Tips On Making The Ultimate Chocolate Cake

Baking the Ultimate Chocolate Cake can strike fear in the hearts of some cooks. Thoughts of a tasteless cake, icky frosting and other horrors fill their minds. But really, it's not all that hard if you use the right tools and just take things one step at a time. Also, try to stick with easier chocolate cake recipes to begin with until you're more confident in your cake making skills. Here are some steps to get you started on the path to cake baking nirvana!

Preparing the Pan:

-Always be sure to use the size pan that is called for in the recipe.

-Grease and lightly flour your pan prior to assembling the recipe.

-If the cake pan you are using has an elaborate design be sure to grease all the nooks and crannies of the design thoroughly. In this case it is better to use too much than too little.

-Another option is to use a vegetable non-stick spray. These work very well.

-Do not grease or flour your cake pan if you are making an angel food cake or a sponge cake as this may prevent the cakes from rising. You can, if necessary line the bottom of the pan with parchment or wax paper.

Mixing the Batter:

-Have all your ingredients at room temperature.

-Measure all your ingredients out prior to assembling the batter.

-Turn on the oven and preheat while you prepare your mixture.

-If you are using an electrical beater to mix your ingredients, only beat the mixture until the ingredients are blended. Do no over beat.

-If you are mixing your batter by hand, keep in mind it will take a bit more time to get the ingredients thoroughly blended.

-When making a cake with butter be sure the butter is soft prior to blending with the sugar.

-If your recipe calls for several eggs add them one at a time and blend them into the batter before adding the next egg. This is especially true if you are mixing by hand.

-Each chocolate cake recipe asks for a different type of chocolate. There are so many dark chocolate bars available on the market today. Do not limit yourself to just baker's chocolate. Use your favorite dark chocolate. Just be sure it is as least 70% cocoa.

Filling the Cake Pan:

-Do not fill the cake pan more than ¾ full to allow for rising.

-If you are using a square pan be sure to spread the batter into the corners.

-If you wish to use a square, rectangular or irregularly shaped pan instead of the round pan the recipe calls for be sure you make enough batter. To calculate how much batter to make, simply fill your substitute pan 2/3rd full with water. Transfer the water to the pan the recipe uses to judge volume. Adjust the batter accordingly based on how full the recipe pan gets when the water is added. If the recipe pan is overflowing, cut back on the batter. If the recipe pan is not full enough make extra batter.

-If you use a pan other than the one the recipe calls for keep in mind cooking time will vary.

Baking Cakes:

-Always bake the cake in a preheated oven.

-Glass or dark colored pans will retain more heat. Cook for the same amount of time but reduce the heat temperature by 25 degrees F.

-Bake your cake on the center rack of the oven so heat can circulate.

-If you are baking multiple pans do not let them touch each other.

-If you are using more than one rack, stagger the cake pans so they are directly over or under each other.

-If you notice the cake is baking unevenly then turn it several times during the cooking process.

-Start testing you cake about 8 minutes before the cake should be done.

-To test if your cake is done, insert a small toothpick into the center of the cake as far as you can. It should come out clean.

-Another way to test if a cake is done is to lightly press the cake surface. The depression should spring back if the cake is cooked thoroughly.

-Also a cake that is done will pull away from the sides of the cake pan.

Cooling Cakes:

-Let cakes made with butter cool in their pans for about 5 minutes. Then turn out onto a cooling rack. If it should stick, try to loosen gently with a spatula.

-Angel food cakes, chiffon cakes and sponge cakes must be kept in their pans and inverted to cool. If the top of the pan does not have little feet for the pan to stand on when you invert it then tip the pan over a large bottle with the neck of the bottle going through the hole of the pan. When cool, loosen with a knife and turn out.

Frosting a Cake:

-If you are short of time and you are making a layer cake, use jelly between the layers. Or place slice fruit between the layers and dust with confectioner's sugar.

