1,504 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 cakes

Where we see that to put a cake in the oven, once the dough is finished and in its mould, there is no hurry and that the cold is your friend.

42 K 4.1/5 (31 reviews)

Keywords for this post:Baking Cakes Cooking Dough Cold

Last modified on: June 28^th 2019

For this post: Comment Follow Send to a friend

Baking cakes

When you are making a cake, which most likely contains butter (sweet of course...), a pound cake or a moist chocolate cake for example, chances are that as soon as the dough is done, you put it in the pan and bake it immediately.

pâte crue en moule

It's classic, everyone does it that way, 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!

So putting it in the oven right after you've finished kneading your dough is quite classic, but it's actually not a very good thing, for two reasons:

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 (grapes for example) they will go down the pan more easily. How to correct this? Put the dough in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
The gluten contained in the flour (if there is any in your recipe) under the effect of kneading has begun to structure and "stretch" the dough making it elastic, which is not interesting for a cake because it hinders the rise during cooking. How to correct this? Let the dough rest for at least 20-30 minutes.

You'll have understood, there's no need to rush: Knead your dough, put the bowl or the mixer bowl in the fridge for 30 minutes (it's often the occasion 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 batter 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

Cherry clafoutis, with or without pits?

When it comes to cherry clafoutis recipes, there's often a camp of those who argue that you absolutely have to leave the stones in because it tastes better, and the other camp (myself included) who prefer cherries without stones, which makes a much more pleasant clafoutis to eat. But is it true...
June 29^th 20255945

Should potatoes be washed twice?

Let's say you have to make a recipe that includes potatoes, let's say sliced, you'll most likely proceed as follows: Peel the potatoes, wash them, slice them, wash them again, pat them dry and add them to your recipe. But there's a "but": depending on the recipe, the second washing may be a bad...
May 19^th 20252,198 15

Grilled bacon is much better in the oven

Some recipes call for thin slices of bacon to be cooked and added to the recipe, or to prepare one of those delicious breakfasts known as "à l'Anglaise".
April 25^th 20251,9945

The thermometer is your friend

There are many recipes or foods that require a (very) precise cooking temperature: foie gras, sugar for caramel, meats and fish, and not forgetting pastries. For these few examples, getting the cooking temperature wrong can spoil the whole recipe or dish: undercooked, it's no good or misses the...
April 10^th 20252,3275

Travel cakes

You may have come across the term "travel cakes" ("gateaux de voyage" in french) for certain pastries, so let's take a look at what they're all about.
January 27^th 20253,794

See all posts Random post RSS feeds

Other pages you may also like

What happens to the bread when you make it?

This bread that we eat every day, and that our baker makes for us, what happens during its manufacture so that it becomes bread? I will try to answer this question, and to summarize the complex alchemy that takes place.
May 28^th 202112 K4.9

Drawing a pattern in pastry

Often in the kitchen, in pastry-making, or in baking, we need to trace a pattern on a pastry. It's just a question of aesthetics but it has its effect after baking on a galette, pithiviers, pâté en croute (terrine in a pie crust), etc.
May 23^th 201931 K4.1

Chive flowers

Did you know that? Chive flowers are not only a beautiful purple color, but they are also edible and delicious.
May 29^th 201945 K4.4

What is the difference between bakery and patisserie?

This is a question that you may well have asked yourself and which I will attempt to answer. In France the two trades of "boulangerie" (bakery) and "pâtisserie" (patisserie and confectionery) have always been quite distinct, but where exactly do the boundaries lie? .
February 7^th 2017129 K 14.1

The golden-brown finish on puff pastry

Let's take a look at the tricky matter of producing puff pastry with an attractive, golden-brown finish. French pastry chefs call this "dorure" (literally, "gilding"). Behind this quirky term there lurks a real problem (and the solution): when using puff pastry (pâte feuilletée) for a pie, or...
February 8^th 201844 K 24.6