While icing and decorating cakes may be an art, baking them is surely a science. This science is a hard task matter. There are many dangers in baking cakes: they might turn out: deflated or shrunk, too crumbly, too wet or too dry. You don’t want any problem to crop up before or after cake delivery.
Here are a list of five common problems and their solutions:
- Cake Recedes in Centre After or During Baking:
During Baking:
- Insufficient moisture: This implies that you have added less of wet ingredients or too much flour. Ensure that flour is sifted well and measured before adding to batter.
- Under-baking: The cake may appear to be ready but after you remove it from the oven, the middle sinks or recedes and becomes mildly sticky inside. To make sure that the cake is done, insert a skewer or a toothpick in the cake and it must come out clean.
- Impatience: This means you opened the oven door too early before cake has been done properly. Remember- the oven door must not be opened till cake is three-quarters done. Or else, you will interrupt the chemical processes going on in the baking fomented by heat, like the rising of the cake.
After Baking:
- Excess of moisture: If cake quickly rises in the oven and tests positive for doneness, but after removing from oven, fall s flat, this could be the result of too much moisture. This problem crops up commonly in humid weather where the flour may absorb excess moisture from the air, before being added to the batter.
- Cake Is Too Rough Or Coarse In Texture:
Over-Mixing: Follow the time for mixing as specified in the recipe. Over mixing can cause gluten in flour to develop overly and give it a coarse texture.
Wrong Flour: Do not substitute the type of flour specified in the recipe other than under expert instructions.
Unbalanced Formula: Stick to measurements specified in recipe and remember to sift the flour.
Right Aging of Batter: Avoid the habit of preparing batter and refrigerating it overnight before baking in the morning as it gives a coarse texture to the cake.
- Cake Is Too Tender To Touch:
Under-Mixing: You might not have mixed the ingredients properly, and they might not be holding together properly. Follow instructions from the recipe.
Incorrect Measurements: If you have departed from the recipe, like adding too much sugar and too few eggs, the cake will crumble easily.
- Cake Cracks On Top:
Too High Temperature: Raising the temperature will cause uneven baking.
Small Pan: If you don’t use a pan of the size prescribed in the recipe, it may result in uneven baking.
Too Much Of Leavening Agent: The cake will rise excessively and ruin the texture of the cake.
- Cake Refuses to Leave Pan:
Pan Not Greased: A cake pan must always be greased before adding batter.
Still Stuck: Not only should the pan be greased, it may be lined with parchment paper or dusted with flour for proper removal of cake from pan.
Pan Is Dirty: If pan has remnants from previous baking, it can affect the texture of your cake.
These are the secrets to solving some of your cake baking problems. Armed with these tips, you can start baking like a professional. Get baking and send a cake to your loved ones. This is a gesture that will be much appreciated.