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I thought putting a wet towel under my cake pans was nonsense, now I'm not so sure
For a long time I figured the wet towel trick for baking cakes in a water bath was just something people repeated online without testing it. Then last Saturday I tried it on a cheesecake in my kitchen here in Boise, and the top came out smooth with zero cracks, which never happens for me. I used a folded dish towel soaked in hot water and wrapped it around the outside of my 9 inch springform pan, then baked at 325 for 70 minutes. Now I'm stuck, because I can't tell if the towel actually helped or if I just got lucky with the timing. Has anyone else tried this on regular layer cakes, or does it only work for cheesecake?
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gavin_allen481mo ago
The thing nobody talks about is what the towel actually does to the crust. You wrapped the outside of the pan, so the sides of your cheesecake stayed cooler than the middle, which is probably why you got that smooth top. But on a regular layer cake, the math changes. Those bake for 25 to 35 minutes at 350, so the towel never even gets hot enough to make a difference before the cake is done. You'd basically be adding a wet rag to a hot oven for no reason. Try it on a layer cake and I bet you get the same cracks you always got.
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