The Crucial Oven Tip To Remember When Doubling A Recipe

Sometimes, you wind up with more guests than you anticipated. Or maybe you're all set to make a dreamy, decadent chocolate mousse cake that's so good you know you'll need extras. Either way, you'll have to double the recipe. Though seemingly simple, there are some things to know before you double a recipe. The most important tip to keep in mind once you shove your cake or baked ratatouille casserole into the oven is that it may take longer to bake. Thankfully, doubling the recipe doesn't always mean doubling the amount of time you have to wait until your food is ready — in fact, it rarely ever does.

In the case of muffins, cupcakes, and cookies, the cooking time will shift by only a fraction. Start with an additional three minutes, then check for doneness every few minutes after that. With cakes, you can use a slightly larger pan and check at the original time for doneness. After that, check every five minutes until the cake is baked through, but be sure to avoid letting too much air invade your oven lest it only extends the baking time further. Even a more liberal dish like a casserole recipe doubled and baked in a larger pan will require a few extra minutes until it's ready. The bottom line is that there is no set time for doubling a recipe since it heavily depends on the contents and the pans or dishes you transfer them into.

When you consider that you have to adjust oven times, the best recipes to double are those that make individual portions of food. Cookies, muffins, cupcakes, and biscuits all spring to mind. Doubling the recipe for these usually holds the size of the portions constant. Because the temperature and time for each portion — no matter how many — have already been accounted for in the initial recipe, you won't have to worry about increasing the baking time.

Things take a slight turn with items baked or cooked in single units, like cakes, stews, and casseroles, since you have to consider the size of the baking pan you use. If you maintain a single but larger cake pan, you'll likely have to wait several minutes before your cake is ready — but at the potential expense of burning its exterior. The best way to handle doubling a recipe for a cake is to divide it into two pans so that they cook as individual units. Despite splitting the cake, you may still have to add a few more minutes to its original baking time, but this will take less time than it would using a single cake tin. You can apply the same rule to other dishes cooked in single units, like casseroles or our cinnamon apple cider beef stew.