How to Bake a Cake with a Heating Core

How to Bake Cakes with a Heating Core
The heating core is a nifty gadget that helps radiate heat into the center of large or deep cakes, reducing baking time and allowing for a more even rise and a more evenly baked cake.

How to Bake Cakes with a Heating Core
This is particularly handy when baking cakes in a home oven or when baking large cakes such as the base tier of a wedding cake. Large cakes tend to get over-baked around the outsides so I use this for all sizes greater than 7″ in diameter and deeper than 2″.

How to Bake Cakes with a Heating Core

The cake core produces a small cone of cake that will eventually plug the hole left by the mold once it has been removed. Your party guests will never know you used this little trick to help bake the inside of your cake.

Step-by-Step Instructions

  1. Grease and flour the heating core (commission earned) both inside and out. Prep the baking pan in the same way too.

How to Bake Cakes with a Heating Core

2. Place the heating core in the center of the pan then fill it halfway with batter.

3. Fill the cake pan with batter. Be careful not to tip the heating core over while you do this.

The level of the batter in the cone should be a little bit higher than the level of the batter outside of the cone.

How to Bake Cakes with a Heating Core
4. After baking, remove the plug to ventilate the hole. The cake will cool down faster this way.

How to Bake Cakes with a Heating Core
Once the cake has cooled, fit the plug into the hold. It should fall snugly in place. If not, you may need to trim a little off the bottom.

Proceed to slice cake layers. You will notice that each disk of sliced cake has a small round piece in the middle. That will fuse completely with the rest of the cake once the layers are spread with filling.

Half Sphere Cake Example

How to Bake Cakes with a Heating Core

This tool also works nicely for hemisphere cakes baked inside bowls.

How to Bake Cakes with a Heating Core

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Comments

How to Bake a Cake with a Heating Core — 12 Comments

  1. Hi, I love your work. I have tried to make a super moist yellow or vanilla cake with a very tender soft crumb, like a cake mix, taste great but next day dry, please help, tried everything would love an amazing recipe . Never problems with choc. cake , just yellow thx hope you respond.

  2. If you don’t have a heating core and I’m making a doll cake, can I twist tight some tin foil and put it in the middle of the bowl that I’m making the dress for the doll cake?

    • Barrie,
      That is a clever idea. I am stumped by this question as I have never tried it myself. A quick google search on the topic did not turn up much so now I am curious to know the answer. If you end up experimenting with it, I hope you will return to let us know how it went.

  3. Is it necessary to slice the cake horizontally into layers when making a half sphere cake, and use buttercream filling, or can we just bake a hemisphere cake & ice it without creating layers?

    • You are not under any obligation to add filling to a cake. In fact, it would be easier to ice and decorate a hemisphere cake that is not filled. It would be more stable that way. Go ahead and give yourself permission to do whatever feels right based on your skill level.

  4. Thank you for blog …. it’s life changing !!!
    I am taking on the ominous task of cooking my own wedding cake …. by my calculations it will have to be huge !
    Questions … when baking your 4″ tall cake with heating core, do you drop the temp of your oven ?
    When baking 16″ cakes I would presume it is better to cook 2 x 2″ layers .. can I still do this in the 4 inch pan ? Do you have any tricks for working out batter amounts ?

    Thank you so much for your time !!
    Vicki

    • Making your own wedding cake, especially one that big, sounds like a daunting task. I’m in awe of your willingness to do it.

      No, I have not tried dropping the temperature of the oven. I imagine it could work though…as long as it happens later on, once the cake is mostly baked through.

      I do agree that if you can do it, it would be better to bake the 16″ tier in two parts.

      Fat Daddio’s has a good tutorial on measuring cake batter. Here’s the link: How Much Batter Do I Need

      GOOD LUCK!

  5. I have been taking the wilton cake decorating classes and no one has ever suggested a heating core for baking the larger cakes. Thank you so much for the explanation and keeping it simple.

    • I teach Wilton classes, and I always mention using a heat core of with larger or deeper pans. It all depends on the instructor. They are mentioned in your workbook.

  6. wow!!! thanks so much… if possible to have recipe of this cake? and recipe butter cream? kiss from italy!!!

  7. Hi! Thank you for the wonderful tutorials! I also read up on how to fill a cake a moment ago and was wondering how many layers you typically get after cutting and leveling a cake that was baked in a 3-4 inch deep pan. Did you bake in two pans to get three layers or was it just one?

    • Hello, you are welcome! For cakes under 10″ in diameter, I usually bake in one deep pan then cut into 3-4 layers. For wider tiers, I may bake two shallow cakes then cut them into 2 layers each to make 4 layers. Depends on what kind of oven is being used (commercial/convection ovens work better for baking all in one pan).