Baking

Baking
How would I modify your cakes for sea level altitude?

You shouldn’t need to. I use all my cake recipes on high altitude and near sea level when I’m home visiting family.

Baking
How do I get my cakes to bake flat?

It’s important to use room temperature wet ingredients. When your eggs and buttermilk are room temperature, they will better blend with the other ingredients and will be better absorbed by the dry ingredients. This all helps for your cakes to rise more evenly. Good cake pans also help. I use Fat Daddio pans. Additionally, you can use aluminum bake even strips or place a baking stone on the rack below your cakes (which helps push the air up and around the cakes like a convection oven).

Baking
What temperature do you bake your cakes at?

I typically always bake my cakes at 350 degrees F, unless otherwise specified in a recipe.

Baking
How do I tell when the cake is done baking?

The most important piece of advice I can give you is to know your oven! Get an oven thermometer and make sure the internal oven temperature is accurate. Then, as the baking time is nearly over, keep an eye on your cakes. I look to make sure the top of the cake isn’t shiny anymore, that the sides of the cake have just barely pulled away from the pan, and a few moist crumbs come out on the toothpick. Remember it still cooks in the pan as it cools. Your cakes will taste dry if you over bake them even just a few minutes.