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How to Make a Cake

Learning how to make a cake is quite easy, learning how to make a cake that will blow your friends and family away is a bit more complicated. Read through all the tips on this page and keep them in mind when baking your cake, then head over to the page on cake recipes, pick your favorite and make the best cake you can! Be sure to implement what you've learned on this page :)

Cake Batter

Making a pretty good cake batter is a very simple process; mix your wet ingredients together, your dry ingredients together, then mix everything together. It's a simple process for a pretty good cake, however, if you want a bakery-style cake here are a few recommendations you should follow:

• Never over mix your batter; mix it just until incorporated, over mixing can easily over develope the gluten in the flour, ruining the cake and causing it to fall apart.

• Many recipes won't call for you to cream your butter and sugar, but do so anyway; it promotes a much lighter cake.

• Separate your eggs before adding them to the batter. Beat the yolks until creamy then add them to the creamed butter mixture. Beat the egg whites until light and frothy then fold them into the butter mixture. This helps keep the cake light and fluffy.

• Cut the oil in half and replace one of the halves with applesauce; this not only reduces the fat in your cake but will add moisture.

• Sift. Measure your dry ingredients first then sift them prior to mixing unless otherwise stated.

• Making a chocolate cake? Add a teaspoon of instant coffee to the mix; you won't taste the coffee in the cake but it will help bring out the chocolate flavor.

• Finished making your cake batter but wished you could have cupcakes instead? Don't worry, you can pretty much use the batters interchangeably.

Cake Baking

Here are a few tips on baking that will help you get the most from your cake.

Is it done?

Checking cakes and cupcakes for doneness is very important to avoid problems at serving time. The easiest way to test if it's done is to insert a toothpick into the thickest part, if it comes out clean, it's done; if you find that cake still sticks to your toothpick you know it's still partially uncooked.

The pan you choose.

If you're using a Pyrex or black cake pan you should reduce the oven temperature by 25°F. If you don't then you run the risk of over cooking or even burning your cake.

Level it out.

Some people like nice rounded cakes, some people want them flatter on top. If you're the latter you can help level things out by tilting the pan back and for with the batter in it; this causes the batter to ‘climb' the sides a bit, leveling the final cake.

You should also avoid filling any cake pan more than 2/3rds full; overfilling can cause a large, bread-like hump.

Keep them separate.

Unless otherwise stated, keep your cake on the middle rack in the center of the oven. If you're baking more than one at a time you need to make sure they're at least 2 inches from the walls and from each other.

Check the temperature!

Last but most definitely not least, buy a thermometer and check your oven temperature! Some of the most common cake problems can be linked back to wrong temperatures. Over time, many oven temperatures will begin to vary from what the dial reads; check your oven from time to time and make adjustments as necessary.

Grease and Flour

For many cakes, the recipe will call for you to “grease and flour” your pan. This keeps the cake from sticking to the pan, which can easily destroy your cake.

Butter is typically used as the grease; simply use your fingers or a paper towel and take a small piece of butter and wipe it all over the inside of the pan so every bit of the pan is covered with a very thin layer of butter.

Next you want to add about a tablespoon of flour to the pan and tilt the pan around, lightly knocking the sides with your hand to cover the butter with a light coating of flour, adding more flour if needed.

If you're making a chocolate cake you can always use cocoa powder in place of flour.

Got it all memorized? Head over to the cake recipes page and make one!

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