So this is a post on my favorite cake baking tips—the 8 best tips to memorize for whenever you’re baking cake or cupcakes. This post goes along well with my post about a general cake baking method. These are just tips that I’ve picked up over the years and have found to be really useful. I hope you’ll find this list useful as well!
MY FAVORITE CAKE BAKING TIPS
- If you can afford it, work with some higher-end ingredients when you bake. This applies especially to extracts, butter, and chocolate. You’ll taste the difference!
- Let your ingredients reach room temperature before working with them.
- For an especially moist cake, substitute oil for some of the butter. Or add applesauce.
- Flour and egg whites give structure; fats like butter and oil give moisture. Balance them.
- Once your wet and dry ingredients are combined, stick to slower mixing speeds and do not over-mix. This keeps you from forming too much gluten and hence making your cake more like a bread. (Lots of mixing when it’s just the butter, sugar, and eggs, however, is encouraged.)
- For a flatter cake, swish the batter around in the pan before baking so it goes up the sides a little. This gives your batter something to climb as it rises. // It also helps if you wrap something wet around the pan as it bakes. An old towel or one of these Regency Evenbake Cake Strips
will work awesomely.
- If a particular recipe is giving you cupcakes with weird domes in the middle of them, try turning down the temperature by 25° and baking for a little longer.
- Do not over-bake! (This kills perfect moistness.) To prevent yourself from doing so, apply the toothpick test. A toothpick inserted in the middle of your cake should come out with some crumbs on it—it should not be covered in batter or bone dry.
Good luck on your next baking adventure!
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