Crumbs in the Bakeroom #5: Why some Chiffon or Sponge Cakes shrink after baking...

Among the numerous ways that can go wrong when you make foamed up cakes, there is one that can be the final obstacle to that perfect rise.
I discovered this the hard way.
My Chiffon cakes use to rise well during baking then the minute I take them out of the oven, they shrink! I’ve already posted about the eggs on the reason they have to be separate and I followed that too. Yet the cakes, even though they taste good, they aren’t soft enough.
What went wrong is on how I treated the pans where I bake them. Turns out if you brush the pans with butter or oil then dust them as you would regularly for baking, it affects the Chiffon or Sponge cakes during baking. It actually shortens them. Quite literally, fat shortens cakes, I guess that is why they call the white stuff “shortening”. :)
To prevent this and maximize the height of the Chiffon or Sponge Cake, you only need to line the base of the pan with grease-proof paper. No brushing of any non-stick mix on the sides.
Once the cake is baked, you only need to run the sides with a knife or metal spatula to loosen it off the pan, because you have paper on the base, it won’t stick. Once off the pan, you can just peel off the paper. :) EASY!

AND YOUR CAKE WILL BE LIGHTER AND FLUFFIER!!!