35
votes
How can I make a last-minute birthday cake without using artificial flavor or color?
The options are very wide. You are not telling us what kind of cake you have in mind, so I'll be making a few assumptions here. But once you start thinking outside the box that equals "birthday cake" ...
- 61.4k
25
votes
Hitting specific color of orange in a sponge cake
You cannot just use random ingredients and have the cake "become" their color. Even if you used 100% carrot, the color would change during baking. So you really have to use a colorant.
The best way ...
- 141k
24
votes
How can I move from subscription boxes to recipes successfully?
What you will find helpful is the concept of "mise en place"
Mise en place (MEEZ ahn plahs) is a French term for having all your ingredients measured, cut, peeled, sliced, grated, etc. before you ...
- 16.5k
21
votes
Why did my rum cake turn black?
This is an interesting question. Personally I would throw it out, the discoloration and resulting taste are the result of a chemical reaction with the pan.
The brownish discoloration is a sign that ...
- 16.9k
21
votes
What is the physical effect of sifting dry ingredients for a cake?
Originally, before flour was as processed as it is now, sifting helped remove things like twigs and other contaminants.
Sifting just helps remove clumped up dried ingredients (flour, powered sugar, ...
- 20.5k
19
votes
Angel Food Cake: crushed pineapple instead of sugar?
Sugar is not used as a sweetener in cakes, it is a major component which creates the needed texture. As such, it is very difficult to impossible to replace.
In angel food cake, you absolutely cannot ...
- 141k
19
votes
Why did my rum cake turn black?
Aluminum cookware is "reactive", as opposed to "non-reactive" cookware like glass or stainless steel. When cooking acidic ingredients, a reaction occurs that can discolor food and sometimes leave a ...
- 77.9k
18
votes
What is the physical effect of sifting dry ingredients for a cake?
Besides the other answers that hold true for sifting individual ingredients, it will also help make the ingredients more evenly distributed if you sift them together.
If I'm sifting, I'll typically ...
- 82.1k
18
votes
Accepted
Leaving cake's dry ingredients together for later quicker preparation?
There's no issue with doing this, as you are no doubt aware ready-made cake mixes are sold boxed in stores and they aren't much different than you describe. Boxed mixes will often have anti-caking ...
- 77.9k
17
votes
Does milk make cakes lighter or tougher?
Some people say that it gives a lighter texture, while others say it
gives a more rubbery/tougher texture (due to more gluten being
developed).
I would challenge the notion that these two aspects ...
- 33.3k
17
votes
Letting batter with baking soda wait before adding into the oven
I doubt the raw batter will survive 35-70 minutes out of the oven.
Many times when I made homemade cake, things like
forgetting to preheat the oven
taking too long to scrape all the batter into the ...
- 3,581
17
votes
Why would a 4 layer cake fall over?
I’ve had this happen because I :
Did not use dowels
Put too much pudding in between the layers
Had put the cake on a non-level table
The cake started ejecting the upper layer (there were only two) ...
- 82.1k
16
votes
How can I make a last-minute birthday cake without using artificial flavor or color?
Since it's last-minute, I'm guessing it'll be tough to work out natural colorings, so I'd avoid doing color-based decorations altogether.
You can use chocolate chips or shavings, nuts, fruit (fresh ...
- 58.6k
16
votes
Right way to make cake batter that asks for butter and oil
You probably won't like this answer, but:
Do what your recipe tells you to do.
There are various methods to combine a set of ingredients and each will lead to a slightly different outcome. Drier ...
- 61.4k
16
votes
What makes cake a Sponge Cake? And what doesn't?
You are asking for a firm definition where none exists.
Baking is not mathematics, and it does not have a heap of literature where everybody has formally agreed to use the same terminology. Thus ...
- 141k
15
votes
Fudge as a cake layer?
Fudge icing is actually not made with fudge believe it or not, often it's a chocolate buttercream but there are other recipes. There are a few problems I can see with using traditional cooked fudge as ...
- 77.9k
15
votes
Fully submerged water bath for stove top baking?
Unlikely. Without even getting into the mechanics of how it would work, simple physics dictates that you can't get the temperature of this "immersion oven" above 100 degrees Celsius. Most cakes and ...
- 10.6k
15
votes
After putting something in my oven, the temperature drops and is super slow to increase back up despite keeping the door shut
This is all very normal, nothing special about it. Some of your assumptions happen to be untrue, and others don't apply to modern ovens.
First, temperature fluctuation is the normal way an oven ...
- 141k
13
votes
How can I move from subscription boxes to recipes successfully?
Another thing that you'll have to do besides the mise en place aspect is actual food shopping.
This might be the more difficult part, especially for baking, as you're going to run into strange ...
- 82.1k
13
votes
Cake flour weight
Who’s right? In a way, all of them are.
The weight equivalent of volumetric measurements will depend on the packing, which in turn will depend on the baker.
The probably lowest value you will get if ...
- 61.4k
12
votes
Accepted
Chiffon cake constantly has an unfilled bottom
This will happen if you grease your cake pan or if the cake isn't allowed to fully cool before being removed from the pan. Another possible culprit is overbeating your egg whites.
Egg foam cakes, ...
- 47.6k
12
votes
What makes cake a Sponge Cake? And what doesn't?
As an English person who moved to the USA as an adult. I thought I might give my side of what I have seen here to explain the difference in wording. Firstly I would highly recommend reading the ...
- 253
12
votes
Accepted
Why is gluten-free baking possible?
Then the explanation for the flour is that the water and flour interact to produce gluten that then gives the cake its structure.
Your confusion is well-founded, because
gluten is required to form ...
- 510
12
votes
Accepted
Letting batter with baking soda wait before adding into the oven
The last layer will likely be pretty flat, especially if you're using a recipe with whisked eggs for some structure. Any air bubbles and structure you whisk into the eggs will be gone by the time it's ...
- 10.6k
12
votes
Is there a possible substitute for sugar in creamed butter?
What you'll want to look at are cake recipes from Japan or Taiwan, since they have adapted traditional French techniques for the usually less-sweet East Asian palette.
One of the substitions that ends ...
- 221
11
votes
How can I make a last-minute birthday cake without using artificial flavor or color?
What you are seeking are natural food dyes (or natural food colorings).
These are commercially available and you may find them at a local health or natural foods store or even a quality grocers.
...
- 4,051
11
votes
Accepted
Preparing as much as possible of a cake in advance
If you look at how boxed cake mixes do it, you'll get the right idea. They combine the dry ingredients and you have to add the wet ingredients. There are a couple of good reasons for this: spoilage (...
- 45.8k
11
votes
Accepted
Why is my cake rising sideways while baking?
A cake baking uneven to that degree makes me thing the heat source is really uneven. One side of the oven is hot, the other is much cooler. I've seen a fan oven cause some uneven baking before but ...
- 77.9k
10
votes
What is the impact of opening the oven door?
It makes a big difference what you are baking as to how much impact opening the door will have. A victoria sponge does not have any chemical leavening agents in it, all the lift you get comes from the ...
- 77.9k
10
votes
Can I replace baking soda with bread flour in a cake recipe that already has baking powder?
No. Not at all.
Baking soda is a leavening agent. Together with baking powder it gives your cake lift and airiness. Bread flour is just flour with a higher protein content. If anything, it will make ...
- 16.5k
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