-Better to make too much frosting than not enough. Extra frosting will keep very well in the refrigerator.

-If your frosting was not made from scratch or was "not cooked" spread it on a cake while the cake is warm.

-If you just made your frosting, it is best to spread on the cake after it is completely cooled.

-If your frosting calls for beaten egg whites and the whites are not stiff enough just put it in the top of a double boiler and beat over the simmering water.

-If you cream frosting is too watery place it in the refrigerator for several minutes, beat over ice or add a little more butter to thicken.

-If, on the other hand, your frosting is too thick, add a few drops of hot milk or water.

-If your cake is lopsided feel free to re-shape it using a sharp knife.

-If you are making a 3-layer cake and the middle layer has a rounded top, slice off the raised portion

-To frost set the bottom layer on a plate covered with strips of wax paper to catch and frosting that may drip. Spread you icing on the top of this bottom layer and add the top cake layer over the spread icing.

-Cover the sides of the cake first with frosting using a spatula or frosting knife.

-Pile the rest of the frosting on the top middle of the cake and swirl out to the edges.

-Remove the strips of paper once the frosting sets.

-Decorate as desired.

Should You Start a Cake Decorating Business or Cupcake Business?

If you love cake decorating, imagine getting paid to do what you love! You can when you start your own cake decorating business.

Jennifer James, author of the FabJob Guide to Become a Cake Decorator, says there are many benefits when you become a professional cake decorator and start a cake decorating business (also known as a cake design business) or cupcake business.

"There's never been a better time to start up a cake decorating business," says Jennifer. "With the low-carb craze over with, there has been a return to the idea of eating for pleasure, ushered in largely by the popular book French Women Don't Get Fat. Single servings and the personal touch are in - cupcakes are very popular right now, as are gourmet mini-cakes." Here is Jennifer's advice about the cake design business and why it's a great time to start a cake decorating business or cupcake business:

Professional cake decorators tap into the fact that people love to feel special, and are always looking for something new and unique. Clients who are tired of the supermarket's tired-old sheet cake with a cartoon character are looking for handmade, out-of-the ordinary cakes that truly reflect the theme of the celebration... and when they do, they'll come to you.

Cakes are getting more creative all the time, and the only limitation is your imagination. Three-dimensional designs are in vogue right now, resulting in cakes that look like pillows, animals, handbags, or whatever you can dream up. Contemporary cake towers rising up many feet in the air and can lean every which way, stabilized by mysterious forces known only to the cake decorator (that is, you!)

And it doesn't stop there. How about a cake + cupcake combo, with each cupcake sporting a unique design, or personalized for each guest? Floral toppers or edible pearls just might complete an elegant look perfectly. The finishing materials (glazes and dusting powders) available on today's market let you give your cake and decorations a look that is so real, your clients will hardly believe they are made of sugar.

Not only are people looking for custom, creative cakes, they are willing to pay for them too. The average amount spent on a wedding has nearly doubled in the last 20 years, and the average cost of wedding cake is $543, according to the Bridal Association of America. Prices of artisan cakes for special occasions range from $3 to $10 or even more per slice, depending on the complexity of the design.

If you're wondering if cake decorating is the right business for you, here are some benefits of this career according to Jennifer:

Be Creative

If you want to work with your hands and experience with all five senses, cake decorating is the career for you, from smelling the yummy baking, to tasting new flavors of icing or filling, to piping delicate beads or roses on your cakes and cupcakes. No wonder many cake decorators call themselves sugar artists!

Be Your Own Boss

No more taking orders from anyone else - other than your many customers, of course! When you run your own cake decorating business, you make the decisions. You can choose to specialize in anything from wedding cakes, to children's birthday cakes, to cupcakes, to cakes shaped like fantasy castles... whatever you most enjoy. As boss of your own cake decorating, you decide your policies, your prices, and when you're going to take those well-deserved days off.

