I want a flat cake.. - Page 4

Just bought a copy of Cocolat and read this tip. I'm totally jumping on that bandwagon. Anything to reduce pan prep.

I do many of the above suggestions. 

1. make sure you don't have too much leavening, and your batter isn't too thick.

2. use homemade bake even strips

3. don't over fill your pan for the type of batter made (I fill chocolate to just under half full, while pumpkin goes almost to the top, most others are about 3/4)

4. tap pan so bubbles come to the top, then run a butter knife through them.

5. Spin the pan around on the table so the batter flings up on the sides evenly.

6. use heating core in any pan 9" and bigger (like a flower nail but my husband made them and they are all stainless steel and rust proof.

7.bake at 285° in my commercial convection oven

8.level and torte at the exact same time with my wonderful Agbay

 

I'd really like to try the whole "don't grease the pan" thing. does the cake still shrink from the edges? if so, does it tear? do you obliterate the sides of your pan, scraping them with a knife, or can you use a thin metal spatula?

Incidently, the way you keep from having to move you blade up and down for each cake if you only have a single bladed agbay, or other leveler, is to level all your cakes to the same height, all at the same time, then adjust your blade, and torte them all at the same time.

 

I have an 8' work table, and tiered cooling racks, and a commercial oven that has 6 full size racks in it, and multiples of every pan, and 6-8 each 6" and 8" pans, so I bake all my cakes, cool them and flop them all out on the table in a long line, about 18" wide then I use my Agbay and level and torte them all at the same time. takes about 5 minutes to flop out about 25-30 cakes, line them up, level and torte. I would love to see someone try that with a bread knife, except the site of other people's blood sickens me. 

Stainless steel heating cores.

 

http://www.surlatable.com/product/PRO-677559/Ateco-Heating-Cores

Annabakescakes, I want your kitchen!

I LOVE my kitchen! And if I could do it, anyone can! I made $14,000 a year when I started buying for it. It took years and years, buying things one at a time. I got my first Wilton kit when I was 16, but I had been using it for 8 years, lol. (It was my mom's but she only used it about 5 times, while I used it dozens of times, and was much better than her, she finally just gave it to me. Officially.) I got a few Wilton pans here and there, but really started collecting for a future business when I was 24 and quit my grocery store bakery job. I was a divorced mother of three, with an infant and two toddlers, working crappy jobs and going to business school, and doing cakes and sewing on the side. I found out it was illegal to do cakes without a commercial kitchen, so I looked into what I would need, and got saving, and buying a little at a time. I got a $500 filthy convection oven off craigslist and had it for 4 years, in the basement, not even knowing if it worked! The 3 bowl stainless steel sink I had for 5 years, before it was hooked up. $350, off ebay.

 

I was on food stamps when I started out, and just made rule to never go backward, and never borrow money. It took 7 years, but I did it! And it's the only thing I have ever wanted to do, besides be a midwife, but you can't go deliver babies at the drop of amniotic fluid, when you are single with small kids and no support or babysitter, or friends or family.

Wow, Annabakescakes, you're my new hero! Are they making a movie of your life yet? My jaw is on the floor with admiration for all you've accomplished. And you've inspired me to stick to it till I get what I want. I'm a retiree on a fixed income (not a terrible one, fortunately, but certainly finite), but I'm determined to have a great commercial kitchen in the next few years. You can be sure I'll be coming to you for advice. Sorry for hijacking this thread, y'all, but this woman is amazing!

Room temperature ingredients. Wilton bake even strips. If there is a slight dome I cut it off at the top of the pan with a long knife.

I have actually started using the upside down method of frosting. Always wanted to try it but was afraid. It works beautifully for me for sharp edges.

Cuts down on frosting time immensely. Before I could sit and smooth the top of a cake for 20 minutes and still not have it like I wanted it. So, it works!

Aww! That's really sweet of you to say that as you can tell by many of my interactions on here, my people skills have taken a hit in my pursuit of financial freedom...I don't suffer fools well, which is a big reason I wanted my own business but it has gotten worse, lol.

I am very proud of myself, though I am not done yet! The main thing I can say to do, is save a couple hundred dollars, then start looking for deals on large equipment. Keep saving, as you buy and store your stuff for free. (Pile it around your house) I am still doing it to start a retail location. My daughter has a tiered display under her loft bed that she plays Barbie's on, lol! As soon as you get enough items that you can't walk through your house, and you have everything you need, you go for the building to put it all in. In my case, it was buying a house. Then we had to save for plumbing, and electric, and building materials. It took 16 months to build out the kitchen because we paid as we went, while raising 4 kids on 1 income, below poverty levels. Eat beans and rice, and rice and beans, and spaghetti, and Ramen noodle. It builds character! Lol