How to perfectly spread a cake dough
For your cakes, you need sponge cakes, like this one or that one
All the recipes of layer cakes are HERE
All the recipes of sponge cakes are HERE
How to spread doughs perfectly
Those doughs are soft, but not liquid enough to spread by themselves : you need to spread them manually to obtain a straight "even" cake
It is paramount to spread those doughs evenly, otherwise it will show on the cake, and the result is always better when the sponger layers are even and straight
On this cake below, the cake is even and shows a nice cut
● 1 - Manual method
● 2 - Method with Rolling Pin Guides
● 3 - Method with a Dough Spreader
Method 1: Manual method
For this method, we need a long spatula
Use a large silicone mat
Pour the dough
Spread as evenly as possible, holding the spatula with both hands
Scrape off the sides to get even borders
Bake as mentioned in your recipe
Out of the oven, do not pull the mat you baked with. Instead, lay another silicone mat, and flip over
Gently remove the silicone mat
Cut the borders, the cake is ready
The result is OK, but not perfect : the cake is thinner on the left side. That's why I don't like this method
Method 2: With Rolling Pin Guides
For this method, we need "Rolling Pin Guides"
Lay a silicone mat
Lay the rolling pin guides
I recommend stabilizing those guides with tape
I am using a very large "spreader spatula", otherwise use a large spatula
Spread the dough, pushing on the guides, and pulling towards you
The result is a straight and even dough, with no bumps
Clean the excess dough on the silicone mat
Remove the rolling pin guides
Clean the silicone mat
You can observe that the result already looks better than the Method #1
Bake
After baking, lay another silicone mat, flip over, and remove the upper silicone mat
Cut the sides
This is a great method to get even cakes !
Only inconvenient, you need to lay, tape, remove and clean those rolling pin guides everytime
Method 3: With a Dough Spreader ("raplette")
For this method, we are using a Dough Spreader ("raplette")
This is a metal tool, that has 3 sides, of which one has an shallow opening for the dough to be spread
Several brands carry it : DEBUYER, JBPRINCE, MARTELLATO, etc...
You can adjust the height of the opening to get a deeper or shallower cake
Pour the dough and "pull" the dough spreader
It's even simpler than the Method #2
The result looks great, the dough is spread evenly
Clean the side and the residuals on the mat (otherwise they bake fast and burn, giving a bad taste to the cake)
The result is close to perfection
Bake and remove the cake, as explained in previous methods
The result is the best, according to me
However, this is a professional tool that comes with a higher price. Perhaps an idea for your next birthday gift??
Result
My favorite method is #3, but #1 works for fast and small quantities, and #2 works when I cannot use the method #3