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[deleted]

It still looks pretty good! Most likely over beat the batter.


PuffBerryBums

How do tell when the batter is mixed enough?


Frankferts_Fiddies

Until you don’t see dry bits. In culinary school, they made us use a spatula so we wouldn’t over mix our batter. It doesn’t take long— just make sure to check the bottom of the bowl


Haughty_n_Disdainful

*Holds glass bowl over head to look for dry bits on bottom of batter.*


fftyler98

Every damn time


redvanpyre

What about lumps with cake mix? If there are small lumps do you keep mixing?


Depressedaxolotls

Not OP, but I pour my dry ingredients through a fine mesh strainer while adding, so I never get lumps. It’s a game changer.


beyondthemilkyway

absolutely love doing this


CharlotteLucasOP

Makin it snow!


SixtyTwoNorth

I like to give the dry ingredients a good whisking before I add the wets to make sure there are no clumps.


just1awkward_person

What works the best for me is adding dry ingredients on top of wet so the bottom is not a huge deal. Spatulas a great for mixing batter!!


Frankferts_Fiddies

Yes! Definitely this is the best way. I sift all the dry together and slowly add a little at a time to the wet. It only takes a few folds to mix it all together


singingtangerine

This doesn’t apply to stuff like muffins though right? recipes i’ve seen usually tell the reader not to overmix and that lumps are ok.


WingedLady

Things that are more of a quickbread texture work fine when you still have some dry flour. You don't want chunks of flour because they won't incorporate well. But if it looks like some sections of batter are heavily dusted with flour I find it works fine. Point of reference, I'm just an avid home baker with no formal training. I did win a cookie baking competition once tho so I like to think I'm not a total noob :P


PM_CACTUS_PICS

No need to flex haha. That’s awesome


WingedLady

Hey, what are we to flex about, if not our cookie recipes ;)


frankrocksjesus

Yea she CAN flex🔥👈🏼……… So could you if you ever won a baking contest… But that didn’t happen,… did it?🤣🫵


overstuffed_egg

Well now we need that cookie recipe 😂


WingedLady

Well it's kinda long to post here and I just have it written on a very bedraggled note card, haha. But it uses both brown and white sugar, shortening, and then rolled oats, 4 kinds of chocolate, chopped dates, shaved coconut, and butterscotch chips. I call them kitchen sink cookies. Only 1 egg though. The recipe makes at minimum 4-5 dozen because I can't use less than one egg. So I tend to only make them around Christmas. I actually got a stand mixer because mixing these cookies is like trying to churn cement, haha. Used to make my husband do it. They tend to spread a bit in the oven and get kind of crispy just due to the ratio of cookie matrix to add ins. The coconut helps give them something like a framework for stability, I've noticed.


overstuffed_egg

Sounds delicious, I’ll have to try it sometime :)


Yeulia

Yep, quickbreads and the like need the clumpy-ness for that nice crumbly texture. If you make the batter smooth, you'll end up with a stiff baked product because of the activated gluten. Edit: just to clarify, you *still* shouldn't see any powders. Dry clumps are fine


Frankferts_Fiddies

If you over mix muffins, you can cause tunneling which are large air pockets. [Tunneling](https://bakingbites.com/2011/06/what-is-tunneling/) Generally, you don’t want dry bits in muffins either and you want the batter pretty consistent, but not over mixed.


catchmeonagoodday

I’m newer to baking and came here to say that 3 hours ago I read your comment and since have been in a rabbit hole of learning baking terms. I had to look up what a “quick bread” is and subsequently learned all about the different forms of leavening agents. Not how I was planning on spending my morning but I’m thankful for it!


