by Emily Nolan
I don’t recommend freezing cake batter. The leavening used to make cakes rise may react differently after being defrosted, and the flavor of the cake will change.
Pies
Assemble the pie in a pie plate you don’t mind sacrificing to the freezer for a while. If this is a problem, you may want to purchase aluminum foil pie plates for freezing. The best pies to freeze are fresh fruit pies because the fruit filling and pie dough do not seem to sacrifice their quality in the freezer. You can’t freeze pies made with pudding, custard, meringue, or other creamy fillings.
Uncooked pies: To freeze an uncooked pie, prepare the pie as usual, except use 1 1/2 times the amount of cornstarch, tapioca, or flour in the filling (for example, if the recipe calls for 1 tablespoon, increase it to 1 1/2 tablespoons). Freeze the pie solid before wrapping it in plastic wrap and aluminum foil or an airtight container. Bake the unthawed pie for 15 minutes in a 425-degree oven, and then reduce the temperature to 375 degrees and continue baking for about 40 minutes more. If the pie has a top crust, be sure to poke air holes in that crust before baking.
Baked pies: Before freezing a baked pie, make sure that it’s completely cool. When you’re ready to serve it, thaw the pie for several hours at room temperature if you want to serve it cold. To serve the pie warm, place the frozen pie in a preheated 375-degree oven for about 30 minutes. Again, do not freeze baked pudding, custard, or meringue pies.
Pie pastry: Pie pastry made with shortening or butter freezes very well. You can freeze pie pastry in many different ways.
•You can just wrap the dough in an airtight container. Defrost the dough, roll it out, and use as instructed. Label whether it’s dough for an 8- or 9-inch pie.
•You can roll out the dough and place it on a greased baking sheet to freeze. After the dough is frozen, just wrap and label. Defrost and use as normal.
•You can press the piecrust into a pie plate and freeze it like that. You may want to use a disposable foil pie plate unless you don’t mind storing the pie plate in the freezer for a while. Freeze the crust on the pie plate until frozen solid, and then wrap tightly and seal in an airtight container or double-bag it in large sealable plastic bags. You can bake these shells without thawing them at 425 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes.
Avoiding freezer burn
Air left in containers dries out food during storage. That air can cause freezer burn and will draw additional moisture from the food, which forms those ice crystals that you find on the lids of many home-frozen items. Freezer burn also can happen if foods aren’t wrapped tightly enough.
When wrapping food for freezing, choose wrappers that are moisture-proof to keep your foods from drying out and to prevent freezer odor from penetrating the foods. Heavy-duty aluminum foil is great for the freezer because you can mold it to shape the item being frozen. Large, sealable freezer-plastic bags also are a good choice for freezing irregularly shaped items. You can press out all the air to get a good seal. Double-wrapping or double-bagging items also is a good idea. Plastic wrap should be nonporous freezer plastic and can be used with heavy-duty aluminum foil for the best seal. Also, look for hard, plastic freezer containers to protect your baked goods from damage in the freezer.
Chapter 18
Making the Ordinary Extraordinary
In This Chapter
Slicing a cake into neat, even portions
Making simple decorations
Sprucing up the flavor of creams
When you spend time baking, you want to be able to show off your finished products and enjoy all the oohs and ahhs when you put them on display. In this chapter, I give you some ideas for making everything you bake just a little more special.
Cutting Your Baked Goods Neatly and Evenly
Believe it or not, there is a correct way to cut cakes and pies. Well, it may not be “correct,” but it does ensure that you get slices of equal sizes.
Most people cut out one slice and then work their way around, eyeballing each piece and ending up with irregularly sized slices. The problem reveals itself when you get to slice number eight and realize how tiny slices nine and ten will have to be. A simple technique for slicing cakes and pies makes it easy to know how many slices you’ll get before you make the first cut. Plus, you’ve gone to all this trouble to bake from scratch; why just hack away at it? Neat slices add to the appeal of your creations.
Pies and layer cakes can be cut the same way. You want to use a long, thin, sharp knife to cut. You also may want to use a cake server (a fancy triangular spatula) to transfer the slices to plates.
Cutting cakes and pies into even slices
When you serve a layer cake, follow these steps to ensure even slices (Figure 18-1 shows you what to do.):
1.Slice the cake completely in half.
2.Depending on the richness of the cake and/or the number of people you have to serve, cut each cake half in half again, and then cut each quarter in half or in thirds.
This method of even division ensures that you make even cuts instead of going around the cake and eyeballing each cut.
Figure 18-1: Cutting a cake into wedges.
If you want to measure out the wedges before you cut into the cake, do the following:
1.Make a nick in the icing by gently letting the knife blade sink into the icing.
2.Mark the cake all the way around, using the method explained in the preceding steps to cut each section into halves, thirds, or quarters.
If you want to vary the sizes of the slices, divide one-quarter of the cake in thirds and the other in half.
3.If you’re satisfied with the sizes of the wedges, go ahead and cut all the way through the cake according to the nicks you made.
