If your loaf cake cracks on top, we have a solution for you: don’t fix it, embrace it!  When baking our chocolate loaf cake (cake au chocolat) or fruit cake (cake aux fruits confits), we actually take an extra step after we put the batter in the loaf pan to ensure that the loaf cake will split resulting in a long crevice that will look pretty and appetizing.   This is an old baking tip from our French kitchen, and you know the French, there is nothing that butter can’t fix so you guessed it, our baking tip today involves a little bit of butter – mais bien sûr!

 Baking Tip for Loaf Cakes

Baking tip for Loaf Cakes: Cake au Chocolat

Baking Tip for Loaf Cakes

Sometimes a baking tip is not about fixing a problem but taking what you have and making it better.  This tip will make any cake baked in a loaf pan look appetizing and it take just a few seconds to do it.  So check Art of the Home tip below on how to make a pretty valley on top of your loaf cake in just a few seconds.  Enjoy and bon appétit!

Baking Tip for Loaf Cakes

 Art of the Home Tip for a Beautiful Loaf Cake Top

To give the top of your cake a beautiful crevice on top, make a line down the middle of the cake with the tip of a knife (leave 1-2 inches on both ends).  And to make sure it doesn’t close again, simply dot it with butter (about 1 Tbsp) by dropping a few dots of butter inside that line.  Your cake will come out with a lovely crack on top — shiny and tasty (especially if you use salted butter).  Et voilà!