Unmoulding cakes while hot


Unmoulding cakes while hot
When you make a cake, pound cake or whatever (what bakers call a "travel cake" because it's easy to carry around) you've most likely made a batter, either by hand or in a food processor, which you then pour into a buttered pan.

It's a classic, and I've already talked to you about 2 or 3 tips on cold dough, or how to have a nice opening on the top etc.

That was all about the pre-bake period, but let's look at the post-bake period.
34 K 4.6/5 (25 reviews)
Grade this page:
Keywords for this post:BakingCookingCakeUnmouldingTips
Last modified on: February 6th 2021
For this post: Comment Follow Send to a friend
Unmoulding cakes while hot

First of all, the control of the baking process

First of all, the most important thing is the control of the baking process, let's be clear: a baking time indicated for a cake in a recipe is most of the time very approximate. This baking time depends on your oven, the temperature of the oven, the oven itself, the temperature of the batter, the type of pan etc. etc. The only thing missing is the age of the captain...

So the only good way to check if a cake is cooked properly is to stick a knife in the middle, if it comes out dry, the cake is cooked, and if not (trace of raw dough) it needs more time.
gâteau pas assez cuit
Not enough cooked
gâteau bien cuit
Enough cooked


The unmoulding

Imagine that it is well cooked => you turn off the oven, put on the gloves and take the mould out of the oven to put it on a surface that does not fear heat.
And then you wait for it to cool down.

Well no, that would be a mistake, if you do that, the cake will cool in its tin, and badly or rather unevenly, the tin acting as a heat preserver. Worse, it will form on the edges of the mold some kind of steam bubbles that will deform your cake, which gives this kind of defect:
gâteau déformé tranche
gâteau déformé dessus


Note that the defect will be accentuated with metal or glass molds, which conduct heat better, and a little mitigated with those made of silicone or paper.

What to do?

It's quite simple, you have to unmould your hot cake, very hot even, and put it immediately on a grid.
The easiest way to do this is :
- Once the mold is removed from the oven, wait 1 or 2 minutes that the cake begins to cool and shrink a little, it facilitates the removal
- Keep the gloves on, tip the pan with one hand, put your other hand underneath and shake lightly until the cake falls into your hand
- Turn it over and put it on a rack to cool down in a quiet place
- Bonus: Put the pan to soak right away, to make cleaning easier, and leave the oven door off so that it cools down faster (and the internal fan stops)

cake sur grille



It's all very simple, but this way your beautiful cake will cool down faster, and above all without warping.

In summary: You must remove a cake from the oven as soon as it is baked, otherwise it will warp.

Lasts posts
The little trap of thick cream
The little trap of thick cream
When you need to add cream to a recipe, you might be wondering: thick (heavy) cream or liquid cream? In most cases, there's no big difference: you can use either. But there is one exception, and that's when the cream needs to be cooked, for a sauce for example, and here the difference between...
December 13th 20248285
Sauce and salad: When and how to mix them?
Sauce and salad: When and how to mix them?
When dressing a salad, there's a kind of golden rule: add the dressing very shortly before serving, especially if your salad contains crunchy elements such as croutons or fresh vegetables, which will retain their crunchiness or crispiness. But, as is often the case in the kitchen, there are...
November 29th 20241,1045
No need to boil gelatin
No need to boil gelatin
Gelatin is a magical ingredient for making light, creamy, structured desserts, yet it's often misused in the kitchen. A common mistake in some recipes is the idea that it needs to be boiled for it to work properly, but this is a mistake indeed: gelatin melts at a much lower temperature, around...
November 21th 20241,2795
Your oven in "proofer" mode
Your oven in "proofer" mode
In the bakery, proofing is a crucial stage in the process of making light, plump breads and pastries. During proofing, the yeast ferments the sugars present in the dough, releasing carbon dioxide which forms bubbles. This process allows the dough to swell and aerate, guaranteeing a soft, light...
September 27th 20244,3385
The right size of zucchini
The right size of zucchini
When you buy zucchini at the market, you're often offered a wide variety of sizes, from very small to very large. But which ones to choose? Here are a few tips.
September 9th 20244,5265
Other pages you may also like
What is the difference between bakery and patisserie?
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 7th 2017124 K 14.1
Stand mixer tools
Stand mixer tools
Whether we call it a stand mixer, food processor, or simply refer to it by brand (Kenwood, KitchenAid, etc.), this machine is a valuable tool for amateur cooks, bakers or pastry chefs like ourselves. All these machines come supplied with 3 different tools. Let’s take a look at their names and...
November 2nd 201933 K4.5
The so-called "nervous" meats
The so-called "nervous" meats
You've probably heard this before, we're talking about "nervous" meat, or meat with nerves, to describe what is indicated by the blue arrow on the left. This is a piece of beef, and what we call a nerve is not a nerve, it is in fact collagen (chemists sometimes call it a "collagen sink"), a...
April 16th 202127 K4.5
Drawing a pattern in pastry
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 23th 201928 K4.1
Tranché, dissociated, failed, in short... missed!
Tranché, dissociated, failed, in short... missed!
When preparing a sauce or a cream, there's always a (small) risk that the creamy preparation you're working on will suddenly separate into two parts of different textures: a liquid part, for example, and a more or less solid part, or even become lumpy. It's terribly frustrating, but we'll see...
June 19th 20237,3395
Post a comment or question
Posted by:
I am not a leaving thing
Follow this page
If you are interested in this page, you can "follow" it, by entering your email address here. You will then receive a notification immediately each time the page is modified or a new comment is added. Please note that you will need to confirm this following.
I am not a leaving thing
Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.
Alternatively: you can subscribe to the mailing list of cooling-ez.com , you will receive a e-mail for each new recipe published on the site.

Back to top of page