Baked cakes that dip in the middle when cooled: here's an answer from a pro

[marilynfl]

I love Rose Levy Beranbaum. I love her methodology, her preciseness, her willingness to adapt & adjust when a better method comes along.
This month's free recipe is for a single layer yellow cake that is the basis for several of her desserts. But the key thing I want to note here is that at the very end of the recipe, she annotates that she recommends bleached cake flour (or bleached all purpose) and while one might think "no big deal...I'll use what I have" she actually produces a photo with measurements! that show how the exact same cake layer reacts when UNBLEACHED cake flour was used. It bakes flat, but then dips in the middle as it cools.

God, I love this woman.

Recipe of the Month — Real Baking with Rose

www.realbakingwithrose.com

 

[mariadnoca]

I love Rose Levy Beranbaum. I love her methodology, her preciseness, her willingness to adapt & adjust when a better method comes along.
This month's free recipe is for a single layer yellow cake that is the basis for several of her desserts. But the key thing I want to note here is that at the very end of the recipe, she annotates that she recommends bleached cake flour (or bleached all purpose) and while one might think "no big deal...I'll use what I have" she actually produces a photo with measurements! that show how the exact same cake layer reacts when UNBLEACHED cake flour was used. It bakes flat, but then dips in the middle as it cools.

God, I love this woman.

Recipe of the Month — Real Baking with Rose

www.realbakingwithrose.com

This is interesting! I’ve used unbleached for years and I use Helen‘s, Pastries like a Pro, tip to not get a dome in the center by not greasing the sides of the pan. Also I take my cakes out of the 10 minutes cooled pan and invert them onto the cooling rack which gives me a very even smooshed top surface. And then per a tip that I read years ago on Gail‘s, I pop my cake layers into the freezer for at least 30 minutes before icing to avoid crumbs.

 

[marilynfl]

This is interesting! I’ve used unbleached for years and I use Helen‘s, Pastries like a Pro, tip to not get a dome in the center by not greasing the sides of the pan. Also I take my cakes out of the 10 minutes cooled pan and invert them onto the cooling rack which gives me a very even smooshed top surface. And then per a tip that I read years ago on Gail‘s, I pop my cake layers into the freezer for at least 30 minutes before icing to avoid crumbs.

I deem thee Pro 2.0. Go forth and bake.

 

[mariadnoca]

Lol