Make the Best Crust for the Type of Cake You Make
Wet pie dough is a scourge in the pie world, but can be easily prevented by baking a little before stuffing. How long you pre-bake the crust depends on the filling you will be using, and Bon Appetit offers some tips to help you determine how golden you should get it.
For each type of cake, you will need to start by filling the bare crust with the weight of the cake (or beans or rice) and baking it blindly for about 15 minutes. Then, depending on whether you’re making a fruit pie, quiche, or pudding, open the lid and bake a little longer:
- Fruit tarts: Fruit cake crusts need very little extra heat after blind baking. The juicier the fruit, the more your pie will be in the oven, so your crust should be mostly pale and only slightly golden around the edges before filling. Bon Appetit recommends another 5-10 minutes in the oven after blind baking, but even that may not be necessary.
- Quiches : Quiches (like limes) don’t have an ultra-long bake time, so you’ll need to raise the crust to a nice golden brown before filling. After removing the pie weight, put it in the oven for 10-15 minutes and check to see if the bottom has changed to a golden color before filling.
- No-bake tarts : This is a little obvious, but for those pie fillings that don’t need oven time, you need to completely bake the crust before filling. After another 15-20 minutes after removing the weighting materials, you should have a nice, toasted-looking crust that will not get wet with the addition of the pudding filling.
Click the link below to see Bon Appetit’s handy cake crust color spectrum for a clear idea of how each crust should look, as well as suggestions for delicious cake recipes in each category.
The Must-See Step for Making Pies | Bon appetit