Technique: Cooling
About
An important process in the baking of breads and cakes. Proper cooling of bread ensures that excess moisture and alcohol created druing fermentation are allowed to escape, thereby increasing the longevity of the bread.
Cakes need to be adequately cooled before icing so as to allow the cake to shrink and prevent the icing from cracking or melting, and to prevent the cake from crumbling or breaking.
Breads
After baking bread should be removed from pans and allowed to cool rapidly on racks. Rolls baked on sheets can be left to cool on the sheet.
Cakes
Layer cakes and sheet cakes should be allowed to cool for 15 minutes in their pans and then turned out while slightly warm, and allowed to cool completely. When hot these cakes are too fragile to handle and may break.
Angel food cakes should be turned upside down to cool in pans.
