Temping Cakes

2026-11-05

I really like reproducibility, which is probably why I lean more towards engineer than artist, and so being able to make something the same way (or very similar) every time is important to me. If I make the most delicious cookies in the world once and then am never able to make them again I would see that more as some kind of mechanical error than a flash of creative brilliance. I probably shouldn’t be so rigid in my thinking but anyway.

I really enjoy making bread, cakes, and cookies. Small slightly sweet things that I can share with people and eat myself. Some things are on the more healthy side like bread and some things are on the more unhealthy side like pudding or caramel. I haven’t made caramel in a long while now. But doing these are fun and combined with my personality I really enjoy tweaking my process to try to make more delicious cakes and to make it reproducible.

And one of the core baked good in my rotation is banana bread. It is on the healthier side (it would be even more healthy if I didn’t put chocolate chips but I do) and we eat bananas at our house. Often we buy too many bananas and some start to go bad. Usually I will put them in the freezer, right now we have too many bananas in our freezer and it is taking up precious freezer space. And then when ever I get to it I will try to make banana bread. One nice thing about going into an office everyday is that I have an outlet for my baking and so I will bring a loaf of banana bread in today. I also try to give them to the kids’ school teachers since they are very nice people we interact with everyday and are usually open to receiving baked goods.

But adding bananas to bread makes it a little harder to bake. My banana bread would often come out underbaked in the past. My method would be to jiggle the pan to see how cooked the middle is or to use a wooden toothpick (better than a metal skewer honestly) to see if any crumbs or goop would stick after insertion. And both of these methods are fine but not that reliable. Sometimes the banana bread is well cooked but I hit a patch of banana or chocolate, then my wooden toothpick would come out with stuff on it and I would be confused. Or sometimes I would jiggle the pan and it would seem solid but when I cut into the banana bread later it is slightly gooey.

And only kind of recently did I realize that I can use a thermometer for making breads. I used it frequently for meat, it is why I bought it. I really like making steak, salmon, chicken, etc. and I read that the best way to do it was to user a meat thermometer to get the exact temperature inside. And then a I read an article like this one which advises using the same type of thermometer on cakes. And so now I temp my banana bread and wait until it hits around 190 or 200 and then it comes out fully cooked but not overbaked with a nice crumb on it. I dont have to eat (or serve to anyone) underbaked cakes or breads.

This doesn’t work for really thin things like pancakes, cookies, etc. or delicate things like souffles or macarons. Those still need difference senses, sight or smell, and some type of experience on when they are done. But I do feel my banana bread (and other cakes and bread) consistency has gone up and am very happy about it. Also I didn’t have to buy anything since I already had a meat thermometer lying around.

-Gary