Thin Layered Cakes...

[rnasser]

Hi.

I am not a professional baker, pastry chef etc. I have made Dobos tortes and Opera cakes which are thin layered cakes.

One problem I always have when baking the sheets is an uneven thickness in the cake layer.

For example, 3/8" on one end and closer to 1/2"

Is this normal or expected and then compensated for when assembling the cake? or are there tips or tricks to prevent this in the first place.

Thanks

[nibor]

Perhaps your oven needs to be leveled?

[gfron1]

I use the handled wire thingy that all decorating shops sell. I then freeze my cakes and as they're thawing, but still a bit hard, I very easily wire saw my way right through with a perfect layer every time.

Also, there are some good tips in the forum's Index in the HOW TO section which includes a 'How to cut a cake.' That's mostly about vertical slices, but I recall some about horizontal, and definitely overall good tips.

[K8memphis]

I mean a quarter of an inch difference is very slight. Put more batter in the pan so you have more to work with in order to turn around and slice it off level as Rob suggests.

When the oven is cold, put some colored water (easier to see) in your pan and check the level. Put a dooey under the high edge to level it out. Unless you go ahead and level the oven. But sometimes pans themselves are a little wonky too. As are oven racks.

Sometimes the oven bakes quicker from one side than the other. With that amount of batter you have to be very accurate in so many areas that sometimes are out of your control. More batter in the pan bypasses a lot of those variables.

I'll just toss this out here but some cakers use a for real level like a carpenter's level when assembling cakes.

Random high & low but in the interest of level cake thoughts pour vous.

[McDuff]

Joconde, which is used for some of these cakes, doesn't really flow. It's not a really thin batter. At school we were taught to spread joconde on a parchment paper, or silpat, on the bottom of a sheet pan, then take a yard stick and slide it under the paper and drag it back and forth to level out the batter. You can bake the joconde on the upside down pan, or drag the paper by the edges into a right side up pan.

[cathrynapple]

If you're cutting the layers, you can put them in a sheet pan or a low-edged pan, and use the ridge on it as a guide. Just hold your blade or wire against the edge of the pan.

[Chris Hennes]

Are we talking about how to cut even layers, or how to bake even layers? When I make multi-layered cakes I am almost invariably making one or two thick layers that get sliced in half or in thirds, etc. That is just a matter of cutting the layers correctly. I think baking such thin layers, especially in a home oven, is quite the challenge. Hot spots, non-level racks, warped sheet pans, not-perfectly-even batter, etc. With a jaconde I use strips of wood of the appropriate thickness to guide the spreading of the batter to ensure an even layer, and even then there is some variation (I assume) due to hot and cold spots in my oven. I only use that as an outside coating on the so-called "modern" cakes, though, so it doesn't really matter.

[hac]

what they all said =P i always bake my cakes a bit taller thanwhat i would need to ensure that i have enough to cut away and level it with. the 'placing the cake in the ref' tip is great and what i use. you can get the wire cutters (i use the wilton one) and just set it, unmold the cake and torte away to level. alternatively you can also try placing a foil sheet on top of the pan a few minutes (10?) before its done to level off heat or you can simply rotate the cake while its baking to get through the ovens hot and cold spots. trial and error to see what works for you.