protein coagulation and starch gelation that
set the structure.Cooling and Storing Cakes Most cakes
require a cooling period before they’re
removed from their pans or otherwise
handled. Their structures are quite delicate
when still hot, but become firm as the starch
molecules begin to settle back into close,
orderly associations with each other. Pound
and butter cakes are fairly robust, their
structure coming mainly from gelated starch,
and can be removed from their pans after just
10–20 minutes. The sweeter eggaerated cakes
are held up largely by the coagulated egg
proteins, which form a more gas-tight film
around the gas cells than starch does, and
therefore shrink as the gas within cools and
contracts. The result can be a collapsed cake.
To avoid this, angel, sponge, and chiffon
cakes are cooked in tube pans that can be
inverted and suspended over a bottle to cool.