Cake Baking: Troubleshooting Guide

 

Hi it’s Sharon here 🙂

If you’re like me, you’ve encountered your share of problems while baking the cakes we love to decorate. (Some days I wish I could just wiggle my nose and have them baked and filled, all ready to decorate 🙂

There are several common issues associated with baking, and most of these are fairly simple to fix. The difficult part is figuring out exactly what is causing the problem.

Below is a list of common problems along with possible causes.

Keep in mind there is not one solution for each issue. This means you’ll probably need to play around with your baking process to identify the culprit.

Your cake falls

• The oven temperature is too low
• Under-baking the cake
• Under-mixing the batter
• Using too much baking powder
• The altitude is too high
• Not using enough eggs

 

Your cake peaks in the center

• The oven temperature is too hot
• Using too much flour
• Not using enough liquid
• Over-mixing the batter
• Not using enough batter in the pans
• Using too high of an egg content

 

Your cake is heavy

• Over-mixing the batter
• The oven temperature is too low
• Using too much shortening, sugar, or liquid

 

Your cake is coarse

• Under-mixing or over-mixing the batter
• The oven temperature is too low
• Using too much baking powder or soda
• Letting the batter stand for too long

 

Your cake is dry

• Baking the cake too long
• The batter curdles
• Over-beating the eggs
• Using too much flour, baking powder, or soda
• Not using enough shortening or sugar

 

Your cake cracks and falls apart

• Removing the cake from the pan too soon
• Too much shortening, baking powder or soda
• The oven temperature is too high
• The cake is receiving too much bottom or top heat

 

Your cake shrinks

• The oven temperature is too low or high
• Over-mixing the batter
• Over-baking the cake
• Over-greasing the pan
• Using too much liquid in the batter
• Not using enough batter in the pans

 

Your cake surface is sticky

• Using too much sugar
• Using too weak of a flour
• Using too much shortening
• Not using the proper cooling techniques

 

Your cake has holes

• Over-mixing or under-mixing the batter
• Using too strong of a flour
• Not using enough liquid
• Not using enough sugar
• Using too many eggs

 

Your cake has a low volume

• The oven temperature is too high
• The batter temperature is too high
• Using too little or too much liquid
• Not using enough batter in the pans
• The leavening is expired
• The eggs are too cold

 

Your cake is uneven

• The cake pan is uneven
• The butter is spread unevenly
• The oven is heating unevenly
• The oven has hot spots
• Too much top or bottom heat
• Improperly mixing the batter

 

Your cake has a wet texture

• Under-mixing the batter
• Using too much sugar
• The oven is not hot enough
• The sugar is too coarse
• Over-creaming the sugar and shortening

 

Note: We have a great video called Scratch Baking 101 here in the online school website as well.

So there you have it. I hope this guide will help you with your cake baking!

Sharon

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NOLA photography: http://bentzphotography.com/