Equipment – More Than Sugar

Is It Really Done?

Figuring out if a cake is really baked all the way is a challenge. Recipes give an oven temperature and a range of time. Recipes might indicate using a toothpick to test if the cake is done. Depending on the cake the place to test might be the center or for brownies halfway between center and sides. Others recommend touching the middle of the cake to see if it bounces back. Cheesecakes talk about the jiggle test, if the center jiggles a bit its done.

For the toothpick test one challenge is how many crumbs are ok? What constituents a proper jiggle?

Recently I have been baking French Apple Cake several times, a recipe I got from Cook’s Illustrated. It recommended the toothpick test. Using that test I got no crumbs and took the cake out. Turned out it was a fair bit short of being baked all the way. The cake has a ton of apples and depending on where the toothpick goes in it will come out without crumbs long before it is done.

So of course, I had to find a way to objectively determine when a cake is done. Several websites recommend using an instant read thermometer to test when the cake is done. This turned out to be exactly what was needed for my French Apple Cake. Baking it until the center reached 205 F is the sweet spot where the cake is baked but isn’t starting to dry out.

The pain is you have to open the oven to test the cake and this usually involves 2-4 tries before the cake is done. Each time you have to be careful not to burn your hand and each time you open the oven door the temperature drops significantly. Also, you’ll end up with either one hole that is a bit large if you test in the same spot or several holes if you move around a bit where you have tested the cake. To avoid opening the oven door I needed a mean of measuring the temperature with the door closed. I searched on line to see if there were any existing temperature probe clips that would support the probe vertically in the center. I found these clips

The next challenge was how to support the clip. I needed some sort of jig or structure to support the clip. So off to Home Depot. I figured a piece of angle “iron” would do the trick. “Iron” of course would be a bad choice as it rusts so Angle Aluminum is what I wanted. If the link isn’t working this is the Home Depot part number:887480014075

The angle was perfect and would easily support the clip but it wasn’t thick enough. The clip would slide and tip left and right very easily. The metal needed to be thicker, Home depot didn’t have anything that was thick enough in aluminum. I didn’t want to use steel as it might rust.

So, looking at the flat stock I found this material. By doubling it up with the angle the clip was firmly in place. Home Depot part number: 887480019377

I cut both pieces to be long enough to cover my cake pans with some to spare. That was about 14 inches. I drilled several holes in the angle to help circulate air. I’ll likely go back and drill some more holes. File any sharp edges.

This is my Cookies and Cream Cheesecake. I’ll post the recipe soon.

Using my ChefAlarm and probe I position the probe so that it is in the center of my cake. The tip is inserted just so that the narrow pointy part is in the batter. For thin cakes be very careful that you don’t go too far and get near or touch the bottom of the pan.

When choosing which holes in the clip to use, pick the holes nearest to the angle. For me the middle one works. If you use the farthest hole away from the angle you risk the assembly tipping.

Set the ChefAlarm high temperature for your target temperature and relax. No need to check cake until the alarm goes off. With that said you will want to experiment to see what is the sweet spot temperature wise for each type of cake you bake. The temperature will vary from cake to cake and from how you like the results versus others.

For my French Apple Cake, it is 205 F. For my cheesecake it is 145 F to get a creamier lighter result. If you like cheesecake that is a bit firmer go 150-155F. I am continuing to work on my support jig as for some cakes the aluminum angle blocks some of the oven heat causing some “banding” on lighter cakes such as the French Apple Cake. It doesn’t affect the taste and doneness, just is an appearance issue. First, I am going to try more and larger holes in the aluminum. I have some other ideas that as I try them, I will share.

Equipment odds and ends

Cooling Racks.

Cooling racks took some time to find the right ones. My main issues with many of the mishmash of cooling racks I had was they tended to rust at the crossing point. The weld apparently either broke the coating on the metal or the material used to do the welding was rusting. The rust was more a visual thing for me as I doubt it would be a sanitary issue.

After searching I found these racks They sit a little higher than most racks allowing more air to flow around item cooling. They can be used in the oven which I use to make bacon now. I don’t fry bacon any longer, too much splatter. In the oven you can cookie the whole package. No need to turn or drain. Put the rack in a jelly roll pan, lay the bacon on the rack, put in 375-degree oven.

These racks don’t rust and go through the dishwasher. Very sturdy too. Not often but they do go on sale from time to time. Over time I acquired 8 of these.

