Baking with a Collar

Baking with a Collar

I wanted to see what would happen if I put an entire box cake mix into my 7" round.  One box mix is too small for my 8" round and too big for my 6" round.  I was hoping 7" would be juuuust right.  

My pan is 3" high, and I figured the entire batch might overflow, so here was my opportunity to try out a cake collar.  From what I read, a collar is just parchment paper inside the pan to prevent overflow and get that extra height when necessary.

I was concerned about the paper stability, so I used 2 pieces of parchment paper, both folded in half.  I don't think I should have done that.  The folds made pockets at the bottom where the cake got pushed inward.  Next time I should just cut a long strip instead of being lazy!

See how ugly the sides and bottom are from the paper folds???

Thank goodness for cake spackle.

The other problem was that it seemed to take a long time to bake.  That was due to either so much batter vertically or because this was in my Magic Line pan, which is more heavy duty than my regular Wilton pans.  I must have taken it out still too early.  There was a spot in the upper center of the cake that I noticed when leveling / torting that was slightly under-cooked.

Verdict

Cake collars is a neat trick.  I like the size of the 7" round and will continue using this method but hold back on some of that batter.  A little waste isn't worth the time or the risk of under-cooking.

Oh here's the final cake if you're interested ... I don't know why I bothered crumb-coating ...