I believe that you are on this page because you want to avoid these Common Cake Baking Mistakes. Well, read on to get that excellent baking you desired. Most people pick interest in baking like myself but again most times no matter how much we try our bakings turn out a mess. We try everything possible to make it right, ask professional bakers for advice but because they are professionals they tend to ignore the little things that matter in baking and really don’t satisfy us with their answers.
I remember once baking cake and it tasted like eggroll (LOL), I asked people who baked around me and it still happens I followed everything they told me but it still came out bad. With more and more practice and observation, I noticed some minor errors most bakers make especially starters.
10 Common Cake Baking Mistakes And Solutions
Below are 10 common mistakes in cake baking and their possible corrections.
1) NOT FOLLOWING THE METHOD PROPERLY; Most times following cake recipe can be tiring and time-wasting especially when using the manual method but following it accurately helps avoid cake baking disaster.
There is always a scientific explanation for every procedure in cake baking so if the procedure says mix sugar and margarine until pale ensure to do it or when it says beat the egg for 5minutes please do it to get an excellent result.
2) INGREDIENTS NOT AT ROOM TEMPERATURE; When I started baking I remember bringing out my eggs, margarine, baking powder, and even my flour directly from the fridge and start baking with it but that is very WRONG and it always gives me an undesirable result.
Butter that is too cold won’t give proper creaming and eggs directly from the fridge will make a mixture curdle resulting in a coarse texture and won’t give a good rise.
Try to plan beforehand anytime you want to bake and ensure you keep every ingredient at room temperature at least 40minutes before baking,
3) USING THE WRONG CAKE PAN; That point you get an amazing cake recipe but you don’t have the exact cake pan, this can be frustrating because you won’t know how to bake it. The size of your pan affects the cooking time and how thick your cake comes out.
When you choose to bake ensure you have different sizes of the cake pan to avoid having your cake come out as flat pancakes.
4) INACCURATE MEASUREMENT OF INGREDIENTS; Using measurements that are not accurate (guesswork) will affect your cake negatively. For example, the quantity of baking powder(rising agent) affects your cake negatively or positively depending on your measurement.
Use calibrated measuring scales to get accurate measurement or in its absence use substitute measurements. Below are some of the measurements
CUP TO ML
- 1cup=12tablespoons=48teaspoons=240ml
- 3/4 cups=12tablespoons=36teaspoons=180ml
- 2/3cups=11tablespoons=32teaspoons=160ml
- 1/3cups=5tablespoons=16teaspoons=80mls
- 1tablespoon=15mls
- 1teaspoon=5ml
CUP TO GRAM OF FLOUR
- 1CUP=140grams
- 3/4cups=105grams
- 2/3cups=95grams
- 1/2cups=70grams
- 1/3cups=50grams
- 1/4cups=35grams
- 1tablespoon=10grams
CUP TO GRAM OF COCOA
- 1cup=105gram
- 3/4cups=80grams
- 2/3cups=70grams
- 1/2cups=55grams
- 1/3cups=35grams
- 1/4cups=25grams
- 1tablespoon =7grams
CUP TO GRAM BUTTER
- 1tablspoon=14gram
- 1/4cup=57grams
- 1/3cup=76g
- 3/8cup=85g
- 1/2cup=113g
- 5/8cup=142g
- 2/3cup=151g
- 3/4cup=170g
- 7/8cup=198g
- 1cup=227g
5) ADDING OR SUBSTITUTING INGREDIENTS; When mixing for baking we feel we can add certain ingredients for taste or we want to substitute others because we don’t have them. Except you are a professional cake baker never substitute or add ingredients on your own. Yes, groundnut oil and margarine look like the same thing because they are all fats and should have the same function but in cake baking, it is not like that.
Groundnut oil is mostly used for chocolate cake while butter is used for normal vanilla cake. Oil makes denser and moister cakes than butter. Baking powder and yeast are all rising agents but have different functions so take note.
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6) OUTDATED RISING AGENT; Never use a rising agent that has passed its sell date. Outdated rising agents will make your cake not to rise properly.
7) ADDING TOO MUCH WATER; No cake recipe has water as its ingredients although sometimes we might melt some of our dry ingredients like milk with warm water but please never add water to your cake because it is too thick.
Oil and water do not mix and when you add water to your cake, after baking the inside of the cake will be looking like eggroll and will also taste as such. If your cake mixture is too thick add liquid milk or more eggs but NEVER water.
8) WRONG OVEN TEMPERATURE; All ovens vary in degree. If your oven runs too hot or too cold, your cooking time might be too short or too long respectively. Try to master your oven and set it to the right temperature and also use a timer for it to avoid getting your cake burnt. When using local oven ensure you bake using low heat.
9) TAKING TOO LONG TO PUT YOUR CAKE IN THE OVEN; Our cake mixture isn’t bread or puff puff mixture which needs to be covered and kept in room temperature to rise. Different rising agents have different modes of action and cake rising agents (baking powder and baking soda) have there rising effect inside the oven, not at room temperature. Immediately after missing, transfer your cake into the oven for cooking.
10) OPENING THE OVEN DOOR TOO SOON; When baking don’t be curious, be patient your cake will come out fine if you follow the right procedures. Opening the oven door too quickly after putting in your cake will make the cake permanently sunken in the middle. If your baking time is 1hour wait for at least 30minutes before opening the oven door and if you find out that your cake isn’t cooked don’t keep on opening the oven door at least wait for 10 to 15minutes before checking.
Baking is actually very simple and we are always happy when we try something new and it turns out well. The above tips will help you avoid all the cake baking mistakes and give you an excellent cake. HAPPY BAKING
It will be to our interest and also to your interest using the comment box below to let us know when you encounter any problem on any part of this topic.