Let Them Eat Cake

By "them" we mean you, your friends, and your family. When you start a cake decorating business you'll be able to practice your new ideas by making cakes for your own family celebrations, or liven up a mid-week meal with some cake "leftovers" you cut off while shaping and creating. You can even save some cash when you give your cakes for wedding and birthday presents. It's great practice, and you'll land additional clients whenever your cakes or cupcakes are seen and admired.

You Can Start Right Now

A cake decorating business can be started simply or part-time if you wish, in many cases right from your own home. If you already bake cakes or cupcakes as a hobby, you may very well have much of the equipment on hand that you will need to get started. You don't need a certificate to call yourself a professional cake decorator or cake designer, either - you're in business as a professional cake decorator as soon as you are paid for your very first cake.

If you're ready to tap into the lucrative and growing cake decorating market, don't wait any longer. It's time to turn your pipe dreams into piping bags, trade in your overtime for oven mitts, and create your own sweet success story by starting a cake decorating business.

Food Network Lets Them Eat Cake

The Food Network is an American cable network that airs series and specials about one of our most beloved subjects - food. The Network is viewed in 80 million households and by half a million people per day. It's seen in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Korea, Thailand, Singapore, the Philippines, Monaco, Andorra, France, and the French-speaking territories in the Caribbean and Polynesia. Canadians now have their own version, Food Network Canada.

Every Sunday night, the Food Network Challenge (which has reached franchise status and offers cash prizes big enough to remodel your kitchen) hosts the largest and most memorable food competitions around the world.

Here's a sampling of the competitions for the world's best cakes:

Wedding Cake Challenge - Teams vie for the bragging rights (and $10 grand) for creating the world's most spectacular wedding cake.

Spatulas and pastry tubes are augmented by high tech weapons such as Homaro Cantu's Class IV laser that sears edibles at 2,800 degrees Fahrenheit and ink-jet printer that prints photographs on soy-based edible paper.

Disney Dream Desserts - Student pastry chefs create four desserts and a three-foot tall chocolate and sugar centerpiece as they compete at the Happiest Place on Earth for a $14,000 scholarship and an internship in the Disney kitchens.

Mystery Birthday Cake - Five top-notch cake designers are challenged by a client from hell whose identity and criteria for the birthday cake will not be revealed until minutes before the six-hour competition begins. (Colette Peters took home the $10,000 first prize in 2005.)

Birthday Cake Competition - An edible, rotating Ferris wheel is one of the memorable cakes created in this competition where six of the nation's top cake designers unleash their imaginations and test their skills as they compete to create the world's most outrageous birthday cake (and a $10,000 first place prize).

Cookies, Fire and Ice (pastry and ice sculpture), Wedding Cake Classic and Ultimate Wedding Cakes are just a few more of the dozens of pastry and cake competitions hosted by the Food Network Challenge.

Other challenges bring together top-notch barbecue chefs, pizza makers, and more in a quest for the world's best culinary creations.

Celebrity chef hosts include famous restaurateurs Emeril and Wolfgang Puck.

Many of the Food Network's personalities have become quite famous, such as home cooking diva Rachael Ray (the star of the Network and host of 30-Minute Meals, sort of an antithesis to Martha Stewart). And, then there's Duff Goldman.

Shaping cakes with drill saws and blow torches, Goldman is known as the "Bad Boy" of the Food Network.

He hosts the network's latest creation (as of January 16, 2007), Ace of Cakes. And as one of the most sought after cake decorators in the nation, he blows away cake decorator stereotypes.

A former graffiti artist, Duff holds degrees in philosophy and physics, plays bass in an indie band, and studied pastries at the Culinary Institute of America before going on to the prestigious position of executive pastry chef at the Vail Cascade Hotel and Resort in Colorado. He now owns and operates Charm City Cakes in Baltimore.

His cake creations are as diverse as his talents and include a Harry Potter quidditch arena, a piece of rare black Wedgwood china made for Hillary Clinton in 2002, and many family dog tribute cakes.

