1,562 easy and fully explained recipes, with +66K photos and 78 videos

This site uses only a few technical cookies necessary for its operation. By continuing to browse, you accept their use.
To find out more...

Baking a cake at the right time

When you make a cake, which most likely contains butter, a cake for example, chances are that as soon as the batter is finished, you put it in the pan and bake it immediately.

Classic, everyone does it like that, and then if, on top of that, you have a few kids around you who are getting impatient, and almost want it to be cooked before going in the oven, when they haven't eaten half of the raw dough before, the pressure is even stronger!

21 K 4.5/5 (24 reviews)

Keywords for this post:Baking Cake Cooking Advice Butter Cold

Last modified on: April 18^th 2020

For this post: Comment Follow Ask me a question Send to a friend

Baking a cake at the right time

gâteau pâte crue

So baking right after you finish kneading your dough is quite classic, but actually it's not a very good thing for two reasons:

1) The butter is often very soft, especially if the kneading was a bit long and heated the dough, which becomes very soft, and if there are additions in it (raisins for example) they will go to the bottom of the pan more easily. How to correct this? Put the dough in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

2) The gluten contained in the flour (if there is any in your recipe) under the effect of kneading has started to structure itself and "stretches" the dough making it elastic, which is not interesting for a cake because it hinders the rising during baking. How to correct this? Let the dough rest for at least 20-30 minutes.

You will have understood, no need to rush: Knead your dough, put the bowl or the mixer bowl in the fridge for 30 minutes (this is often the opportunity to do a little washing up...) then only then put it in the oven.

Another option, once the dough is kneaded, put it in a mould, then put the mould in the fridge for 30 minutes. Bake then and only then.

gâteau pâte cuite

To sum up: Before putting a cake in the oven, it is always best to leave it in the fridge for about 30 minutes, as your cake will rise better when baked. In baking, the cold is (almost always) your friend.

Lasts posts

A tablet holder

Perhaps you too cook by consulting your recipe on a tablet or phone, and putting it down on your worktop? It's practical, but not the best solution. Here's a look at how you can make an inexpensive, almost universal stand.
March 14^th 20265345

Pre-calibrated pastry dough

When making pie dough (shortbread, shortcrust, sweet...), it's always a good idea to make a lot at once, and then divide it into pieces, which you can freeze. I've already pointed out the mistake not to make, which is to form a ball before freezing. It's difficult to roll out afterwards because...
March 9^th 20268605

Butter vs. grease

We often read in a recipe where a pastry is put into a mould that, just before pouring, the mould should be buttered or greased. But what's the difference between these 2 terms?
December 1^st 20252,9495

Getting out of the fridge early

Very often when you're cooking, you need to take food or preparations out of the fridge, to use them in the recipe in progress. There's nothing tricky about this: you just take them out of the fridge and use them, usually immediately, in the recipe. But is this really a good method?
November 24^th 20251,9075

Who's making the croissants?

When you look at a bakery from the outside, you naturally think that in the bakery, the bakers make the bread, and in the laboratory, the pastry chefs make the cakes. It's very often like that, with each of these professions having quite different ways of working, but sometimes there's also one...
November 23^th 20251,735

See all posts Random post RSS feeds

Other pages you may also like

Kitchen ovens

You certainly have one in your kitchen, an oven, the essential tool for all kinds of cooking, whether in the kitchen of course, but also in pastry, bakery, pizza, and many others. Here is some information on its structure and operation.
May 16^th 202035 K4.4

Fried potatoes or fried mash?

In cooking there are a lot of dishes that appear to be extremely simple but which can actually prove to be very tricky. Amongst those that I'm aware of having this reputation are omelette and fried potatoes.
February 6^th 201125 K4.5

The 3 kinds of meringue

Meringue – what could be simpler? Just beaten egg whites with sugar added. This makes a fairly stiff mixture which can then be cooked in a cool oven to create those lovely, light confections. But in the world of professional patisserie, meringue comes in three different kinds. Even if the...
June 14^th 201366 K4.5

Circles vs. moulds tins

If you like to bake or make quiches, pies etc. you must surely have one or more pie pans at home, in different diameters and perhaps materials. They are indispensable, without them there is no way to make beautiful pies, and they work very well, but you have another option, instead of moulds,...
October 2^nd 202017 K5

Zester like a pro

Have you heard of the microplane? It's an extraordinary tool that allows you to grate very, very finely, and therefore zest with disconcerting ease. Here's some information about it.
December 25^th 20209,0294.9