Baking a cake is a precise science, from the measuring and mixing of the ingredients (if the recipe says sift, you better sift, according to Duff Goldman), to the timing of when it goes into the oven and when it comes out. There’s really no winging it, unless you’re a baking pro, which is why — if you’re an amateur like the rest of us — it is so important to follow the advice of experts, like Nicole Hunn, recipe developer and founder of Gluten Free on a Shoestring. She spoke with Food Republic and shared an important, and perhaps surprising, step concerning cooling your cake that we hadn’t even considered: not leaving it in the pan for too long after baking. “‘Removing a cake from its pan too late can undo all the good work you did during baking,” she told us.
Hunn continued, “If you let it cool completely in the pan, steam has nowhere to escape, and that moisture gets trapped between the cake and the sides of the pan.” And what does that mean for your painstakingly created baked sweet? “That’s when you end up with soggy edges, stuck bottoms, or worse, crumbling and tearing as the cake clings on for dear life,” she warned.
So how long does a cake need to rest then?
According to Nicole Hunn, “The sweet spot is usually 10 to 15 minutes of rest in the pan.” Attempting to remove the cake before that, she said, can mean that “the structure might not have set, and you risk cracks or collapse” (it’s one of the reasons not allowing a cake to cool properly makes our list of 13 most-made cake-baking mistakes).
But 10 to 15 minutes, Hunn told us, “gives the cake just enough time to stabilize and shrink slightly from the edges, making it easier to release,” so set a timer as soon as you pull the pan from the oven. She also recommended “running a thin offset spatula or butter knife gently around the sides, then inverting the cake onto a wire rack.” A well-greased, floured, or parchment-lined pan should equal a cake that pops out cleanly, Hunn advised — and if you want to keep your cake together while frosting it, do as Ina Garten suggests and pop it in the fridge for a few hours first.
Reminding us of her website’s gluten-free focus, she further mentioned that getting the timing right is especially crucial for gluten-free cakes. “They’re often more delicate, so the timing and gentle handling make a real difference,” she said.
