Rose's Heavenly Cakes (90 page)

Nut Graters

If not using a food processor to grind nuts, a Mouli or Zyliss hand grater, with its finest drum, works well to grind nuts to an even and fine consistency.

Ovens

Beyond the essentials, there are many pieces of equipment that I value because they make baking more efficient and enjoyable. I didn't put ovens on my list of essentials because I consider them to be the very definition of baking. People are always asking me what my preference in ovens is, and it's getting harder to answer by the year because so many improvements are constantly taking place. However, there is some common wisdom that I can share:

It's often not safe to assume that the oven recommended by a friend will be exactly the same as one now being manufactured, even if it has the same model number.

When installing a new oven, make sure that the area where you place it is level, or your cakes won't be. Because ovens can lose their calibration, check them if it takes more or less than the recommended time to bake a cake. If a cake bakes too quickly, it will dome and crack. If it bakes too slowly, the texture will be coarse and the center may dip. Manufacturers recommend lowering the temperature 25°F/15°C when using the convection setting. I find that with countertop models, it works to use the same temperature, up to 400°F/200°C, as a conventional oven.

Cakes generally bake most evenly as close to the center of the oven as possible. This is usually accomplished by setting the oven rack in the lower third of the oven. The exception is for one-inch-high sheet pans, for which the rack should be in the middle position. Unless the oven has a turntable, turn the cake halfway around after three-quarters of the estimated baking time.

For proper air circulation, the sides of the cake pan should be no closer than one inch from the sides of the oven or from each other.

If you have an oven with sufficient internal height, set the racks just below and just above the middle position; two pans can be staggered so that one is not directly on top of the one on the rack below. About three-quarters into the estimated baking time, quickly reposition the cakes top to bottom and turn halfway around for even baking, but only if you are making a layer cake. A sponge cake will collapse if moved at this point. Baking more than one layer at a time will slightly increase the baking time.

Preheat the oven for a minimum of 20 minutes ahead of baking.

Silicone Glove Pot Holders

Silicone gloves work best for removing cakes safely from the oven and are especially effective when removing cakes from a water bath. Their ability to grip the sides of the pan makes them ideal for unmolding cakes from hot flutes tube pans.

Timers

Triple Timer Clock (item number 40053) is a fantastic and inexpensive timer from West Bend that you can find in housewares stores. Each of three channels times up to twenty-four hours and if, by chance, you don't hear the alert or don't turn it off, the timer starts counting the time that has elapsed since you should have (this timer is referred to as a count-up timer). I keep a little notepad by the timer so I can remember what I am timing on which channel. If you prefer a single-channel timer, the CDN little red digital timer has a persistently pleasant alert that, like a cell phone, can be turned to vibrate. The CDN Model TM25 is a stunning design and is digital (see
Equipment Sources
).

Cake Testers

The best wire cake testers have thin metal wires with loops at the end and make only a small hole in a cake when you use them to test for doneness. These can be found at Parrish Magic Line (see
Equipment Sources
). Wooden toothpicks are fine to use for some cakes as long as you remove the cake when just a few crumbs cling to them. I recommend them over the wire testers for a few recipes that require longer baking and where you do want the toothpick to come out clean to indicate doneness.

Whisks

I find three sizes of whisks particularly useful for baking: A small piano wire whisk, 10 inches long and 5 inches in circumference, with at least eight loops of fine wire, will reach into the corners of a saucepan, making it ideal for both preparing a smooth pastry cream and evenly mixing together dry ingredients. I recommend an enormous balloon whisk, 14½ inches in circumference (see JB Prince, in
Equipment Sources
), in place of a spatula, for folding one mixture into another. And, a whisk with a long handle is good for stirring mixtures over hot water.

In France, pastry chefs use a whisk to make their own spun sugar device by cutting the loops of the whisk to form a kind of metal whisk broom.

Bowls

An assortment of glass bowls, including Pyrex custard cups or dessert dishes, is ideal both for microwaving and storing. Glass bowls are microwavable, nonreactive, and don't retain odors. When calling for general sizes of bowls in the recipes, I use the following guidelines: A small bowl is about 4 cups (1 quart) capacity. A medium bowl is about 6 cups (1½ quarts) capacity. A large bowl is about 8 quarts capacity.

