Forget your heart , Bake Off star Val Stones says listen to your cake for a perfect rise . Here are her top tips from a lifetime of great bakes
Cook ’ s Notes
The Cake Whisperer
Forget your heart , Bake Off star Val Stones says listen to your cake for a perfect rise . Here are her top tips from a lifetime of great bakes
OUR BAKING EXPERT Val Stones swept , baked and sidestepped her way to fame on the 2016 series of the Great British Bake Off . She lives in the South West and is a regular customer of Harts , often coming in to get new baking equipment including a KitchenAid Artisan mixer for her birthday .
S E E + SHOP We have everything you need for baking and preserving at www . hartsofstur . com .
Make sure that you get the eggs , margarine and small quantity of milk out of the fridge at least an hour before you start baking as it is best for the ingredients to be at room temperature . If you mix the ingredients straight from the fridge and put the mixture in to bake the oven has to bring the ingredients up to ambient temperature before the baking process can begin and the rise will be restricted .
I bake a lot with unsalted butter , and instead of throwing away the butter wrapping paper I fold them up and put them in the fridge . When I bake a cake I use the paper to grease my baking tins . It makes sure that I don ’ t over grease the tins .
I weigh my eggs first into a jug and make sure I have the exact amount I need . I make a lot of pastry where the recipe asks for the yolk of an egg so I have lots of left over egg whites . I put them in a clean jam jar and label it with the use by date of the egg .
When the eggs don ’ t quite weigh what is required I add a little of the saved egg white to make up the difference . If you don ’ t make a lot of pastry you can keep a carton of egg whites in your fridge , it has quite a long shelf life . The addition of egg white also aerates the cake . I always use a stand mixer as it takes a good ten minutes to beat the buttercream .
I favour soft margarine instead of butter for my all-in-one sponge ( see page 24 ) because it gives a lighter sponge and the flavour is neutral – not as distinct as when you bake with butter or oil . When you add flavourings , you want them to be what you taste and not the fats .
Listening to your cakes really does work . When it is time to remove the cakes , gently lift a tin out and place it near your ear ( health and safety warning : don ’ t let it touch your ear or cheek !). Listen carefully , and you will hear the cake crackling . There must be a reason for this , and I think it is that there are still hot liquids baking . If you hear crackling , put the cake back in the oven for two more minutes . Next time you check the cake it should be silent , maybe just the odd crackle . I have learned to tell how much longer a cake needs in the oven from how furiously it ’ s crackling . Have a go .
I keep spare silicon bases that I place on top of my cakes before I turn them onto a cooling rack this way when you turn them out they won ’ t have the pattern of the rack on their tops . This isn ’ t so important when a cake is going to be completely iced , but if your cake is going to be un-iced it ’ s nice to not have a pattern on it .
I use a spirit level to check the cake top as I assemble the cake so that I can see that it is level . A little buttercream can be used to level the cake if needed .
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