Cake, how to make the best one?

We try to add a few tricks and tips to every recipe we publish, so that the dessert is a real success and doesn''t fall apart just as the first guest rings the doorbell. As with everything, we''ve all made at least a thousand and one mistakes when making desserts. Instead of forgetting about them, we''ve compiled a list of tips and tricks to make sure they don''t happen again. We want to share it with you.

1. Recipe

The first and most important rule for every pastry chef must be: the recipe must be followed from start to finish. As obvious as this sounds and reads, in practice it usually isn''t. Sunday afternoon, unannounced guests, closed shops. There are two eggs in the fridge, the recipe calls for three. The recipe says it must be a certain type of flour, but there is none at home, so we use what we have at home. Many times we decide to ''substitute on our own'' when it comes to the ingredients required and end up angry because the dessert is not what the recipe says it is. Of course it isn''t, because all the ingredients in a recipe are there for a reason and changing them affects the final product. If you find yourself in this "unannounced guests" situation more than once, we suggest that you choose a recipe based on the ingredients that are already waiting in your fridge for your pastry experience. Or mix them with other recipes. For example: in one recipe, you only need egg yolks, but because you don''t want to throw away the egg whites, you can use them to make a great Pavlova cake.

The first and most important rule for any pastry chef: you must follow the recipe from start to finish.

Just as it is important to follow and choose the exact ingredients, it is important to stick to the written baking tray sizes.

2. Room temperature ingredients

200 g room temperature butter. Familiar? Maybe that''s what it said in the last recipe, where the cake didn''t turn out the way it should have. If it says to use room temperature butter, there is a reason it says so in the recipe. The most common first step in making sponge cake starts with: "...cream the butter and sugar.". If you use room temperature butter, the sponge will be fluffy and not compacted. Why is this so important? Butter has a special property, namely that it can trap the air that develops during mixing, thus creating a fluffy sponge cake. The butter should rest on the kitchen counter for at least an hour or two before use, or long enough for you to be able to make an indentation in it without effort or force with your finger. Room temperature also makes it easier and quicker for the ingredients to bind together.

BAM tip: if you start making the cake right now, you can warm the butter in ten minutes. To do this, place 2 dcl of warm water in the microwave on the highest setting for two minutes. Place the measured and cubed butter in as large a bowl as possible and, after the water has drained for a minute, remove it from the oven and quickly close the microwave with the prepared butter. Do not turn on the microwave at this stage as the butter will be too hot.

3. Measured quantities

The measured quantities must be measured really precisely. It''s also a perfectly obvious rule, but one that we don''t follow as often as we should. The most commonly "measured by eye" ingredient is flour. Always use a weighing scale, if possible a digital one.

Cake baking does not spare and is happy to point out any mistakes made during preparation, so it is really important to follow the ingredients, utensils and steps exactly as they say.

4. Cake in the oven

Cake in the oven does not like to be peeked at. When the cake is in the oven, it likes to be exposed to high temperatures, but if the oven is opened in the meantime, cold air is let in, causing that unwanted sponge that did not rise during baking. We recommend that you admire it through the oven glass. Try to open the oven door only once or twice. Of these, the opening once should be reserved for the test, if the cake is baked. The toothpick test, which is familiar to almost everyone, helps you to tell if the cake is baked. Stick a toothpick in the middle of the cake and if it comes out clean, the sponge is baked, if there are bits of sponge on it, the cake will need a little more time to bake. In addition, there is a slightly less well-known way: take the cake out of the oven or just test it with the cake in the oven, it''s entirely up to you. Press the cake gently with your finger. If there are no finger marks on the sponge, the cake is baked. If your finger has left marks on the dough, it will take a few more minutes to bake. This little trick can also be used to bake cakes and biscuits. If you want a quick and easy preparation that doesn''t require an oven, this recipe will make a cake without baking.

Now you have your favourite cake in front of you, and it needs decoration. We all know that even the best desserts only look perfect when you add decoration. One of them is ganache cream. There are several ways to prepare it, but the most important thing is that you always follow the same procedure. As well as when preparing the dough.