Expert: Elyse Grau - 12/10/2009

Question
Hi!
 Whenever I bake cakes, the surface is always puffed.As a result, I cannot decorate it well. The icing does not look too good over a raised surface.If the cake rose evenly, then the frostings would look better. How can I bake a cake that will have a smooth plain surface?{rise equally}?
My vanilla cookies are usually very crispy, but the chocolate chips cookies turn out like fudge! I tried to bake them longer, but it just burns. How can I bake crispy chocolate cookies?
Thanks a lot!

Answer
Sara:
Re: cakes - two things you can do. An old trick is to wrap the baking pans with strips of dampened terrycloth. Just cut them the height of the pan and pin the ends together. The other solution is to simply trim the top of one cake with a serrated knife. The bottom layer can be turned upside down to give a flat surface. Coat the tops with a thin glaze before icing to seal in the crumbs.

As for the cookies, there are three factors that will effect the texture. If you use oil or margarine instead of butter the cookies will spread more and be crisper. Also, brown sugar tends to make cookies softer, so adjusting the amount of brown vs. white will make them crisper. Baking soda makes crisper cookies than baking powder, if your recipe doesn't call for soda, you can add 1/8 to 1/4 tsp and try that. Just try one of these changes at a time and see what works best.

Elyse