Cake coaching
Temperature
Before you even line a cake tin, get your ingredients
to optimal baking temperature (approximately
20°C/70°F). Cold ingredients can make batters
look curdled and will mean the baking has a
sluggish start.

De-chill dairy or flour with a brief microwave zap
or by placing in a warm spot. Submerge uncracked
cold eggs in hot tap water for 5 minutes.

Shorten the room-temperature time in warm
kitchens, as melty butter means slumpy batter.

Follow any specific ingredient temperatures.

If no temperature is listed, then it doesn’t matter
what temperature they start at (this usually
applies when you are going to melt or heat
that item later).

Cake flour facts
Choose soft or low-gluten plain (all-purpose)
flour – around 8–9 per cent gluten for a tender
crumb. Gluten is listed on the nutritional panel
as protein. If protein is 8.5 g (¼ oz) per 100 g
(3½ oz), the gluten is 8.5 per cent. Low-gluten flour
is sometimes labelled for cakes and cookies, and
is the closest we have to ‘cake flour’ in Australia.

I prefer self-raising flour for some sponge cakes.

It seems to lift and soften the crumb better than
plain (all-purpose) flour and baking powder.

Tin liner notes
Paper-lining protocols differ for each cake – some
need tall-side support, some just cooking oil
spray, some flour. Follow the recipe notes and
always adhere the paper to the tin with cooking
oil spray to minimise fan-forced oven flappage.

Crème de la creaming
Never go above speed 8 (under high) to beat
butter and sugar bases. Speed 4 (below medium)
for a long time (around 8 minutes) will give your
cake the fluffiest head start. Don’t rush the egg
in – let the base adjust to each addition, coming
back to its fluffy self each time. Some creamed
bases with higher sugar in relation to the butter
won’t get as fluffy until the eggs start to be added.

You got the whites stuff
Please stress less about egg whites. No need to
‘sterilise’ your bowl with lemon juice or vinegar –
just make it clean and dry. A drop or two of yolk
will still give you a good foam (they’ll just take a
little longer to get there).

For denser aeration when you want to control
a cake top cracking like a hell mouth, whip the
whites and all the sugar together from the start.

For a puffy and strong meringue, be traditional
and gradually add the sugar in small increments
after achieving soft–medium peaks. For
in-between aeration, add the sugar in larger
increments after soft–medium peaks.

Whites part II
I use my ELF HAT testing method for whipped
whites. Press a fingertip into the foam/meringue,
pull it out and hold your finger erect. If the
meringue hat droops, you’ve got a soft peak.
If it holds horizontal, it’s firm. Whole-egg foams
will only peak soft–medium (because of the
yolk fat).