Important Tips for Baking Perfect Cakes

• Measure the ingredients with great care. Using correct amounts of ingredients is more important than the beating of the cakes.

• Invest in a good electric hand mixer. It simplifies your work besides giving good results. Always beat in one direction.

• To beat the egg whites light as air, they should be at room temperature while beating. Always use a clean, dry bowl and beater for beating.

• While using raisins or dry fruits or peels in a cake, first coat them with a little flour (maida) and then add to the batter. They will then not sink to the bottom of the cake.

• Remember to always sift the baking powder with the maida at the time of making the cake.

• Never use baking powder which is more than a year old. Check the manufacturing date on the container.

• Always preheat the oven at the temperature at which you have to bake your cake for at least 10 minutes.

• Always grease your baking tin and dust (sprinkle) with flour (maida).

• Baking should always be done in aluminium containers.

• Do not open the oven door again and again to check the cake as this causes variation in the temperature and hence affects the baking.

• Test your cake with a clean knife at the place where the cake has risen the most, i.e. at the highest point, before removing from the oven.

• Permit the cake to cool for sometime before you remove it from the tin.

• Never cool a cake under the fan as this will make the cake hard.


What Went Wrong With Your Cake

A Heavy Cake: Too little baking powder; too much flour; mixture not creamed enough; flour mixed too vigorously; oven too slow.

A Dry Cake: Too much baking powder or flour; not enough fat or liquid; too long in the oven.

A Sunken Cake: Too much liquid, baking powder or sugar; too little flour; oven door slammed or cake moved during baking; taken out from oven too soon.

A Peaked Cake: Insufficient fat or baking powder; too much flour; oven temperature too high.

A Badly Cracked Top: Oven too hot; cake tin too small; too much flour; not enough liquid.

Fruit Sunk to the Bottom: Fruit not properly dried; cake mixture too thin; fruit added before adding flour.