For melting chocolate, the Lékué silicone La Bomba bowl (see
Equipment Sources
) is the absolute best because it doesn't continue heating the chocolate after it is removed from the heat. It can be used both as a double boiler and directly in the microwave. And it collapses into a flat disk for convenient storage.

POURfect (see
Equipment Sources
) makes my favorite plastic bowls; they are beautifully designed to work when you are adding ingredients to a mixer bowl, even with the motor running, without danger of hitting the beater, spilling a single drop of liquid, or dropping a smidgen of flour. They remind me of large white birds in flight. The bowls come in a wide range of sizes and are exceptionally light and easy to lift. They even have a small "rocker" below the teardrop-shaped spout; it latches onto the bowl to keep it from slipping or falling into the mixer bowl. If the bowls stain, pour in a 25 percent concentration of liquid bleach. It will remove the stain immediately.

Leveling Knives

If you like to cut layer cakes in half horizontally (called torting), have a serrated blade longer than the diameter of the cake on hand. This is a difficult knife to find, but fortunately Parrish Magic Line (see
Equipment Sources
) carries the perfect one with a 14-inch deeply serrated blade. It also can be used to make wavy decorative lines on the surface of a frosted cake.

Cake-Cutting Knives

A knife with deep serrations, such as a tomato knife or bread knife, does the best job of cutting a cake without compressing it. For cheesecakes, a piece of dental floss held taut cuts through the cake like a laser as long as there is no crust on the sides. Alternatively, use a sharp thin blade dipped in hot water between each slice. Remove the slice by wiggling it slightly and pulling it out without lifting it upward.

Cardboard Rounds

Corrugated cardboard rounds (also referred to as cake circles) are invaluable for supporting cake layers. They are available in large quantities from paper supply houses such as Qualitá Paper and in small packages from cake decorating supply stores.

Cake Transfer Disk

Nordic Ware (see
Equipment Sources
) makes a handy nonstick 10-inch round disk with a handle, called a cake lifter, which is designed to help transfer cakes and cake layers.

Cake Bases

Sturdy cardboard serving boards covered with decorative foil are sturdy enough to support a tiered cake. They are available at cake decorating supply stores. You can also purchase the decorative foil in rolls if you prefer to cover your own wood base. A mirror at least 1/8 inch thick also serves as a strong and stunning cake base. In addition, Parrish Magic Line has scalloped gold and silver foil bases of many sizes. Qualitá Paper Products also has several different shapes and patterns (see
Equipment Sources
).

Brushes

Silicone brushes are ideal for brushing syrup onto cakes. They are easier to clean than any other type of brush and are practically indestructible. Because the brushes retain odors, reserve a separate one for sweet baking.

A small number 9 sable artist's paintbrush is the perfect implement for brushing glaze on berries or piping gel on buttercream (as for the candles on the
Chocolate Tomato Cake with Mystery Ganache
).

The softest possible makeup brush, reserved for this use, is ideal for restoring the shine to
Dark Chocolate Lacquer Glaze
.

Slotted Skimmer

A medium or large skimmer works well to fold flour into batters because the small holes provide just the right resistance to blend in the flour with minimal deflating of the batter. For ease of use, bend back the handle slightly to decrease the angle.

Plastic Wrap

If only I had known that the old-style Saran, known as "the original premium wrap," was going off the market and being replaced by a Saran that was no longer air- or aroma tight, I would have bought up as many cases as I had room to store, but now it's too late.

I discovered this sad news by e-mail when a desperate baker asked, "Now what do I use to store cakes airtight in the freezer?"

After canvassing all the local markets for the old-style Saran, with no luck, I tried every other wrap I could find. I knew, from working for Reynolds Metals Company many years ago, that wraps other than Saran had microscopic airholes that prevented produce from spoiling and were not intended for wrapping things airtight in the freezer. Stretch-Tite (see
Equipment Sources
) is currently the best plastic wrap available. It clings tightly to the bowl or whatever else I need to wrap, but it is not impermeable and therefore not suitable for freezing cakes. However, its manufacturer also produces a wrap designed for the freezer called Freeze-Tite. Not only is it significantly thicker, it is also wider (15 inches). The manufacturer assures me that it is almost as impermeable as the old-style Saran. Now I can stop mourning.

