This sounds like a stupid question but I'm going to ask it anyway. Does the shape of the baking pan affect the rise of a cake?
I've baked this heavy cake twice using a square pan and it had came out beautifully flat on top both times. Then because I had to bake the same cake in smaller portions, I used round pans about 5 inches in diameter. The cakes rose in the center like mountains towards the end of baking. After I took them out of the oven, the mounds subsided but continued to settle lower and lower until a crater permanently formed in the center.
I thought it was because I overbeat the batter and therefore aerated it unnecessarily. I tried two more new batches, gingerly mixing the batter both times. I used the same round pans and they all came out with craters! I'm thinking maybe it's because the round pans, unlike the square pans, don't allow for cake expansion on the sides? (Duh, scratching my head here.)
Or could it be the texture of the walls of the pan and not its shape? The regular hard aluminum square pan had smooth walls whereas the round pans were of the soft disposable aluminum type, and therefore had rough crimped walls. Maybe the smooth walls allowed uniform rise of the cake while the rough walls made the cake stick on the sides while the center rose?
I hope somebody out there has an answer. Thanks!
I've baked this heavy cake twice using a square pan and it had came out beautifully flat on top both times. Then because I had to bake the same cake in smaller portions, I used round pans about 5 inches in diameter. The cakes rose in the center like mountains towards the end of baking. After I took them out of the oven, the mounds subsided but continued to settle lower and lower until a crater permanently formed in the center.
I thought it was because I overbeat the batter and therefore aerated it unnecessarily. I tried two more new batches, gingerly mixing the batter both times. I used the same round pans and they all came out with craters! I'm thinking maybe it's because the round pans, unlike the square pans, don't allow for cake expansion on the sides? (Duh, scratching my head here.)
Or could it be the texture of the walls of the pan and not its shape? The regular hard aluminum square pan had smooth walls whereas the round pans were of the soft disposable aluminum type, and therefore had rough crimped walls. Maybe the smooth walls allowed uniform rise of the cake while the rough walls made the cake stick on the sides while the center rose?
I hope somebody out there has an answer. Thanks!