Baking/Cooling question?

Question

Okay - I do a lot of baking and I understand the reasons why a cake must cook entirely in the pan before removing, frosting, etc.

My question is this:

Why does a cake recipe tell you to cool the pan ON A WIRE RACK for 15 minutes BEFORE removing the cake. Why does it have to be on a wire rack? lol

I'm sure the answer is obvious and I feel dumb for asking. I was just curious. haha

Answer 1

so the air circulates all around pan and on bottom where it takes the longest to cool off

the rack allos air to get to bottom on pan

i never do it though

Answer 2

So da air can circulate

Answer 3

Because the air must be allowed to circulate underneath the pan to cool evenly.  If you lay the cake pan on a sold surface, moisture on the bottom of the cake will become sealed in place resulting in soggyness.

Answer 4

I always thought it was to keep the hot pan off my counter.  And wire cause it holds heat in better.   ???   I could be way wrong.   Glad you asked cause I want to know real reason too.

Answer 5

well one reason is the slots in a wire rack let air flow all around the pan including the bottom and that helps cool it..

another reason is that the cool metal of the wire rack will absorb the heat from the cake pan faster than if you just put it on a tray or a counter top. thus drawing the heat away and cooling it faster.  

Answer 6

B/c a wire rack allows air to flow on all sides of the hot pan.  If a cake is removed immediately, it will be too hot to hold it's shape, and may crumble upon toppling out of the pan.  Not to mention you can get burned doing that!

Answer 7

For air circulation - if air does not circulate to the bottom it will take longer to cool or worse if it sweats it will become wet.  

If you don't have a rack - leave your pan on top of cold oven coils on your stove.  

It is also important to cool for a certain amount and then release from pan - too soon or too long and it will not come out of the pan.  

A hot cake (too soon) comes out but falls apart.  A cake totally cold in the pan will not come out.  

Putting a layer of greased wax paper on the bottom helps this.

Answer 8

The answer was so obvious, I'm sure you knew it all along, right?  It's like why dry clothes on a line, rather than laying on a flat surface.