How do you avoid "cake domes"?

YOu know how cakes will rise in the middle so that they "dome"? How can you avoid this? I want to try a layer cake recipe and want to avoid this. (I haven't made a layer cake in years-- I mostly make pies, cheesecakes, tortes, etc.)

Thanks for any suggestions!

[Shimmer]

How strange, that I just read in a cookbook last night about this dilemna.

Judy Rosenberg (I THINK that's where I got it) suggests pulling the dough away from the center. Even this slight difference can help even out the tops.

When I took the Wilton cake decorating classes, we simply cut along the top with a serrated knife and put the cut sides toward the center, leaving a nice flat surface to work on, since it's actually the bottom. That was their recommended technic. And nobody is going to be able to tell if you do that!

Hope one of those helps.

~~Shimmer~~

Thank you so much! They both help-- and I like that one suggestion is preventitive and one is corrective, that was great.

Thanks again!

[LotusCakeStudio]

To prevent the domes, I do the following:

-bake the layers at 325* instead of the usual 350*

-as soon as they come out of the oven, gently press down on the cake to release the air using a towel (picked this up at another message board ).

-let the layers sit overnight before icing and allow gravity to do its task (picked this one up at school). I let the layers cool completely in the pans, then stick them on cardboard rounds and wrap in plastic wrap.

-for bigger cakes, use a heating core and baking strips (works GREAT!)

And if for some reason, it still has a dome, time to bust out the serrated blade and hack that thing off.

[angrychef]

Overmixing the batter and too hot of an oven will contribute to the cakes doming.

[thebighat]

You can also let the batter sit in the pans for 20 minutes before baking the layers. This gives the baking powder time to start making co2 and they will rise more evenly.

[isaac]

this is a very interesting topic indeed.


my two cent of knowledge:

when i worked for a chef back home before i went to culinary school, i would watch him make and decorate cakes. if he had a dome on top, he would just invert the hole cake onto a cake board so now the top is the bottom. it seemed to work all the time.

the second way, in which i just read in a wilton book, was to, after to cooled slightly out of the oven (in the pan still) take a thin piece of string.... like floss, and hold it tight on top of the pan and with a sawing motion, cut of the dome. seems like that would work too.

hope this helps

[LotusCakeStudio]

Bighat, I've tried letting the batter sit for a bit before baking, I've never noticed anything different. Hmmmm....

[momoreg]

Domes can occur if you mix your batter too long, or if your oven is too hot. You may also want to try adding more moisture to your batter (not eggs).

It can also help if you kind of wrap heavy-duty foil around the outside of the cake pan. Even though I've read that it doesn't make any difference, I always put the shiney side out. Apparently, this can prevent the outer edges of the cake (regardless of shape) from cooking and setting a bit more quickly than the central area.