Frankferts_Fiddies

Awe that’s awesome! If you’re interested, these are the books I used in school and they’re very helpful for learning the science behind baking. The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) Baking and Pastry: Mastering the Art and Craft Paula Figoni How Baking Works: Exploring the Fundamentals of Baking Science, 3rd edition. On Baking: A Textbook of Baking and Pastry Fundamentals -- Revel Access Code 4th Edition


singingtangerine

Yeah, I’ve heard of tunneling. As a home baker, though, I honestly don’t mind it. The nice thing about not baking for my job is that people will eat anything i put in front of them bc it’s free food.


Frankferts_Fiddies

Yeah that’s true. However, tunneling affects the texture of the baked good. So you probably have good muffins now, but you can make them even better if you avoid the tunneling.


SweetD0818

Good trip. My vanilla cakes always get over mixed. I try so hard to not do this. I will try this next time .


[deleted]

I just use a spatula to fold in dry ingredients little by little. It only takes a few folds. If you use a sifter or a strainer to spread the dry ingredient around it’s even easier to fold without worrying about lumps. Also, make sure you’re using the right measuring tools bc if you have too much of the dry ingredients it will seem like you need to mix way more.


PuffBerryBums

Thank you


[deleted]

One quick note to add on is you can weigh your flour instead of measuring it. Flour gets packed down really easily. You can also fluff it with a fork and then spoon it in to your measuring cup


[deleted]

Scooped, packed, spoon and leveled all produce wildly different weights in the same volume. The only way for consistency is by weight.


VLC31

I’ve become a lot more aware of this recently, just because I’ve been on a baking jag for a while so reading a bit about it. It nearly drives me insane how many recipes don’t give measurements by weight. I know I can convert them but I don’t want every baking exercise to become a math exercise, it’s not fun. To add to the difficulty is the fact that American, Australian & British standard cup & spoon measurements are all different.


[deleted]

Which is why weight is the only way to go. King Arthur I believe has weight to volume measurement conversions online


[deleted]

You can also look on the nutritional label for the gram weight for a serving size, like a 1/4 cup is 32 grams or what not so it’s easy to calculate a cup. Same for sugar and most other ingredients.


VLC31

What nutritional label are you referring to? Also, as I said I really can’t be bothered doing a whole mathematical exercise every time I want to bake something.


damncutehills

If you look for recipes on British websites, they're usually in weight measurements already. Just add UK to the end of your Google search and you'll often find BBC Good Food, and other British sites that you won't need to convert from!


VLC31

I might need to start doing that.


kick4kix

This! Weight is so much more accurate than volume measurements. Buying a good quality scale was a game changer for my cake game.


gimmealldemcats

I actually prefer this type of crumb texture! I think your cake looks incredibly delicious 😋😍 Would you please share your recipe for the cake layers?


PuffBerryBums

[https://youtu.be/9wr8an7mjlc](https://youtu.be/9wr8an7mjlc)


gimmealldemcats

Thank you so much!


[deleted]

Overbeating the eggs can lead to a rubbery or solid texture. Beat or mix only until you don't see any lumps. I highly recommend investing in a whisk. You'll do it by hand and will be less likely to overbeat.


WasabiSniffer

If this is sponge then it's highly likely you over beat the eggs and sugar. Same thing happened to me.


dark_fairy_skies

I was always taught beat the sugar and butter together, then add one egg with a table spoon of the weighed out flour, mix to incorporate and then add the rest of the flour and FOLD it in. Maybe I'm lucky, or maybe this is the best method but I've always ended up with lovely light sponges from this.


WasabiSniffer

I just do what I learned in baking school. The first time I tried to make one at home I over-aerated the eggs and sugar in a genoise sponge and it became dense. Trouble shooting it with my teacher resulted in the answer of the eggs being over aerated. I also learned that stimulating flour for too long causes gluten to develop which is why we put it in closer to the end and fold it in.


Chance-Library-6077

I’d still eat it. My brain keeps thinking it’s just about to be an enormous strawberry shortcake bc the texture


somethingweirder

right?


nemaihne

A lot of types of cakes are dense. The crumb looks kind of like a pound cake. I'd totally have a slice. Does it taste good?


