Ask the baker

Solutions for heavy cakes, too tart berries, and more

July 18, 2000
Web posted at: 2:08 p.m. EST (1808 GMT)

Q. Sometimes when I bake a sponge cake it has a heavy, almost jelly-like layer at the bottom. What causes this?

A. That layer at the bottom of the cake is caused by the batter's separating and losing air during baking. A variety of things can cause it: overmixing, mixing too slowly (for too long a time), and lumps that weigh down the batter and prevent it from rising well.

Q. I made a cream pie with a pre-baked crust last week. The pie and crust tasted good, but the crust had a few large holes in it. The dough seemed fine before I baked it. What was the problem?

A. Maybe you had several very large pieces of fat in your crust. If you have large lumps of butter or shortening, they may leave holes behind when they melt during baking.

Q. I love to make strawberry shortcake at this time of the year, but the berries always seem too tart. Is there anything I can do besides putting on a load of sugar?

A. Prepare the berries like this: Rinse, hull and slice the berries, then add sugar, a squeeze of lemon juice and a spoonful of strawberry or raspberry jam. Stir and leave at room temperature for a few hours. Chill for longer storage.

Q. Sometimes when I make meringue shells, they just refuse to bake through and become crisp; other times they are fine. I have no idea why they turn out differently or what I should do to make them the same way every time.

A. First of all, summer is not the best time to make meringues. Sugar easily absorbs moisture from the air and can wreak havoc with meringues. Make sure you are using double the amount of sugar to egg white for your recipe: 1/4 cup sugar for every egg white. Then, whip the egg whites with a pinch of cream of tartar until they are very foamy, increase the mixer speed and beat in half the sugar, a tablespoon at a time. Keep beating until the egg whites are thick and stiff. Remove the bowl from the mixer and fold in the second half of the sugar with a rubber spatula. Your meringues will bake through perfectly because they did not lose air from having such a large quantity of sugar beaten in at a high speed.

Q. What's the best way to pit fresh cherries for a pie?

A. If you don't have a little scissor-like hand pitter, try one of the following methods. Rinse and stem the cherries, then holding one cherry at a time over a bowl so as not to lose the juice, slash the cherry in half with the point of a paring knife or shove a chopstick through the cherry. Discard the pits or rinse, dry and bake them for 30 minutes in a 350-degree oven and save and use them as pie weights instead of beans.

Q. I recently read that there is more than one type of cinnamon. I went to the supermarket to investigate, but there was just one type, packaged by a national brand-name company. Any suggestions as to where to find different types?

A. Different types of cinnamon come from Sri Lanka, Vietnam and China. A good source for cinnamon and all types of spices is Penzey's in Wisconsin. Tel. (800) 741-7787 or visit them on the web at www.penzeys.com.

Q. I wanted to make a chocolate cake the other day and the recipe called for Dutch process cocoa. What's that>

A. Alkalized or Dutch process cocoa has been treated with a chemical like baking soda to make the color deeper and to render it somewhat less bitter. At the supermarket look for any brand of cocoa actually imported from Holland (Droste and Bensdorp are typical brands) or Hershey's European-style cocoa. These are all Dutch process cocoas.

Q. Whenever I make rice pudding, the rice is still too hard when most of the liquid has evaporated and it's time to add the eggs. What am I doing wrong?

A. You may be cooking the rice too quickly. Or try blanching the rice first. Bring a pan of several quarts of water to a boil and add a pinch of salt. Add the rice for your pudding recipe and return to a boil. Boil hard for about 12 minutes, or until the rice is tender. Drain the rice in a colander or strainer and proceed with your recipe. The rice will definitely be tender by the time it has cooked down.