If you bake cakes often, you’ve probably had this happen to you. You’ve been craving a cake and you find the perfect recipe. You put in the effort to make sure everything is just right, and when it comes out of the oven – it’s more desert than dessert.
Don’t feel too bad, it happens to the best of us. A dry cake is irritating, but there are a few things you can do to make sure your cakes always end up moist and spongy.
Below, you’ll find some of our best tips for how to make a moist cake and a few great cake recipes.
What Makes a Cake Moist – Dos and Don’ts
Before we get to the recipes, let’s take a look at some of the things that you should do to make sure your cake is moist – and a few things you should avoid.
Use Real Butter
This is the simplest trick in the book but also one that people seem to forget. Even if you can’t believe it’s not butter, trust us…it isn’t. Margarine is typically made from vegetable fat and water. And while you might think a higher water content might make a cake moister, it actually detracts from it, because the water evaporates during the cooking process.
So, always use real butter. It’s the fat that makes a cake moister. Make sure your butter is at room temperature when you use it. If you don’t want to use butter, there are some alternatives, but you should know how to use them and in what proportions.
Do Use Whole Eggs
It isn’t always the case that cake recipes call for whole eggs. But if you’re given the choice, always use whole eggs instead of egg whites only. Recipes that expressly call for egg whites to be whipped and then folded into the batter are obviously excluded. Egg yolks prevent eggs from whipping properly. Keep in mind that egg yolks will add some color to your cake. If you’re trying to make a beautiful white cake, the yolks might mess that up.
Do Measure Everything
If you’re a maverick baker who likes to play it fast and loose with the recipes, that could be why your cakes are dry. Making sure you measure all the ingredients carefully is Baking 101. Tried and true recipes don’t leave much room for experimentation. Baking is more science than art in that sense, but you can let your creativity run wild when you’re frosting and decorating.
Flour is often on the receiving end of poor measuring practices. To make sure you’re measuring flour properly, fill your measuring cup, shake it off, and use a flat edge to scrape it flush with the cup.
Don’t Over Bake It
A classic mistake, but one that even experienced bakers are prone to. Even if you follow a recipe to the letter, you may end up overbaking it. That’s because your ingredients may not be the same as the ones used to create the recipe.
Unfortunately, there’s not too much you can do about that, except learning through experimentation. But, there is one trick you can use that will help a whole lot. Take your cake out of the oven when the center starts to get springy. That is to say, a few minutes before you normally would. The cake will continue to cook outside the oven with the residual heat, and by the time it’s cool, it will be perfect.
You should also brush up on your fundamentals. Knowing how temperature will affect what you bake is a crucial skill.
Don’t Use Artificial Sweeteners
Sugar adds more than just sweet taste to your cake. It also contributes to the texture, color, and moistness. Sugar is hygroscopic, so it attracts moisture. It will try to cling to any moisture in the cake and prevent it from evaporating.
Natural sweeteners such as honey and maple syrup can work too. However, you’ll have a hard time squaring away your recipes since they have their water content that you need to adjust.
Bonus Trick
If you can’t figure out how to make a cake moist no matter what you do, there’s a little cheat you can use.
When you’ve baked all of the cake layers, don’t start putting together your cake right away. Instead, make a simple syrup and moisten the layers first. Poke holes in each cake layer with a toothpick before you add the frosting, then brush on the syrup and frost it. The simple syrup will add moisture directly into your cake layers. And, you can get creative with it by adding flavors that will complement the cake.
Now that you know how to bake a moist cake, let’s take a look at some recipes that will always come out moist and airy.
Creamy Banana Cake
What makes this cake stand out is how easy it is to make. Even novice bakers can quickly whip it up, although it has all the trappings of a complex dessert.
Coconut flour and bananas come together to make a delicious cake that can’t help but come out perfectly moist. Since you’re using coconut flour instead of white flour, you’ll also have increased fat content. More fat means a moisture cake. Moreover, this recipe calls for whole eggs, another ally in the quest for a moist cake.
This is a fairly healthy option too. The coconut flour and maple syrup have a lower glycaemic index than starchy white flour and refined sugar.
Strawberry Blender Cake
Our strawberry blender cake is another quick and easy option. The beauty of it is that there’s no baking involved. That takes away a lot of the guesswork, you just need to put the ingredients together and let it set. Like the previous cake, this one also features some high-fat ingredients, such as almonds and coconut cream. All that fat makes it smooth and creamy, as well as delicious and moist.
As the name implies, the stars of this cake are the strawberries. The base is made with only two basic ingredients: almonds and cocoa powder.
For the cream, you’ll need some fresh strawberries, maple syrup, cashews, coconut cream, agar, and of course, a blender. Once you’re done combining the ingredients, all you’ll need to do is refrigerate it for a few hours and it’s all done.
Orange and Carrot Cake
You’ve probably heard of carrot cake, but you may not have seen this particular recipe. Tangy oranges complement the otherwise bland flavor of carrots in this cake. In addition to being delicious, this cake is nutritious as well. The carrots and oranges provide fiber and vitamins.
Coconut oil stands in for butter, and it does a great job of keeping this cake moist. Plus, this recipe calls for both palm sugar and maple syrup, which both attract moisture.
The Best Moist Cake Tips
There you have it – our best tips and tricks for making sure your cakes come out moist every time. Try them with some of the recipes above and let us know in the comments if they worked. Alternatively, if you need wholesale cake supplies in Miami, you can contact us any time.
For more great tips and high-quality baking supplies, visit our site and check out our blog. We’re passionate about baking, and we’ve been keeping our customers happy for over 40 years.
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