Welcome to the Cake Decorators Q&A

Hi All

I have one permanent problem with the density of my cakes , they always taste good , flavors are fine but they are always very dense (impossible to cut with plastic knife 🙁 ), that spoils everything . I use recipe similar to Mrs Jone’s cake, but they are not fluffy and soft like a birthday cake should be . Please tell me what I do wrong and any suggestion to how to avoid this in future

Thanks

Hi Neha28

Is it possible that you over mix your batter? Over mixing the batter releases glutens in the flour which makes for a dense compact crumb. Cream your butter and sugar for a good five to ten minutes, add eggs one at a time and again cream very well with the butter and sugar. Eggs which are not creamed really well will make your cake heavy and eggy because not enough air has been incorporated into the emulsion. Eggs not only help bind the cake batter but are also necessary for helping the cake rise and add extra fats. Your emulsion should be thick and creamy. Add sifted flour in two or three batches and gently but quickly fold in with a metal spoon, fill your tin and bake immediately. Have a look at this blog http://www.cakeflix.com/blog/baking-the-perfect-cake-why-things-go-wrong you might find some of the information useful. Let us all know how your net bake turns out, g’d luck with it.

Thanks so much madeitwithlove

, your blog is great and full of information , I guess I have faced all the problems given there in my baking experience .

I guess I should give more time creaming the egg – butter mixture . Please tell me when I add butter it should be completely melted or just soft

Thanks

Hi Neha

The butter should be at room temperature, take it out of the fridge about an hour or half an hour before you bake depending on how warm your kitchen is or, how warm the climate is. Butter should be cool so that when pressed, your fingers just leave a dent in it. When you cream the butter and sugar together with your hand mixer/stand mixer, the friction from the beaters will create heat and soften it.. If it is too soft at the start the heat from the beaters will melt it even more making your batter greasy, this will affect the quality of your cake. Some cake recipes such as Genoise will ask for melted butter, that’s fine because the method is different, so it is essential to follow what the recipe requires. Another tip Neha is for buttercream, keep your butter cool for that too so you can beat the butter and sugar for a long time to get it white, fluffy and smooth without making it greasy. We’re all learning something new every day from one another, not just in baking. Everyone is here to help you, and all things are better by understanding. xx