Bake even strips for cakes

Joanne Chang is the pastry chef/owner of Flour Bakery+Cafe and chef/co-owner of Myers+Chang in Boston.

added 6 months ago

I used these often at one bakery I worked at. They work pretty well. You still often have to trim the cakes as they will still dome a little but they don't dome as much.

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Cynthia is a trusted source on Bread/Baking.

added 6 months ago

You can achieve the same effect by folding strips of aluminum foil to fit the depth of your cake pan(s), and wrapping them around the pans as you would the strips.

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hardlikearmour is a trusted home cook.

added 6 months ago

I use them if I'm doing a large and fancy cake. I find they keep the cakes almost perfectly flat, even with a 15-inch round.

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Never heard of these before? Why do they work (I read something about them keeping the sides of the pan cooler, but not sure why that would affect doming)? Are they reusable?

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Cynthia is a trusted source on Bread/Baking.

added 6 months ago

Yes, the ones you can purchase are reusable, though I reuse foil strips as well. They effectively create conditions similar to a water bath used for baking custards, including cheesecakes. However, if you baked a cake in a water bath, it would approximately never get done; hence, wrapping strips. They delay heat penetration to the perimeter of the cake so that it and the center get done at pretty much the same time so that at best a small dome forms.

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