Clients have paid $175 for a simple square to $20,000 for a massive, mechanized cake with edible moving parts.

Many of the Food Network personalities have interesting and surprising career stories.

Sugar Rush host, Warren Brown, left a career in law to open Cakelove, his specialty cake and pastry business in Washington D.C. (You may have seen him on Oprah or in Time magazine.)

Sugar Rush follows Brown as he visits restaurants, pastry shops and bakeries around the country, and then returns to his kitchen to cook a recipe he's learned.

Warren's own most popular cake is a three-layer buttercream with fresh strawberries, and his cupcakes are the all-around best sellers at Cakelove.

Every Sunday night, the Food Network Challenge (which has reached franchise status and offers cash prizes big enough to remodel your kitchen) hosts the largest and most memorable food competitions around the world. And they post the recipes on their Website!

Here's a sampling of the competitions for the world's best cakes:

Wedding Cake Challenge - Teams vie for the bragging rights (and $10 grand) for creating the world's most spectacular wedding cake. Spatulas and pastry tubes are augmented by high tech weapons such as Homaro Cantu's Class IV laser that sears edibles at 2,800 degrees Fahrenheit and ink-jet printer that prints photographs on soy-based edible paper.

Disney Dream Desserts - Student pastry chefs create four desserts and a three-foot tall chocolate and sugar centerpiece as they compete at the Happiest Place on Earth for a $14,000 scholarship and an internship in the Disney kitchens.

Mystery Birthday Cake - Five top-notch cake designers are challenged by a client from hell whose identity and criteria for the birthday cake will not be revealed until minutes before the six-hour competition begins. (Colette Peters took home the $10,000 first prize in 2005.)

Birthday Cake Competition - An edible, rotating Ferris wheel is one of the memorable cakes created in this competition where six of the nation's top cake designers unleash their imaginations and test their skills as they compete to create the world's most outrageous birthday cake (and a $10,000 first place prize).

Cookies, Fire and Ice (pastry and ice sculpture), Wedding Cake Classic and Ultimate Wedding Cakes are just a few more of the dozens of pastry and cake competitions hosted by the Food Network Challenge. Other challenges bring together top-notch barbecue chefs, pizza makers, and more in a quest for the world's best culinary creations.

Food Network, founded in 1993 and more popular than ever, boasts record-setting ratings in primetime and a top food Website. Celebrity chef hosts include famous restaurateurs Emeril and Wolfgang Puck. Many of the Food Network's personalities have become quite famous, such as home cooking diva Rachael Ray (the star of the Network and host of 30-Minute Meals, sort of an antithesis to Martha Stewart). And, then there's Duff Goldman.

Shaping cakes with drill saws and blow torches, Goldman is known as the "Bad Boy" of the Food Network. He hosts the network's latest creation (as of January 16, 2007), Ace of Cakes. And as one of the most sought after cake decorators in the nation, he blows away cake decorator stereotypes.

A former graffiti artist, Duff holds degrees in philosophy and physics, plays bass in an indie band, and studied pastries at the Culinary Institute of America before going on to the prestigious position of executive pastry chef at the Vail Cascade Hotel and Resort in Colorado. He now owns and operates Charm City Cakes in Baltimore,

His cake creations are as diverse as his talents and include a Harry Potter quidditch arena, a piece of rare black Wedgwood china made for Hillary Clinton in 2002, and many family dog tribute cakes. Clients have paid $175 for a simple square to $20,000 for a massive, mechanized cake with edible moving parts.

Many of the Food Network personalities have interesting and surprising career stories. Sugar Rush host, Warren Brown, left a career in law to open Cakelove, his specialty cake and pastry business in Washington D.C. (You may have seen him on Oprah or in Time magazine.)

Sugar Rush follows Brown as he visits restaurants, pastry shops and bakeries around the country, and then returns to his kitchen to cook a recipe he's learned.

