Cake Tester Kitchen Tool

[Paul Jones]

This is a tool my wife asked me to make for her and her friends. It was a fun project. A cake tester is a kitchen tool designed for use in baking to test the doneness of cakes. The handle holds a long, thin wire that is inserted into the cake as a probe. If the tester comes out clean, the cake is done and it should be removed from the oven and cooled.

The cake tester handle and split ring holder was machined from 303 stainless steel rod. The 1.5” long handle was machined to 0.364” diameter before adding the 21 pitch knurl. I used a NIKCOLE Mini-Systems™ tool holder with a 0.051” wide carbide grooving insert (GIE-7-SG-1.3 R) created the handle banding accents that measure 0.340" in diameter. The split ring holder is 0.25” dia. with a 0.125” cross-drill hole and threaded 6-32.

The probe is approximately 3.5” long (with 0.4" of this inserted into a brass ferrule) and made from 0.041” diameter stainless steel wire (part no. 30789 from Malin Co.). Rather than drill a small #59 hole directly into the stainless steel handle, I decided to secure the probe in a 0.125” dia. x 0.4" long brass ferrule that is much easier to drill with these small drills. The ferrule is a press fit into the handle using a bench vise and the probe is secured with Loctite 620 High Temperature Retaining Compound (to be dishwasher-proof). The stainless steel split rings were purchased and helps to hang the cake tester and also prevents it from rolling off the counter top.