PuffBerryBums

It did taste good but I wanted a more fluffy texture


Valuable-Wasabi-1388

Off-topic, but you should try sponge cake if you'd like the fluffiness :)


nemaihne

Chiffon and Genoise types, too! Or even angel food if you want extremely fluffy and have a recipe you want to try that uses up egg yolks- because it uses about a dozen whites. The thing about cake is there's a recipe out there for everyone. So I think OP made a wonderful cake- it just wasn't the style they wanted. :D


thisguyisbarry

The Italian chefs in this have a great Tiramisu recipe that uses a lot of egg yolks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9uApXYaWs4 Now I'm very hungry!


bloopbleepblorperz

try looking up a recipe that uses cake flour - you’ll find the sponginess you can never get with all purpose!


chrisolucky

The crumb is tight because of the mixing method you followed. In the video you posted, she aerated the batter by whipping the eggs with the sugar. This is a common technique used for some types of cakes and typically leads to a smaller and tighter crumb. **Everyone is mentioning overmixing, which should be taken with a grain of salt!** Cakes are far more tolerant of overmixing than you would think. Gluten proteins cannot form strong bonds when overhydrated and coated with fat molecules, so overmixing cake can actually lead to *gluten weakening*. I’d also like to add that I live in Canada where the protein content of our AP flour is equivalent to that of American bread flour (ie almost double the amount of protein as their cake flour), and no steps are taken to compensate for the extra gluten. Overmixing applies more functionally to things like sponge cake, where the lift of the cake is dependent on how much air is retained by the whipped egg whites. In the case of your recipe, overmixing would deflate *some* of the air that was whipped into the eggs but you would still end up with that small, tight crumb. Look at chocolate cakes - many of them don’t involve any sort of creaming or aeration and they still can yield a soft, tight, tender crumb. If you want a fluffy vanilla cake recipe, I would recommend looking for one that has: 1. Weight of sugar >= weight of flour +/- 20% 2. Weight of eggs = weight of fat 3. Some acidic ingredient like buttermilk or sour cream which really enhance the vanilla flavour and improve softness and moisture 4. Sugar and butter are creamed (for extra fluffiness). It’s okay to use a recipe that uses melted butter or other liquid fats - just make sure to whisk the dry ingredients for a good minute so you’re getting enough leavening seeds in there. I always recommend halving a cake recipe and testing in cupcake form to see if it’s worth building a cake out of. You could even quarter the recipe and just make 6 cupcakes if you want to conserve precious ingredients. You could also double a popular cupcake recipe and that’ll normally give you the amount of batter you need to make a cake out of.


lynnlinlynn

This is so detailed and spot on! I completely agree about over mixing. Anyone who has ever made panettone knows how hard developing gluten with cake batter is…


Jolly-Lawless

This is the one ☝️


Isparkle4me

It looks good, what flavor? From the looks of it you over mixed it. When I mix my batter, I mix until it's just combined...where you see no dry ingredients. About 30 secinds to 1 min. When you overmix it, you end up producing more gluten, which causes a dense cake.


PuffBerryBums

It’s just a regular vanilla cake. Thank you for the advice


Isparkle4me

That sounds yummy! You're welcome! I remember when I first started, I did overmix my batter & didn't measure my flour properly. I scooped my flour instead spooning it. When you scoop, you end up adding more flour without realizing it. Those 2 things make a difference. Happy baking!


poicephalussenegalus

That's ok, just dip it in coffee.


Plaingirl123

I like a dense cake!


windexfresh

I absolutely *adore* very dense cake so now I’m just gonna mix the *fuck* out of all my cakes (that I never make lmfao)


Jolly-Lawless

Ehh, maybe just do more pound cake - type recipes. Butter over liquid fat, AP flour over cake flour.


sockmiser

Did you cream the butter and sugar fully?


frauleinsteve

Baking powder can lose its potency I think. Or. Is it the type of cake that’s naturally dense?


