8 replies to this topic

[gfron1]

I prefer to make individual desserts rather than larger cakes. And generally I make the individual desserts in 3 inch pastry forms. I've never seen a conversion, so I simply reduce the temperature by 25 degrees and watch them closely.

Are there any tried and true conversion rules that can be used? Specifically, this weekend I want to take an almond genoise that was intended for an 8" round and use my 3" forms.

[jumanggy]

I tried to think about how to set up an integral for the problem, but I must have forgotten much of my college math I've never heard of conversion rules for such a need (maybe it's time for us to set it up? 8" cakes' baking time vs. 3" same cakes' baking time? Graph, make the equation.. x axis= old baking time, y axis= new baking time)

I would love to make individual desserts as they seem to get eaten more easily (small pastry rings are expensive, though..). If there's a time for a 13x9" pan, maybe you could punch out the genoise from the sheet instead.

[gfron1]

Oh right, and the 13x9 conversion. Surely someone has done this work before and its in a fancy chart with pretty colors. But it gets complicated very quickly because of the material that the vessel is made of and the type of batter.

Often with 13x9 I just bake it in that dish and punch out my individual rounds, but that still leaves a lot of waste.

[alanamoana]

rob, i don't think there's any sort of fancy conversion to use. most pastry chefs (okay, maybe just me) just use an oven set to pretty much the same temp always and rotate and check things regularly. after you make things a few times, you get used to how long it takes.

i'd say at work, my commercial convection oven is almost always at 350F or 375F and i just keep an eye on stuff. not very scientific, sorry!

[chefpeon]

rob, i don't think there's any sort of fancy conversion to use.  most pastry chefs (okay, maybe just me) just use an oven set to pretty much the same temp always and rotate and check things regularly.  after you make things a few times, you get used to how long it takes.

i'd say at work, my commercial convection oven is almost always at 350F or 375F and i just keep an eye on stuff.  not very scientific, sorry! 

Ditto that. No sense making something more complicated than it needs to be.
I've never found a batter or dough that wouldn't work just because I used a pan that
wasn't called for in the recipe.

[sugarseattle]

Often when I switch from big cakes to cupcakes, I need a little more structure (aka flour) to help get a nice dome on the little guy. but yes, the smaller the cake, the shorter the window for proper doneness.

i sometimes have trouble when I'm switching up pan sizes willy nilly...like my recipe makes 6-10" cakes and I want to make 3" cakes, how many 3" cakes will my recipe make? For that kind of thing, the cake bible has that handy chart which shows pan volumes which help; however it's in "cups" I think and it's difficult to look at a recipe and determine how many cups it will make. You could do it by weight, and do a general "sponge" type cakes are 2oz/3" ring, and "butter" cakes are 3 oz/3" ring and so on...

[chefpeon]

i sometimes have trouble when I'm switching up pan sizes willy nilly...like my recipe makes 6-10" cakes and I want to make 3" cakes, how many 3" cakes will my recipe make? For that kind of thing, the cake bible has that handy chart which shows pan volumes which help; however it's in "cups" I think and it's difficult to look at a recipe and determine how many cups it will make. You could do it by weight, and do a general "sponge" type cakes are 2oz/3" ring, and "butter" cakes are 3 oz/3" ring and so on...

Heck, I don't even mess with that. If I have leftover batter, I can save it to make a marble cake later (but not too much later), or I always bake off cupcakes. It's great to have a stash of well wrapped frozen cupcakes around when someone shows up and wants you to pull something out of your butt on short notice.

[alanamoana]

i sometimes have trouble when I'm switching up pan sizes willy nilly...like my recipe makes 6-10" cakes and I want to make 3" cakes, how many 3" cakes will my recipe make? For that kind of thing, the cake bible has that handy chart which shows pan volumes which help; however it's in "cups" I think and it's difficult to look at a recipe and determine how many cups it will make. You could do it by weight, and do a general "sponge" type cakes are 2oz/3" ring, and "butter" cakes are 3 oz/3" ring and so on...

Heck, I don't even mess with that. If I have leftover batter, I can save it to make a marble cake later (but not too much later), or I always bake off cupcakes. It's great to have a stash of well wrapped frozen cupcakes around when someone shows up and wants you to pull something out of your butt on short notice.

hmmm, butt flavored cupcakes!

[chefpeon]

hmmm, butt flavored cupcakes

It's my signature dessert. What else do you expect from an anal retentive pastry chef?