Cake Decorating Expert

For some, cake decorating is a hobby, and for others, it is a career. The amateurs are those who find it fun and gratifying to bake the cakes and then decorate them for their family and friends, saving money by doing it themselves. With expert training along with good decorating tips and ideas, anyone can master this art. With this art form you will be able to stretch your imagination. If you continue building your skills, you will experience the joy of making others happy with your expertise.

The art of decorating cakes takes place when a man or woman has turned the kitchen into an art studio. When a cake is decorated in an artistic design it is pleasing to both the creator and the recipient. Creating a cake does not have to be a stressful experience, you just need to get creative. Don't be afraid to try new ideas and techniques. For the amateur, it is the simple cake decorating tips, which are the best ways to help you get started. Decorating can be as simple as using a stencil and dusting confectioner's sugar or cocoa powder on the top of a cake.

Cakes can be iced with butter cream, royal fondant, or cooked icing. Adding to the icing cakes can be topped with flowers, spun sugar, or candy. Cakes can be created to look like a hot dog, pizza, or just about anything you have the imagination to create.

If you want to be an amateur cake decorator, you will need to learn the basics and pick up as many of the tips you can. There are many tips and ideas widely available. You may decide to continue making and decorating cakes as a pastime or you may decide to look into making a career out of decorating and baking cakes.

Whatever your desires or your goals when it comes to cake decorating, now that you are armed with this guide dedicated to cake decorating mastery, you will become a force to be reckoned with and win the envy and admiration and praise of those around you... all while having incredible fun as you go!

GETTING STARTED...

To begin decorating, you will need to ensure that you have all of the decorating tools needed.

Tips (otherwise called tubes) are an integral part of decorating cakes. Tips are simple metal cones, which you squeeze icing or a medium through to form different shapes and designs.

The size and shape of the opening on a decorating tube determines the type of decorations the tip will produce. There are 7 basic decorating tip groups: round, star, leaf, drop flower, rose, basket-weave and specialized.

A new decorator should have at least one or two tips from the first five tip groups. Then, as you become more proficient in your decorating you will want to expand your collection with tips from other groups.

Today, we will walk you through the process of trimming and splitting a cake into layers, icing it, and then finishing it with a few simple decorating techniques.

Don't worry; you won't need a pastry bag or tips, just a little patience. We recommend that you equip yourself with a few tools that can make all the difference in the finished appearance of the cake and minimize your frustration:

- a long serrated knife for trimming and cutting
- a 10-inch flexible icing spatula
- cardboard rounds, and, ideally, a rotating cake stand.

For an alternative to the rotating cake stand, improvise by setting a dinner plate upside down on top of an upside- down cake pan. The cake won't spin freely, as it does on a rotating cake stand, but this arrangement does elevate the cake and gives you an edge to grip and spin.

LEVELING AND SPLITTING THE CAKE

A cake can be cut into layers, or cakes baked separately can be layered together.

Either way, level cakes are much easier to ice than mounded ones that must be supplemented with an overabundance of icing. Use a long serrated knife to level an uneven cake and/or to cut it into layers. When the cake has cooled completely, set it on a cardboard round that is cut about 1⁄8 inch larger than the cake.

Place the cake close to the edge of the counter for more clearance when cutting.

First, determine the cake's lowest point. Steady the cake by gently pressing an outstretched hand on its surface. Holding the knife parallel to the work surface and using a steady sawing motion, begin cutting at the same level as the cake's lowest point, slicing off the mound. Remove the trimmed area.

If you are cutting the cake into layers, measure the height of the cake (that has been levelled, if necessary) and cut a small incision into the side with a paring knife to mark the desired thickness of your layers. Repeat every 3 or 4 inches around the circumference of the cake.

With a serrated knife held parallel to the work surface, cut superficially into the cake. Then, with an outstretched palm gently pressed on the surface, slowly spin the cake away from you while pulling the knife toward you. The goal is to connect the incisions and score the cake, not slice it, to create a clearly defined midpoint. Following the midpoint-marking, cut deeper and deeper in the same manner.