The company also makes an excellent dispenser for Stretch-Tite called the Wrapmaster 2500, and it is available on its Web site. I love it because I use plastic wrap all day long to cover ingredients I'm preparing. Without plastic wrap or a cover, chocolate syrups and other liquids would evaporate, brown sugar would harden, and egg yolks would crust over. Being able to "chomp" off the plastic wrap with one decisive downward punch on the Wrapmaster is a lot faster and easier than anything else I've found. I feel as though it's putting punctuation on the activity!

Storage Bags

Choose heavy-duty plastic freezer storage bags for storing cakes in the freezer. After you wrap a cake in plastic wrap, place it in the bag and expel as much air as possible before closing the bag. You can accomplish this best by inserting a small drinking straw in the opening of the bag and sucking out the air.

Saucepans

A small 1-quart and a medium 2-quart heavyweight saucepan with a nonstick lining, such as the Anolon professional or the more durable ceramic Titanium Scanpan 2001 professional nonstick cookware from Denmark are ideal for sugar syrups, cream sauces, and reducing liquids because very little of the liquid sticks to the pan. They are available at housewares stores.

The ½-quart (2 cups) Gourmet Standard stainless steel pan (see
Equipment Sources
) is the perfect little saucepan for smaller amounts of clarified butter, preserves, liquids, syrup, or caramel because its small size makes it easier to immerse a thermometer in to get an accurate reading.

Water Baths

Ice Water Bath

When a recipe says to cool the mixture to room temperature and you want to do this quickly, an ice water bath works well, providing the mixture is stirred to equalize the temperature.

To make an ice water bath:
Place about a quart of ice cubes in a large container and add enough cold water just to float them. Sprinkle a handful of coarse salt on top to lower the temperature (as if making ice cream). If the mixture to be cooled is in a glass bowl, which holds the temperature, and it should not be chilled beyond a specific point, as with mixtures containing gelatin, have ready some hot water to take the chill off the bowl when the mixture has reached the proper temperature. Setting the pan briefly on a marble or granite countertop and then on a wire rack (for air circulation) will further draw out the heat.

Hot Water Bath (Bain-Marie)

There are many times when you need to heat something very gently over indirect rather than direct heat.

If you do not own a double boiler, or if the double boiler is too small, use a saucepan or pot with an opening slightly smaller than the diameter of the mixing bowl. (The Lékué silicone bowl called La Bomba is ideal; see
Equipment Sources
.) Fill the saucepan with a few inches of hot or simmering water and place the bowl on top of the saucepan. In most cases you will not want the bottom of the bowl to touch the water. Stir or fold the mixture continuously while heating.

When using a hot water bath for baking custard-type cakes, such as cheesecakes, follow the recipe for preparing the pan and use very hot tap water (about 140°F/60°C).

To prevent water marks from staining the water-bath pan, add 1 teaspoon cream of tartar to the water.

If a cake is being baked in a pan with a removable bottom or a springform pan, instead of using aluminum foil to keep the pan watertight, it works perfectly to set the pan in a slightly larger silicone pan before placing it in the water bath.

Propane Torch

Using a miniature torch is the professional way to heat the sides of a cake pan for perfect unmolding. Heating with a hair dryer also works, but it is a little slower.

Cake Domes and Carriers

Glass domes are airtight and display cakes attractively while keeping them moist and fresh. Nordic Ware makes a Bundt-shape plastic container perfect for storing and transporting cakes baked in fluted tube pans. William Bounds Grainware (see
Equipment Sources
) makes an elegant large plastic cake plate with dome that measures 13½ inches by 6½ inches. Tupperware makes excellent soft plastic cake carriers, which they call Cake Takers, for larger cakes and for cupcakes (see
Equipment Sources
).