As you will pick up, I recommend buying several of things such as cooling racks, cookie sheets, measuring spoons, etc. For cooling racks this allows you to layout a lot of cookies without needing to move the cookies to a bowl or tray while others cool. Cookies are fragile when they come out of the oven and best to let them cool completely before stacking or moving them

Measuring Spoons

Like most of my equipment up to when I started baking seriously, I had a collection of measuring spoons from different manufacturers. Most of them were plastic. They worked fine but I didn’t have enough and the tablespoon size didn’t fit into my spice jars that had spoon scrapers. The Allspice Wood Spice Rack has bottles with spoon scraper making it easy to scrape the spoon when filling it. I needed to find some spoons that were narrower. I found these spoons . I ordered four sets of them; I store them into cups with teaspoons and tablespoons in one cup and the others in another cup. Makes it easy to find the size I need. By having four of each size I can use a spoon and not worry about cleaning it or accidentally using it with a different ingredients cross contaminating it.

Equipment, Cookie Sheets

So far, I’ve covered temperature as it relates to ingredient and oven. Equipment is more helpful than super critical. Within reason just about any cookie sheet will do but a better quality one does make it easier and helps with consistent quality. And as I would find out more is also better.

Cookie Sheets

After I got married way back yonder and moved into our first house I started baking more frequently. I had a mishmash of cookie sheets and quickly found out that each type of cookie sheet required some adjustment even if minor in baking time. So mixing cookie sheets when baking a batch of cookies made things a little inconvenient.

Before buying a bunch of the same type of cookie sheets I bought one of few different types. I tried the air cookie sheets that had a hollow space in-between two layers of metal. Goal was to bake without browning the bottom of the cookies. For most cookies slight browning of the bottom is important for me. It gives a slight caramelized flavoring by browning some of the sugar.

Many of the other sheets were relatively thin metal and were easily warped or bent. Macy’s has a line of cookware called “Tools of the trade”. In the late 80’s or early 90’s they carried a heavy gauge non-stick cookie sheet that was turned up on one end.

I also liked that three of the sides were flat. I don’t like trays that have turned up edges on all four sides. Cookies are pretty fragile when first out of the oven and being able to slide them off a tray without an edge makes things easier and reduces broken/bent cookies

So, I bought two to try them out.

These were prefect, no warping and no bending. They heated evenly and the turned-up edge was easy to use to pick up. I also like that the sheet wasn’t too wide or long so the heat flowed around the sheet when in the oven. Several of the trays I tried were too wide and/or long leaving little room for air to flow around evenly all edges. The tray from Macy’s was big enough to hold 12 of most cookies I bake.

When making a batch of cookies I had to reuse the sheets since I only had two. I quickly realized that the trays needed to cool to room temperature otherwise the dough would start melting before the tray made it into the oven. So, I bought two more, this gave me time for the trays to cool.

These trays served me well and I still have them, but when I moved into a house with double ovens four trays wasn’t enough to keep the process going smoothly. So, I went back to Macy’s to buy more but with the passage of time they no longer carried the heavy gauge trays. So, my search for more trays began.

What I needed was a heavy gauge sheet that wasn’t too wide or long. Also wanted a non-stick surface and no turned up edges on at least the long sides. I found some that were heavier gauge but they were either too wide/long, didn’t have a non-stick coating or had an awkward turned up edge.

Not sure how I found them but stumbled on Lloyd Pans. Their focus is primarily on commercial users but do sell to the public. They also have a line of consumer-focused products now too. When I cover my cheesecake adventures, I’ll talk about their cheesecake pans.

At the time I bought them they showed the trays on their website along with the price but now best I can tell it is only listed in their catalog and you will need to inquire about the price. On page 12 “Heavy Baking Sheets” are the ones I use. They are 8 gauge, 12 inches wide which is perfect for my oven. Depending on your oven the 14-inch wide might work for you.

Here is a link to their catalog

I got the Dura-Kote® finish which is a proprietary non-stick surface that you can use metal utensils with and for most baking situations doesn’t need greasing. These are not cheap I paid around $45 each but these will last forever. I ended up getting 8 of them which works out really nicely when making large batches of cookies. Since they are heavy gauge it takes some time for them to cool. I have granite counter tops so after removing the cookies I stack the trays on the granite counter top. Since they don’t warp, they make good even contact with the granite and cool down pretty quickly. When making large batches I can cycle through all 8 without needing to wait for a tray to cool.

Notes

These are not dishwasher safe, but they clean up really easy in the sink using regular dish soap such as Dawn. Rinse them well.
Use of cooking sprays is not recommended
There will be what they call “beauty” marks from the manufacturing process that don’t affect their performance.
Order them well a head of when you want/need them, they do not keep these in stock and will make as needed.

One trick I do even with a cool tray is to put a cold pack under the tray that has cookie dough on it while they are waiting to go into the oven. I put the cold pack in the refrigerator as I don’t want to freeze the dough just keep it cool. Likely you have a few left over from a sport’s injury. If you don’t have any this one is a good size, but pretty much any cold pack will work.

As always appreciate any comments or suggestions on new ways of doing things.