Gradually move the knife closer to the cake's center with each rotation. When the knife progresses past the cake's center, the cut is complete. Carefully slide the knife out then remove the cake from the cardboard round.

ICING THE CAKE

When filling and icing a cake with a butter-cream frosting, the challenge is to prevent crumbs from catching in the icing.

To help frosting spread more smoothly, get rid of loose crumbs with a pastry brush.

Cold icing is difficult to spread and pulls on the surface of the cake, so if you've made the icing ahead and chilled it, give it ample time to warm and soften. Also, placing the cake's sturdy bottom crust face-up on the top layer minimizes crumbs and provides distinct, clean edges that are easy to ice. Spreading a thin coating of frosting on the sides helps seal in any crumbs, allowing for a smoother overall look.

Finally, applying a base coat, or "crumb coat," of icing seals in loose crumbs so that they do not mar the cake's appearance.

To anchor the cake, spread a dab of frosting in the center of a cardboard round cut slightly larger than the cake. Center the upper layer of a split cake crust-side up or one cake of separately baked layers bottom-side up on the cardboard round.

Spread a dab of frosting on the center of the cake stand, then set the cardboard round with the cake on the stand.

Place a large blob in the center of the cake and spread it to the edges with an icing spatula. Imagine that you are pushing the filling into place rather than scraping it on as if it were peanut butter on a slice of toast.

Don't worry if crumbs are visible in the icing; since the filling will be sandwiched between layers, these crumbs will not be noticeable.

To level the icing and remove any excess, hold the spatula at a 45 degree angle to the cake and, if using a rotating cake stand, turn the cake.

If you're not using a rotating stand, hold the spatula at the same angle, and, starting at the edge farthest away from you, gently drag the spatula toward you. It will take a few sweeps to level the icing.

Using a second cardboard round, slide the top cake layer crust-side up on top of the frosted bottom layer, making sure that the layers are aligned.

Press the cake firmly into place.

A thin base coat of icing helps seal in crumbs. To coat the top, place a blob of icing in the center of the cake and spread it out to the edges, letting any excess hang over the edge. Don't worry if it is imperfect.

Scoop up a large dab of icing on the spatula's tip: Holding the spatula perpendicular to the cake spread the icing on the side of the cake with short side-to-side strokes.

Repeat until the entire side is covered with a thin coating.

Refrigerate the cake until the icing sets, about 10 minutes.

Apply a final thick coat of icing to the top and the sides, following the steps above, making sure that the coat is even and smooth.

When icing the sides, apply a coat thick enough to cover and conceal the cardboard round. Dipping the spatula into hot water will help create a smooth coat.

As you ice the top and sides, a ridge will form along the edge where they meet.

After you've finished icing, hold the spatula at an angle, and, with a very light hand, starting at the farthest edge of the cake, smooth the ridge toward the center. Rotate the cake and repeat until the ridge no longer exists.

SOME FINISHING TOUCHES

With a perfectly coated cake, you've got a base on which to apply some finishing touches to give the cake a polished look. You can just add simple ingredients like flaked coconut or almonds, or chocolate shards, or sprinkles or what have you, and this can look truly lovely and simple... BUT if you really want to take your cake decorating and all those finishing touches and flourishes to the next level, then you really need to dedicate yourself to a good decorating guide or road map.

And I have just the guide for you! It's called Cake Decorating Genius, and all the wonderful information and advice presented above was gleaned from this incredible book.

I really wanted to uncover all the insider secrets and tips in the area of cake decorating for you, and so we've created and compiled the most comprehensive manual that you will ever read! We worked with all the top experts and professionals in the field to bring all this incredible content together, and believe me, this is information that will truly take your cake decorating skills to an impressively high level!

Here's to your cake decorating success,