26 Years of Award Winning Baking & Dessert Video Recipes

breakfast & brunch bars & squares cupcakes shortbreads breads youtube channel
about us
recipe index
substitutions
ingredients
glossary
conversions
weight vs volume
easter baking
apple recipes
pumpkin recipes
cranberry recipes
chocolate recipes
healthy baking
eggless recipes
comfort foods
blueberry recipes
biscotti recipes
pudding recipes
english tea party
trifle recipes
ice cream recipes
strawberry recipes
lemon recipes
thanksgiving baking
candy recipes
halloween baking
valentine's baking
christmas cookies
christmas baking
christmas candy
baking history
bibliography

 
Subscribe Now
 

Troubleshooting Butter Cakes

Printer Friendly Page

Sometimes our butter cakes don't turn out the way we expected.  Maybe they are domed, or sink in the middle, or are too heavy, or have holes.  There are many reasons that cakes fail and understanding these reasons will help to prevent the next disaster.  To find out more about techniques used in making butter cakes go to the Butter or Shortened Cake page.

When baking butter cakes, as with all baking, it is very important to accurately measure or weigh all your ingredients.  Having too little or too much of any one ingredient will affect the outcome of the cake.  Also, the correct oven temperature is paramount to a wonderful cake.  A perfectly measured and mixed batter will fail if your oven temperature is incorrect.  Therefore, if you find your cakes are done before the specified time, invest in a good freestanding oven thermometer to accurately measure the temperature of your oven. 

Proper mixing of the batter will also affect the outcome.   With the creaming method, creaming the butter and sugar develops air cells in the batter, which helps give cakes their volume and texture.  Sifting the flour with the baking powder/soda prevents uneven distribution of the leavener which can cause holes in the finished cake.  When adding the flour to the batter, do not overmix or it will produce too much gluten.   Too much gluten causes a cracked and domed top.

Some common problems and their causes are:

DOMED or CRACKED SURFACE and/or TUNNELS -

- batter over mixed

- wrong type of flour or too much

- too little baking powder/soda or sugar

- oven temperature too hot

CAKE SINKS IN THE CENTER -

- batter over mixed

- too much fat and/or sugar or leavening

- not enough liquid

- oven temperature too low

CAKE DIDN'T RISE (COMPACT TEXTURE)

- improper mixing

- butter and eggs wrong temperature

- too much or too little fat

- too little baking powder or baking powder is too old

- oven temperature too hot

- wrong pan size

TOP CRUST IS TOO DARK OR HARD

- over baked

- wrong oven temperature

- too much sugar, baking powder/baking soda

COARSE GRAIN AND DRY

- oven temperature too low

- too much baking powder/baking soda

- too little liquid

CAKE FALLING APART

- too much baking powder/baking soda, sugar, or fat

- improper mixing

- oven temperature too low

 

 
Subscribe Now
 
     
 

 

 

New Videos

   
   

 
 

Contact Us   Privacy Policy

Use of materials on all pages on the domains Joyofbaking.com, joyofbaking.mobi, the Joyofbaking.com Facebook Page, @joyofbaking on Twitter, the Joyofbaking.com RSS Feed, the Joyofbaking.com email list the Joyofbaking1 YouTube Channel and any emails sent from @joyofbaking.com are entirely at the risk of the user and their owner, iFood Media LLC will not be responsible for any damages directly or indirectly resulting from the use.

References cited may include a link to purchase the referenced book or item on Amazon.com. Joyofbaking.com receives a commission on any purchases resulting from these links.

This website and the contents are not endorsed or sponsored by the owner of the "Joy of Cooking" series of books or its publisher Simon & Schuster, Inc. and is not related to the  "Joy the Baker" books and website. Video icons by Asher.

Content in any form may not be copied or used without written permission of Stephanie Jaworski, Joyofbaking.com.  Students and non profit educators may use content without permission with proper credit. 

A baking resource on the Internet since 1997

Copyright  1997 to 2023 iFood Media LLC