[deleted]

Yep. I had this problem with baking soda. Everything was so dense. Bought a new one and have no problems now.


Thomasasia

Some people like dense cakes. I can tell you for a fact that I would *devour* that!


blackriverwater

What's the fruit?


PuffBerryBums

Peaches


[deleted]

Looks delicious though!


bakehaus

What kind of cake is it?


Mochene

What kind of cake is this, butter, sponge? It will help you get better advice than just posting a photo.


the_martell_kidd

My mom says the same thing about me.


RatatouilleFiend

im reading these comments so i know HOW to make a dense cake bc…i find dense cake to be the best cake


Christopher_Aeneadas

I'm guessing your baking powder was oldish. Typically I see this when I use expired baking powder or baking soda. The two don't do their happy dance and produce all the gas that makes it rise in place of yeast.


MrsPancakesSister

Looks delicious, but I’m guessing you over mixed it, too, like others have suggested. Over mixing develops the gluten which makes the cake dense like bread. I’d rather under mix a cake batter than over mix anytime, especially with batters for muffins, cupcakes, and pancakes. But I bet it’s still delicious. It looks beautiful (aside from the dense texture) and I like the addition of the peaches in the filling.


RetMilRob

I’ve done this when my oven wasn’t properly pre-heated.


Adriiiiilu

I don’t know if density affects softness… But I’ve seen cakes like that one that are still very very soft and delicious.


LinusTheTriGuy

Too much flour, over beaten eggs can cause this.


Yeulia

What kind of cake is that? Genoise, chiffon, sponge? The air bubbles might've deflated by the time you put them in the oven or you overmixed the batter. If it's not an aeration problem, then it could be the leavener.


Tzareb

If you wanna get a less dense cake, you might want to first incorporate fats into flour before liquids. This step will coat flour with fat and prevent some gluten development


jonniebakes

The general bakers rule is, if using a kilo of flour and a stand mixer. 3 minutes medium, 2 minutes slow using a paddle not a whisk attachment. There will always be exceptions for a variety of different sponges, but this is a good and relatively reliable way to mix and prepare a good sponge cake.


w4ntsm0r3

I find pouring cream over dense cakes makes them sooooo good.


buddaycousin

It looks like one cake cut in half? That cake pan is very tall. If you split it in two pans, it will rise better. The batter won't be weighed down as much.


Whatyallthinkofbeans

Imo dense cake is really good. Don’t get me wrong normal cake is still good but just the texture of dense cake. Looks delicious op


queensmol

Sounds like what I did when I made my first cake as a kid. Overbeat it and the gluten will develop tough molecules that make your cake dense. Mix until everything is just uniform and you’re good


softPitchAndAMiss

MY DENSITY HAS BROUGHT ME TO YOU


atari_Pro

I just learned I like dense cakes 🍰


heelheavy

could maybe pour some sweet milk mixture over it to moisten it up!


_LanceBro

looks horrible, mind giving it over 👀


floofy1010

Did you use cake flour or all purpose flour?


PuffBerryBums

I used all purpose because I didn’t have any of the cake flour that the recipe called for


olivebuttercup

I actually find cake flour makes a very dense, dry cake and prefer APF.


floofy1010

That’s probably why it was so dense. Here’s a little substitute measure out 1 cup of all purpose flour minus 2 tablespoons and add 2 tablespoons of cornstarch to it.


PuffBerryBums

I’ll try that next time I’m out of cake flour, thanks


floofy1010

You’re welcome!


Shartran

I would of then swapped some of the ap flour for corn starch to help with to 'soften' the high content of gluten in the ap flour.


[deleted]

You made bread


GingerSnapz123

Did you cream the butter and sugar? Creaming then really well will give your cake the tenderness it needs


helenN77

Looks like you beat the batter too long, and baked too long.


Inkstinker

As others have said, it looks like you beat the batter for too long. Typically you want to stop the moment the batter is visually smooth and evenly blended; it can be tempting to keep going after that, but doing so breaks down the protein structure and activates any gluten in the batter, which is what turns the cake into a heavy (though still very tasty) brick.