If you need more wedges, “erase” the cut marks by smearing the icing and then re-mark the cake until you have the number of slices you need.
The same goes for pies. You can make a nick in the crust or a small cut in the top, or, if the pie doesn’t have a top crust, you can mark the filling.
Cutting cheesecakes cleanly
Cheesecake can get messy when you cut it. The moist cake tends to stick to the knife, increasing the thickness of the knife with each slice. You can conquer this problem in a few ways.
If you’re planning to cut the cheesecake before you present it:
Wet a nonserrated knife with hot water, shake off any excess water (but don’t dry it), and then cut the cake. The heat and moisture from the knife enable you to get a clean slice each time. You will have to rewet the knife every second slice or so.
Slice the cheesecake with clean dental floss. Get a piece of floss a few inches longer than the cake. Wrap the ends of the floss around your fingers and press the floss down and through the cake. Then release one side of the floss and pull it through the cake. Repeat this process until the whole cake is sliced. Doing so gives you neat, clean slices.
If you have to cut the cake at the table, you can always use two knives: one to slice and the other to scrape off the slicing knife between slices.
Cutting sheet cakes, bar cookies, and brownies
Sheet cakes, bar cookies, and brownies share the same cutting technique. It’s easy, but you need to use a thin, sharp knife. You just have to cut the cake into equal-sized squares. If necessary, you can use the same technique you used on layer cakes to mark the icing before you slice to make sure that you’ll get a high enough yield out of your cake or bars.
Cutting loaves and rolled cakes
Slice loaves and rolled cakes with a serrated knife. (A regular blade can compress the crumb of the cake and doesn’t offer as nice a cut as a serrated knife does.) If you have an electric serrated knife, you can use that. It may be a little more horsepower than you need for cake or bread cutting, but it does the trick and enables you to cut thinner slices. Don’t press straight down when you cut; use a gentle sawing motion. The thickness of each slice depends on the richness of the bread or cake.
Presenting with Flair
Decorated store-bought cakes tend to be ornamental and have that fussed-over appearance. That’s all well and good for some people’s taste, but I prefer the simple and basic. Not being a terribly artistic person myself, I think that less is definitely more. When I try to get too fancy, I usually have to explain my abstract art to the people looking at the cake: “Okay, this is the baby stroller, and this is Anne. . . .”
Food should look nice as well as taste good, so how you present your desserts really does make a difference. Although it doesn’t have to be picture perfect, you can do some simple things to jazz up the presentation of your desserts.
Try piping a simple shell border or stars around the edge of the cake instead of going crazy with design. I recommend simple designs for beginner designers. See Chapter 8 for tips on decorating cakes. The following are suggestions for decorating cakes without having to apply to art school first:
Anniversary: A big heart, two interlocking rings, the number of years celebrated
Birthday: Balloons (if the name is short, you can put the letters of the person’s name in the balloons), the person’s age, a present with a bow
Good luck/bon voyage: A horseshoe, champagne glasses toasting with colored confetti (sprinkles or colored icings), a four-leaf clover, a hot-air balloon
New baby: A baby bottle, blocks with letters on them, a rattle
If you have a lot of people to serve, sheet cakes are a good solution. They’re the easiest to frost, and their large, flat tops give you lots of decorating room.
If you don’t have a platter or plate large enough to accommodate a sheet cake, you can make your own. Find a sturdy corrugated cardboard box and cut out a large enough piece of cardboard to accommodate your cake. (Use the cake pan to see how large your cake will be and leave at least a 2-inch border around the edge.) Wrap aluminum foil around the cardboard and — voilà! — you have a serving platter.
Remember, no one was born with the natural ability to decorate cakes and other baked goods, so go easy on yourself if you don’t get it just right the first few times. Techniques take time to perfect.
Creating Quick, Spiffy Garnishes
Sometimes, frosting a cake just isn’t enough — you want to dress it up a little more. Garnishing a cake lets you add your personal touch. The following sections give you some ideas for making simple, fun garnishes.
Garnishes for cakes
You don’t have to limit cake garnishes to sugary flowers or fancy decorations. The following are a few suggestions for simple garnishes made of ingredients you probably have on hand:
Press sliced almonds, chopped nuts, shaved chocolate, or crushed candy (peppermint works great) onto the sides of a frosted cake. To do so, frost the sides of the cake (but not the top), hold the cake with one hand, and press the garnish onto the side with the palm of your other hand. Or sprinkle the garnish onto a piece of waxed paper and roll the cake sides into the garnish (see Figure 18-2). Set the cake back on the serving plate and then finish frosting the top.
Figure 18-2: Press the garnish onto the cake with the palm of your hand or roll the cake in the garnish to coat.
Lightly dust the top of an iced yellow, carrot, spice, or chocolate cake with ground spice — cinnamon, nutmeg, or allspice. Don’t shake the spice onto the cake directly from the jar; you might add too much. Instead, take a pinch of spice and sprinkle it on top.
