There are only a few months before Christmas and many cakes and dessert makers are sending us questions regarding their baked goods. Many of the questions are about the problems they had with their products last year. Here they are.

Q: I can’t seem to get a perfect, moist chocolate cake. After baking, the cake seems moist. But, after some time, it becomes very hard. Other times, there are burnt parts in the cake that are very bitter. How do I fix this? (Jomel of San Juan)

Jun Jun: There could be many reasons for your problems with your cake. First of all, make sure that you have the proper oven temperature; this is a really major factor. Even if your selector gives you the temperature, you should still check with an oven thermometer. Next, when baking your cake, transfer your cake to other areas of the oven to lessen the burnt parts.

You should also review your recipe and check if the rations and proportions are correct. If you have the time, please send us your recipe through our email address.

Adoree: Hi, Jomel. Please use an oven thermometer to make sure your oven temperature is accurate. You see, chocolate burns easily so you have to make sure you are not baking it at a high oven temperature. Also, put the baking pan in the middle rack of your oven.

Q: Hi Jun Jun and Adoree, I have a question. Every Christmas, I give my friends and relatives Catheral Windows. However, after refrigerating the dessert, it comes out with holes. How do I remove them? (Kyla of Masbate)

Jun Jun: Kyla, what a beautiful dessert to give; full of color and with less fat too. Your holes are due to the bubbles that are left after setting the gelatin. Make sure to tap your container a few times and rest the mixture at room temperature before putting it into the refrigerator. Also, make sure that there are equal amounts of colored cubed gelatin and main gelatin mixture.

Adoree: Kyla, you should try not to incorporate air into the mixture. If you need to stir the mixture, do so with a spoon; do not use a whisk. Incorporating air will create bubbles and they will turn into holes when the dessert sets. Tapping the mold will before refrigerating will also help release whatever bubbles formed.

Q: My whipped cream icing is always melting, am I using the wrong brand? (Chary of Pangasinan)

Jun Jun: Hi Chary, thank you for your question. I am very sure that a lot of our readers will be very interested with our answers to your question. First of all, make sure that your cream is very cold before you whip it. If possible, the container and the whisk you are using should also be cold. It should be whipped in less than 10 minutes, make sure that it is not over whipped, meaning there should be no lumps and small pieces of firm cream in the mixture. Keep it cold and when you ice a cake, and keep your cake in the freezer. Some refrigerators do not have the right coolness for a whipped cream iced cake to be stable. Changes in temperature will really cause it to melt. Another technique is folding some gelatin mixture into your cream after it is whipped.

Adoree: You may want to use non-dairy whipping cream for it is a lot more stable than heavy cream. If using non-dairy whipping cream, just whip the cream until stiff peaks form; you do not have to add sugar and flavoring since it is already sweetened.
Q: Hello Jun Jun and Adoree. I’ve noticed that whipped cream on meringue tends to make the meringue soggy after a few hours. I’ve seen this in my Pavlova. What can be done to keep the meringue firm? (Alvan of San Juan)

Jun Jun: Pavlova should be made on the day it will be eaten. The sogginess is due to the whipped cream mixture being absorbed by the meringue and this really happens after a few hours. You should assemble the dessert an hour or so before serving. You can whip the cream and bake the meringue ahead of time but on the same day.

Adoree: Alvan, just assemble your Pavlova minutes before serving to minimize the sogginess of the meringue.

Q: Jun Jun and Adoree, what’s the flavor of fruitcake? What is it made of? Help me please. (Maryanne of Quezon City)

Jun Jun: The flavor of a good fruitcake comes from the wood spices added into the batter, as well as the different dried fruits and glazed fruits and peels that combine very well with the liquors added to it. All these ingredients will give you that Christmas fruitcake taste.

Adoree: The flavor of real fruitcake comes from the brandy you glazed the fruitcake with. Aside from that, the spices also add an extra flavor together with the candied fruits used. To get the best-tasting fruitcake, you have to use the best brandy and you have to age the fruitcake for a month or so.

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