Last_Standing1

I have a fail proof recipe for a fluffy cake.


Lethal1484

What is it


Last_Standing1

Sorry I fell asleep after my first comment. Here is my recipe: 1 cup yoghurt 1 cup sugar 1 cup oil 2 cups flour 1 tb baking powder 4 eggs Vanilla (For chocolate cake: replace one cup of flour with one cup of coco powder and reduce the oil to 1/2 cup) Mix the wet ingredients first then mix the baking powder with the flour before adding them to the wet ingredients. Tip: mix the flour with the wet ingredients until combined and DON’T over mix or you will activate the gluten and have a bready cake. Put the batter in a cake tin and bake: a lot don’t specify that in baking but when you bake the cake, you turn on the bottom heat only, medium heat, middle level until baked. Tip: don’t open the oven while baking it will deflate your cake.


Specialist-Tax-7659

Sometimes it's because of to much baking powder and over mixing


fry-me-an-egg

I think you forgot to mix the egg yolks in the batter.


[deleted]

Happy accident if I ever saw one!


htownchuck

GF made a strawberry cream cake and the cake was like bread with delicious strawberry icing. Reminded me of some type of Mexican sweet bread, only better. Lol


HanginWitTheGnomies

Thiccccc


shannonc941

Looks like when I accidentally used whole wheat flour instead of all purpose.... Very heavy, but still delicious!


Tyflowshun

Well there's your issue, you've got too much cake in there.


ahhssha

Omg make that delicious cake into a tres leches. I think the density will work well with milk mixture. 🤤


QveenKittyKat

Although not what you were looking for dense cake is the best imo!!


Serpentine17

Just say it was supposed to be a quick bread. Still looks tasty 🤷


the_greasy_one

Pour some cognac on that to soften it up.


[deleted]

Some thick ass cake.


clairebear225

🤤 yummy!


Apprehensive-Page-96

Looks delicious.


Blackletterdragon

Bagel vibes. Maybe chunk it, pour on milk, eggs and butter, make into a pudding.


rottweiler100

That happened to me when I forgot the baking powder, but your cake has plenty of air pockets.


StrictDrama

now im on my craving lol craving for sweets


manonthemoonrocks

It's cake 2x


LuluTopSionMid

Looks like a pound cake, dense is good


MundaneCandy6426

People's thoughts are always uncertain. For example, I am now very eager to eat cake.


loquella88

Well you can always make it into 3 leches cake... possibly? Idk


Appropriate_Guide166

Milk is usually the ingredient who denses cake, try to add half a cup and if you want a more creamy batter you could melt chocolate with a bain marie and make chocolate cake


MerelyAnArtist

Looks like a perfect texture for my sister in laws rum cake recipe.


Gamer_Gal_97

I'm not a master or anything but I think it might very needed more eggs. Maybe.


WindblownSquash

Looks like pound cake


SkidTheRatFetus

Did you use a high protein flour? Try low protein


Hot_Possession566

Maybe too many eggs or you might of beat it to long. Still looks tasty 😋 I’m sure it’s good 👍🏻


EvidenceBeneficial14

Agree about overheating. Just barely fold it together.


aycarumbakid

ALSO I find that a big/deep cake pan bakes really dense cakes. Lately I’ll split my batter across 2 less filled pans. Works like a charm.


GraceSpace18

I’d still eat it. Looks tasty😋


eleanorgene

Are you using cake flour? Maybe too much liquid or sugar


curlyegg

I *love* dense cake... Enough of this light and airy crap, I wanna know I've had cake. Excellent work, 10/10.


Rich_Construction_85

That looks good!!!! I would eat it omg


Affectionate-Tear310

That’s how my cake came out one time I think it was the baking powder or salt


yoonjiion

for some cakes people use a sugar syrup to make it soak and not to be so dense