John N
Cake baking is a science, but even the best bakers can make mistakes. Here are some of the most common baking mistakes and how to avoid them.
- Using Room Temperature Ingredients
You should pull butter and eggs out of the refrigerator about an hour before using them. Letting them sit for a while will let them reach room temperature. Cold butter won’t cream well with sugar, and cold eggs won’t be as effective at incorporating air into batters, which will affect the texture of your cake.
- Overbeating the Batter
Overbeating your batter will result in a tough cake. Once you start adding flour to a wet batter, only mix until it’s just incorporated. If you use electric beaters or a stand mixer, this is especially important because overbeating happens quickly!
- Using Outdated Baking Powder
Baking powder is something you should replace every 6 months or so. When it gets old, it loses its potency and doesn’t produce enough gas to help the cake rise well. It’s also important that you keep it closed tightly between uses so that it doesn’t absorb moisture from the air, which can cause clumping.
- Over baking the cakes
Baking your cakes for too long can cause them to dry out, and nobody likes a dry cake! If you find that your cakes are getting too dark on the outside before they’re done in the middle, try lowering your oven temperature by 25 degrees and then check them every 5 minutes.
- Under baking The Cake
Underbaked cakes can be just as bad as overbaked ones! If you don’t bake your cake long enough, it will collapse in on itself and be very difficult to frost. Also, nobody likes raw batter! If you find that your cake isn’t done in the middle after baking for an hour at 350 degrees Fahrenheit (or 180 Celsius), try raising the temperature by 25 degrees and checking every 5 minutes.
- Leaving The Ingredients Out Too Long Before Baking
If you leave your ingredients out too long before baking, your batter may end up flat and won’t rise properly. Make sure that all of your ingredients are set out about an hour before baking so that they will be at room temperature when you start mixing. Using ingredients straight from the fridge may cause them to curdle when mixed and might affect the texture of your cake once baked.