Melt some chocolate and dip a fork in it; then drizzle the chocolate over top of a frosted cake.
Make balloons with whole cookies (vanilla wafers or chocolate cream-filled cookies) and use licorice for strings.
Add a little color to your cakes with colored and chocolate sprinkles or beads.
Give a cake a polka-dotted top by sprinkling candy-covered chocolates on top of the frosting.
Forget the frosting and dust the top of the cake with confectioners’ sugar or cocoa or a mixture of the two. You can cut out a message in a piece of paper, lay the paper on top of the cake, and then dust the top of the cake. When you remove the paper, your message will be written in sugar. You also can make a pretty pattern by using the same method — just use a paper doily instead of a paper cutout.
Also, check your local kitchen-supply store. There you’ll find many garnishes, such as candy flowers, candy letters, and even edible glitter.
Fruit garnishes
Fresh fruit always makes a simple, elegant garnish. Cut up the fruit at the last minute to make sure that it stays fresh. You also can garnish with whole pieces of fruit dipped in chocolate — strawberries are just about everyone’s favorite, or you can use raspberries, blackberries, or even sliced peaches. Prevent discoloration by tossing the peaches in lemon juice before you use them for garnish. You can either garnish each slice of cake with fruit or top whole cakes or tarts with fruit.
Whipped cream and flavored creams
A dollop of whipped cream on top of cakes and pies is always a welcome treat. Although a variety of premade whipped toppings are available, making your own is easy. Just follow these steps to make 2 cups of whipped cream:
1.Place 1 pint of heavy (whipping) cream into a chilled bowl.
Do not substitute light cream or half-and-half; it will not whip up.
2.With an electric or hand mixer or a wire whisk, beat the cream until it begins to thicken and stiffen.
If you can, chill these tools, too; your cream will thicken faster.
3.Add 2 tablespoons of sugar or 4 tablespoons of confectioners’ sugar, plus 1 teaspoon of vanilla, and beat a little bit longer until soft peaks form.
See Chapter 5 for tips on whipping.
4.Taste and add more sugar if desired.
Try substituting different flavored extracts for the vanilla. Some of my favorites are almond, lemon, and maple. Almond cream is great in coffee, on cherry pies, and in fruit cobblers. Lemon cream is great paired with lemon tarts or anything minty, and maple cream is delightful on pancakes, pies, and baked apples.
Flavorful combinations
Maybe you’re feeling creative in the kitchen. Or maybe you’re looking to jazz up a recipe. If you’re looking for that little extra something, try the following flavoring combinations. You can flavor whipped cream or plain frosting with a few drops of extract or 1 teaspoon of spice. You may be pleasantly surprised by the flavor boost it gives your desserts. If you aren’t feeling particularly adventurous, try flavoring the cream you serve with the coffee or select a corresponding flavor of ice cream or sorbet to match your dessert.
Decorating plates
If you’re serving a simple dessert that you don’t want to bombard with creams or toppings, but you want to enhance its appearance, you can decorate the plates on which you serve it. Try a few of these tricks:
Grease the edge of the dessert plate with shortening (just a thin coating). Sprinkle the edge with spices (cinnamon has a nice color) or cocoa and then tap off the excess. Place your dessert in the center of the plate and let your guests ogle.
Get some squeeze bottles at a dime store and fill them with fruit sauce or chocolate sauce. Squeeze out a decoration (squiggles, lines, circles) onto each plate before serving. You can make your own fruit purees by peeling and slicing fresh fruits such as mango, peaches, nectarines, or raspberries and pureeing them in a food processor or blender. Press the fruit through a fine mesh strainer if it has lots of seeds (as raspberries do) and then transfer it to a squeeze bottle.
A simple slice of colorful fresh fruit makes a nice garnish for plates.
Part V
The Part of Tens
In this part . . .
If your cake turns out too dry, your cookies are baking unevenly, or your bread isn’t rising, this part is the place to turn. I have an entire chapter devoted to solving common baking problems. This part also suggests resources for all your baking needs, whether you need an odd-shaped pan, good-quality chocolate, or crystallized flowers for cake decorations.
Chapter 19
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sp; Ten Troubleshooting Tips
In This Chapter
Finding simple solutions for near-disasters in the kitchen
Getting help with a dry cake, a reluctant cake, cookies baking unevenly, and much more
Okay, now you’re baking. You’ve chosen a recipe and followed the instructions, but something doesn’t seem quite right. Small frustrations while baking can quickly turn your whole baking experience sour, and they can also be time-consuming and costly. So equip yourself with the know-how to troubleshoot and problem-solve even if you feel like your recipe is on the decline. In this chapter, you’ll discover that although some baking disasters are not salvageable in their present form, you can do some things to help disaster from consuming your baking experience.
Cake Too Dry
One way to tell whether your cake has finished cooking is to look at it: It will pull away from the side of the pan when it’s finished. This space is usually just a fraction of an inch, but sometimes when a cake is overcooked, it will have pulled away a considerable amount, maybe a quarter of an inch or so.
