help with a baking flop

I baked an apple cake yesterday from America's Test Kitchens new family baking book. The cake tastes great. Now my problem I followed the recipe exactly removed it when it was tested done and set the cake on a rack to cool for 10 minutes as the recipe stated. When I went to remove it from the tube pan no problem removing the outside of the pan. Loosen the center with a knife as well the bottom turned it over to remove and the cake fell apart. I have a new Hofritz tube pan ordered from Amazon and this was the first time I used it. The pan is quite heavy. The pan was quite hot and I needed a towel to hold it. Did I remove it too soon? What did I do wrong as I am supposed to bake for my temple next week and need a tube pan for some of the cakes and don't want this to happen again.
Paulette

I don't usually use tube pans, but I have two guesses as to what might have happened: one, you should have waited until the pan was cool (a more experienced baker needs to reply to this) and, two, if the apples in your cake clumped together anywhere, they may have caused moisture that could lead to cracking. I don't know the recipe, but usually when I add something to a cake, I toss it with flour first to make sure it doesn't stick to itself.

Without knowing the recipe, it sounds like the cake needed to be cooled longer. If it was a heavy pan, it could retain heat longer than the normal pan the recipe was calculated on and the cake was not fully set. If this is a recipe with fairly large chunks of apple, its also possible they set up a sort of random fault line in the cake which compounded the problem.

I think the weight of the pan is what affected it too. Next time I'll let it cool longer to see what happens. It seems to me the apples where distributed throughout the cake pretty evenly. I sort of put it together and glazed the cake per the recipe. It's not pretty but the taste is great. I do say I do taste not pretty and I guess this cake proved it.
Paulette

With the exception of upside-down type cakes that have a layer of fruit in the bottom (those have to come out right away), I usually leave cakes (quick breads, etc.) in their pan until I can stand to hold my hand against the pan for a few seconds. Still very warm, but not oven hot. Often that's longer than the 10 minutes most recipes suggest.

Couple things to spot check. Even a non-stick pan should be sprayed/buttered and dusted with flour to help the cake release. Also, a little cheat I learned from a friend. Some cakes don't rise all the way to the top of their pan (maybe it was the recipe, maybe the cake, whatever), so when you invert them, they have an inch or more to drop before they hit the plate/platter. That could be disastrous for a warm cake. I stuff the empty gap between the cake and the top of the pan with three or four flattened balls of crumpled foil, invert onto a plate, and slowly jiggle the cake pan away from the cake. No dangerous drop for the cake.

And when all else fails, you can serve the cake pre-sliced on a beautiful tray with lots of fancy paper lace doilies, or in paper/foil cups, or cut it up and layer it in a glass bowl with lots of whipped cream and call it an apple trifle. No one will ever know

I've been making an apple cake from the New York Times Sunday magazine (google Teddie's Apple Cake for the recipe). That recipe calls for letting the cake cool completely in the pan and I haven't had any problems with the cake holding together while releasing it.

Thanks for all the help. I smooshed the cake together and applied the brown sugar glaze it called for. It wasn't the best looking but it is good. I think I'll try it again letting it cool longer in the pan.
Paulette

Hellodali wrote:I've been making an apple cake from the New York Times Sunday magazine (google Teddie's Apple Cake for the recipe). That recipe calls for letting the cake cool completely in the pan and I haven't had any problems with the cake holding together while releasing it.

Wow...I had no idea that was a NY Times recipe, though I shouldn't be surprised. Many of our family favorites originally came from the NYTs. Since they started republishing their classic recipes, I'm learning that more and more of the meals I grew up with came from the NYTs.

I've always called Teddie's Apple Cake "funeral cake" because that's what my Mom brought to people who had a death in the family. One great thing we learned when I was in college is that it also ships very well...it's so moist that it doesn't dry out while in transit. (Of course, you'll pay a decent amount in postage, since it's a heavy cake.) After my Mom and Grandmother sent it to me a couple times, my friends started requesting that my Mom send more funeral cake!

It's a fantastic cake, and I highly recommend that everyone try it.

Something like that happened to me too. The cake needs to cool of course but I found the problem was the pan and that it needed a lot more greasing especially in the grooves. I used a bundt pan. Baker's JOy works well. Here is a link to Nordic ware's website that tell how to bake a perfect bundt but I am assuming some of their tips would work for other cakes too.

http://www.nordicware.com/files/bake-perfect-bundt.pdf

Well I tried the cake again. This time I let it cool completely in the pan. It still broke but not as bad as the first time. I think I'll try the pan once more with a tried and true recipe and see what happens. By the way the recipe is headlined great for beginners in the American Test Kitchen Family Baking Book. I am not a beginner.
Paulette

If the cake isn't sticking to the pan, I'd suggest cutting the apples into smaller pieces and/or reducing the amount of apples in the cake and see what happens. I doubt the problem is with the pan.

I only used 2 granny smith apples as the recipe called for and sliced them thin. I will try one and maybe dicing it next time. I'd really like this cake to work as it tastes wonderful and without the brown sugar glaze it has no dairy so it meets my daughter's requirement for a pareve cake. I was thinking of baking it in a 9 X 13 pan and slicing it than putting it in papers to serve. Oh well will try once more.
Paulette

paulette wrote:I only used 2 granny smith apples as the recipe called for and sliced them thin. I will try one and maybe dicing it next time. I'd really like this cake to work as it tastes wonderful and without the brown sugar glaze it has no dairy so it meets my daughter's requirement for a pareve cake. I was thinking of baking it in a 9 X 13 pan and slicing it than putting it in papers to serve. Oh well will try once more.
Paulette

If you line the baking pan with wax or parchment paper, then you will not have any problems getting that cake out. I have 100% success with lined pans over simply buttered or buttered and floured, where my results have been hit and miss.

Regards,

Cathy,
The problem isn't getting the cake out of the pan the problem is getting it out in one piece. My son suggested using less apples than what the recipe calls for I might try this.
Paulette

Do the apples get mixed into the batter, or do you layer the apples as you fill the pan w/the batter? I would try dicing the apples into smaller pieces, dusting them with flour (to keep them separated), and layering the apples with the batter as you fill your pan being careful to avoid putting the apples too close to the edges of the pan. Hopefully, by keeping the apples away from the edges of the pan, your cake will develop a stronger exterior to holding the apples. Good luck. Let us know what works and doesn't work.

Hi Paulette. Did you measure the ingredients by weight or volume? It sounds like there's too much fat or sugar in relation to the flour.

Followed the recipe as written in American Test kitchen Family baking cookbook. The recipes are by volumn.
Paulette

Hi,

I made a coffee cake the other night, which required a tube pan. My usual pan is in hiding, so I had to hunt for another. I found a tube pan with a removable bottom, which could be fitted with a flat or curved bottom. There is a groove between the insert and the pan. I felt I was asking for trouble using this pan, because either it was going to leak and/or it would release poorly because of cake batter baked into the groove.

This is a link to a similar tube pan except mine is not teflon coated.

From reading this thread, I think I may have been fussing over nothing. Right or wrong?

Regards,

My tube pan has a groove too, and usually things work out fine. I usually put a square of foil under it, no baking sheet, just in case. It only drips if the batter is very runny, but everything releases fine.

PS I don't think your link is working.