Take Your Cake Baking to the Next Level

I know many home cooks who, when making savory food, do not hesitate to experiment. A few extra cloves of garlic, a different spice mix—whether it's a roast or a stir-fry, they feel confident that the results can't be too bad, and might even be fantastic.

Yet many of these same people, when baking, choose to leave the tweaking to the professionals. It's understandable—there's a lot of science involved in baking, and a bit too much baking powder or an incorrect proportion of liquid to dry ingredients can lead to flat cookies or exploded cakes.

But the beauty of cakes, in particular, is that there is a way to be creative with them without having to wholly invent your own recipes. This is because most cakes are made up of various components—the cake itself, various fillings and frostings, and the decorations. For instance, this chocolate raspberry ganache cake consists of a chocolate sponge cake, split into layers, brushed with a Chambord syrup, filled with raspberry jam and chocolate ganache, and covered with a chocolate glaze. It might sound intimidating, but the individual components are actually not that hard to make.

And this is where the creativity comes in: Once you've mastered the standard cake components, you can mix and match them to your heart's content. For instance, I once made a bûche de Noël (French Christmas Yule log cake) that I based on this recipe, but substituting the chocolate sponge cake from the chocolate ganache cake cake above, brushed with a Frangelico syrup (I substituted Frangelico for the Chambord). It was delicious, impressive, and felt like my own creation, even though I hadn't actually invented any of the components.

If this sounds intriguing to you, you'll want to check out our new cake primer. Baking teacher Nick Malgieri breaks it all down, explaining the various types of cakes, fillings, and frostings and how to combine them. You'll learn the difference between a genoise and a butter cake, why ganache can be either a frosting or a glaze, and many other things that will empower you to start to experiment with your own cake combinations.

TEN ICONIC CAKES

Classic Pound Cake
Traditional pound cake, baked in a loaf pan

Devil's Food Cake with Brown Sugar Buttercream
Chocolate devil's food cake topped with Italian meringue buttercream; can be baked in round layers or as cupcakes

Golden Cake with Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting
Golden cake layers moistened by sour cream; ganache sour cream frosting

Classic White Cake Layers
Fluffy white cake; bake in round layers and finish with frosting of your choice

Angel Food Cake
Classic angel food cake, baked in a tube pan

Strawberry Roulade
Plain genoise cake, baked in a sheet pan and rolled up with meringue and strawberries

Chocolate Raspberry Ganache Cake
Chocolate genoise cake, baked in a round pan and sliced into layers; brushed with syrup and jam, frosted with whipped ganache, and covered with ganache glaze

Orange Glow Chiffon Cake
Simple chiffon cake, flavored with orange and baked in a tube pan

Blueberry Cheesecake
Chicago-style cheesecake with graham-cracker crust; baked in a springform pan and topped with blueberry preserves

Flourless Chocolate Espresso Cake with Raspberry Sauce
Flourless chocolate cake, flavored with coffee and baked in a water bath

And to help you make your cakes look as wonderful as they taste, we've also just published this guide to cake decorating. In videos and step-by-step photos, decorating instructor Toba Garrett demonstrates six easy techniques that you can use to cover nearly any type of cake.

With these two experts to guide you, you can be turning out your own unique creations in no time. Happy baking!

by Sarah Kagan

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