking 101: cakes. I like aluminum pans for cake baking. They heat up quickly, they don’t retain a lot of heat and they cook pretty evenly. Don’t reduce the sugar because that is going to affect the moisture in your cake, not only the sweetness. Oil is great for cakes. It keeps them really tender. It also extends the shelf life. Butter is great for cakes because it tastes really good. This one uses cake flour. Cake flour is more finely milled, usually made from a softer wheat. Because it’s so finely milled, it gelatinizes at a lower point. Your cake is going to set a little faster, which means that it will hold things in suspension better. It leads to a cake that’s a little lighter and a little finer. I mostly hold the spatula. It’s what you do when you’re frosting too. Move the pan, not the spatula, for the most part. Sometimes I like to just like, take the smoosh off and then inspect it on my finger. You can have a better look at it. And I would say those are moist crumbs. So I’m going to say this: They’re done. You can absolutely make cakes in advance, which is essential for party planning. Chill them completely. Wrap them individually with plastic wrap — really well. And then I like to freeze them. I think freezing is the best way to just lock the baked good in. When you’re ready to frost them, you can take them out and let them thaw at room temperature. Pieces of paper underneath so we can slip them out and keep our plate relatively clean. And I always leave a little bit of a border, because I think once you add the other layers, it squishes out anyway. This is my favorite thing to do because it takes two seconds and you don’t have to dirty any more tools. Never be scared of cake. Cake is only fun and joy, so have a good time and make more cake.