wok cake baking

[Lil-Leo-67]

I know baking in a dutch oven has been done thru scouting but has anyone tried to bake a cake using a stainless steel wok?

 

We are having our annual cake bake auction, with the "Pet Pals" theme. My son has decided to bake a cake to look like a wolf spider!

 

If anyone knows if it will work please let me know. If not, I'll be breaking new ground in the expiermental wok-baking area.

 

[orennoah]

I'm not clear on what the wok and the spider-like cake have to do with one another.

 

If you're looking to the use the wok as some kind of mold for the cake, my advice is to oil it, sprinkle it with flour and fill with your cake batter and bake in your regular oven.

 

If, however, you're looking to bake a cake using your wok as the cooking vessel, you can try this Chinese sponge cake, which is steamed.

 

This is a lovely no fuss, pretty much fool proof sponge cake.

 

5 large eggs at room temp

1 tbsp. water

1 tsp Almond extract

1 cup sugar

1 cup Brown OR White rice flour

1 tbsp. melted butter

 

Preparation:

Beat eggs, water and sugar for 10 minutes at high speed or for 20 minutes by hand. The consistency should be thick and creamy. Fold in flour, then melted butter. Line bottom of a 9-inch round or 7-inch square baking pan with cooking parchment paper. Pour batter into pan.

 

Cooking:

Have water in wok boiling. Set cake pan in Bamboo steamer or on a steaming rack and cover. Steam 20 minutes at medium heat. Insert tooth pick to see if done.

 

Turn cake out and peel off backing paper. Cut into squares or wedges. Serve warm or cold as it is or with fresh berries and cream or jam and cream etc.

 

- Oren

[SeattlePioneer]

I don't understand the purpose of your post.

 

If your son wants to bake a cake in a camping situation, using a Dutch Oven will greatly increase chances of success since it will avoid hot spots and cold spots and result in more even baking on all surfaces.

 

If you just want to use a wok to bake a cake in an oven, I don't see why that wouldn't work.

 

 

 

Seattle Pioneer

[SR540Beaver]

I get the feeling that this isn't camp cooking since you mentioned a bake sale. I also get the feeling that you are thinking of a wok as a form for making a spider shaped cake.

 

If you are just looking for alternatives for baking a cake, there are many. I've experimented with baking a cake in a cardboard oven. You line a cardboard box with aliminum foil and place it over your cake pan. It helps to have the cake pan on a rack with a piece of charcoal or two underneath and then charcoal forming a ring a few inches away from the pan. You'll need to prop a corner of the box up with a rock to allow air flow.

 

After doing this, I tried a different experiment that I dreamed up on my own. Our boys are rather lackluster in their desire to cook and therefore their skills. I wanted to show them how to improvise. Instead of baking a pizza in a dutch oven, I used a stainless steel mixing bowl. I used a stainless steel dining plate as my pizza pan and set it on a wire rack over the coals. The mixing bowl was larger around than the plate and I placed it upside down over the pizza pan. This allowed the pizza to bake from the bottom and the heat rolled up inside the bowl and reflected down on the top of the pizza to cook it as well. It actually turned out better and quicker than the one we did beside it in a dutch oven.

[SeattlePioneer]

 

 

 

Neat improvisation. I'll have to try something like that. I spent an afternoon teaching a patrol leader how to bake pizza in a Dutch Oven for our pre camporee camp, and then he got sick that weekend and couldn't go.

 

I like the idea you present for improvising an oven.

 

 

 

Seattle Pioneer