If you are thinking about doing some baking today, one of the important things to figure out is what you’re going to bake the cake in. Most people have expensive, designated pieces of cookware, but what if you haven’t got anything suitable? Can you bake in a stainless steel mixing bowl instead?
You may be able to use a stainless steel mixing bowl if it is oven-safe. If the bowl is not oven-safe, you shouldn’t use it to bake in, as the bowl might break, or may leak toxins into your food. Once you have an oven-safe bowl, make sure you grease it so that the cake doesn’t stick.
Let’s learn more about how to bake a cake using a stainless steel mixing bowl, so you know exactly how to approach this.
Can You Bake A Cake Using A Stainless Steel Mixing Bowl?
You can sometimes bake a cake using a stainless steel mixing bowl, yes, but you do need to make sure that the bowl is suitable.
The very first thing you should do is check whether the mixing bowl is oven safe. If it is, there should be a mark on the bottom of the bowl. The mark can vary, but will often show a square with a steaming baking dish or bowl. It may have dots to represent the oven’s controls, too.
Look for this symbol. If the bowl doesn’t have any symbol, you should not put it in your oven, because that means it isn’t designed to withstand high temperatures, and putting it in the oven may ruin it and ruin your cake.
The bowl may warp or break, or may leach harmful chemicals into the cake batter. Only ever put items that specifically say they are oven-safe in your oven, as unsuitable items can pose all sorts of risks, and may ruin your baking.
You can put a cake in any stainless steel mixing bowl that does have this oven-safe symbol, however, and it should cook beautifully in the oven. Use this as a way of getting around the need for specific baking tins and trays.
Why Would You Bake A Cake Using A Stainless Steel Mixing Bowl?
There are a couple of good reasons to want to use a stainless steel mixing bowl when it comes to baking a cake.
The first is that you don’t have another suitable tin for the cake mix to go into. Using a bowl that you already have can save you the time and expense of having to go out and purchase a specific tin, which will then need to be stored.
If you rarely bake cakes, this may seem like more expense and hassle than it’s worth.
The more obvious reason for wanting to bake a cake in a stainless steel mixing bowl, however, is the shape. If you want a dome-shaped cake, using a mixing bowl is the perfect way to achieve the right appearance.
If you use a regular round tin, you will have to bake multiple cakes, stack them on top of each other, and then use a knife to carve the shape. This is much more time-consuming and difficult, and it also creates waste, which is why a lot of people prefer to use the mixing bowl method if they have a suitable bowl.
People also use stainless steel mixing bowls if they need to make a sphere cake, such as for a soccer ball or basketball. Again, this is the perfect way to speed things up and get a really good shape for your cake.
How Do You Bake A Cake Using A Stainless Steel Mixing Bowl?
If you’re going to use a stainless steel bowl as your baking receptacle, it’s important to prepare it correctly. Don’t just mix the cake in it and then put it in the oven; your cake will stick to the bowl and may not cook properly.
You need to start with a clean bowl. If you want to use the same bowl for mixing and baking, make sure you tip the mixture out into something else, and then clean the mixing bowl before you put the finished cake mix in.
You also need to thoroughly grease the bowl, using your fat of choice, to prevent sticking. You can use a wrapper from a stick of button, or rub olive oil or another fat around the bowl. Make sure you have a good coating all over, and don’t miss any gaps. You can also spray the inside of the bowl with cooking spray if you prefer.
Whichever method you opt for, this should be done while the bowl is still clean, so you create a layer of grease that stops the cake batter from touching the metal. Don’t try to grease a bowl that has cake batter on it already; you won’t create the non-stick surface you’re aiming for, and your cake will adhere to the bowl.
You can then add the mixture to the bowl – but there is still one more thing to think about, and that’s whether you need a heating core. Let’s explore this next.
Do You Need A Heating Core To B
ake A Cake Using A Stainless Steel Mixing Bowl?
A heating core is a metal spike that protrudes into the cake batter and helps to transfer heat to the center. They come in a variety of shapes and sizes, and they can be useful when you are baking in non-standard containers (or sometimes even standard containers).
A heating core helps cakes to bake more quickly and evenly, because it conducts heat into the thickest part of the cake, which might otherwise remain raw and gooey even when the outside is cooked. The cake will cook more quickly, reducing the risk of the outer layers becoming dry or burning.
A lot of people do successfully bake cakes without using a heating core, even in stainless steel mixing bowls. The metal bowls conduct heat well and in general, you don’t need to change your oven temperature. However, remember that your cake mix is likely to be thicker in this kind of bowl than in a shallow tin.
You should therefore give it longer in the oven or consider using a heating core. If you don’t, there’s a risk that the cake will not be cooked through to the center when you take it out of the oven, which will ruin the whole cake.
Always insert a skewer into the thickest part of the cake to make sure it is cooked through before removing it from the oven. If you see wet cake mix on the skewer, it’s not ready to come out yet. If you’re worried about the edges of the cake drying out, try lowering the oven temperature and cooking it for longer on a cooler setting.
Conclusion
As you can see, it’s possible to bake a cake using a stainless steel mixing bowl, as long as you check that the bowl is oven-safe and you give it long enough in the oven. If you don’t have a heating core, reducing the temperature and increasing the cooking time is often wise, so your cake doesn’t over-cook.
