Adding vinegar to cake to make it fluffier?

[tangela]

I was talking to a local cupcake store and they said that they use vinegar in their cupcake recipe to make the cake fluffier. Funniest thing about this is that I never would have KNOWN because you can't taste the vinegar at all!

Has anyone tried this trick yet? And if so, how much vinegar do you add exactly?

 

[Trellum]

Never tried it myself, because I'm not brave enough, lol, but I heard about that trick a while ago. I was surprised vinegar can actually do that! Some people even use it as a substitute to baking powder, but I'm not sure I'll be doing anytime soon. I have heard the results are wonderful tho.

 

[tangela]

Never tried it myself, because I'm not brave enough, lol, but I heard about that trick a while ago. I was surprised vinegar can actually do that! Some people even use it as a substitute to baking powder, but I'm not sure I'll be doing anytime soon. I have heard the results are wonderful tho.

Yeah I'm not brave enough either, I'm afraid it'll explode in my face (literally and figuratively haha). I was really surprised when she told me that too!

 

[wahmed]

The best way to do this is add it to the milk about half a teaspoon. Leave the milk adude for 5 minutes and yes it will split. Don't worry. Add this to your caje mix. You will never make cake without vi egar again

 

[Zyni]

I have heard of this, and even eaten cake with vinegar in the recipe, but I'm scared, lol. Yeah, I definitely don't want my cakes to taste like vinegar, bleh. Thanks for that tip, Wahmed. I might give a try sometime. I think I'll do a trial run on something plain, rather than attempting it when I need cakes to serve other people. It's definitely worth a try.

 

[Trellum]

Yeah I'm not brave enough either, I'm afraid it'll explode in my face (literally and figuratively haha). I was really surprised when she told me that too!

Hahaha, yeah! You never never know! Specially when you are not sure how much you are supposed to use, to be honest I'm clueless... imagine if I add too much! Vinegar flavored cake

 

[Zyni]

Hahaha, yeah! You never never know! Specially when you are not sure how much you are supposed to use, to be honest I'm clueless... imagine if I add too much! Vinegar flavored cake

I was thinking it was my daughter who did this, and it was. Vinegar does work. Some recipes contain it and tell you how much to use. I suppose that would be a good guideline for how much to use in other recipes. I might try it. Her cake was really good.

 

[tangela]

The best way to do this is add it to the milk about half a teaspoon. Leave the milk adude for 5 minutes and yes it will split. Don't worry. Add this to your caje mix. You will never make cake without vi egar again

What an interesting twist! I take that you have tried this yourself before? How has it been and what have the people who ate your cake said?

 

[tangela]

I was thinking it was my daughter who did this, and it was. Vinegar does work. Some recipes contain it and tell you how much to use. I suppose that would be a good guideline for how much to use in other recipes. I might try it. Her cake was really good.

That's good to know that someone else has also tried it successfully! Any chance of knowing where her recipe came from? I feel like if I google "vinegar in cake recipes" it would be too specific? (or maybe not!)

 

[Trellum]

I was thinking it was my daughter who did this, and it was. Vinegar does work. Some recipes contain it and tell you how much to use. I suppose that would be a good guideline for how much to use in other recipes. I might try it. Her cake was really good.

To be honest I haven't stumbled across any recipe calling for vinegar Not yet, but I guess I need to start looking for that kind of recipes. I really want to give this a try, also I want to know if vinegar is supposed to substitute something else or not.

 

[Tina Nord]

I don't think I have ever run accross a cake recipe that called for vinegar either. I would think that it would make the cake taste bitter, but I could be wrong. Hopefully someone has tried this and can shed light on what happens, I am not going to be the one to experiment here.

 

[Trellum]

Tina, actually if you use the right amount of vinegar your cakes can turn out even more tasty and fluffy than when you use baking powder. I'm not very sure about the quantities tor if vinegar is definitely supposed to be used instead of something else... some other liquid... but again, I don't think one needs to use a lot of it.

 

[tangela]

I don't think I have ever run accross a cake recipe that called for vinegar either. I would think that it would make the cake taste bitter, but I could be wrong. Hopefully someone has tried this and can shed light on what happens, I am not going to be the one to experiment here.

That was my initial thought too, but I think vinegar is one of those things (like alcohol) where the taste gets cooked away or evaporated or something during the baking process?

 

[Zyni]

Hmm.. apparently, this kind of recipe became popular during the great depression, because it could be made without eggs, according to the recipe found here: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/crazy-cake/

 

[connie]

I've been thinking about this one and I don't think it is that much different from adding vinegar and baking soda to a batter before dipping fish or veg into it before deep frying.
The vinegar would supply the acidity needed for bicarbonate of soda (or soda in baking powder) ensuring that there was enough acidity to form the carbon dioxide needed to make the cake rise. hence the cake being lighter and fluffier.

 

[ReadmeByAmy]

This is the first time I've heard that by adding a vinegar can make a cake fluffier. It's nice to know about this thing. With this new idea hopefully I will search more about this thing and what is the right amount of measurement of vinegar to be use that calls for a certain recipe.

 

[Daniel]

After reading this thread post, I decided to add vinegar both to a box cake mix into a cake from scratch. I have to tell you that my cakes came out unbelievably moist and rose higher than it normally did. I added the vinegar after all the ingredients were combined, and eyeballed it about 1 tablespoon or so.

If you were making a cake mix from a box, then do the following in order to have an extremely moist and delicious cake from a box. Make sure that you sift the cake mix together with one package of instant pudding and one envelope package of whipped topping mix or dream whip. If you are using a yellow cake mix then use vanilla instant putting if you were using a chocolate cake mix the newsy chocolate instant pudding. Add 2 teaspoons of baking soda. When you add the water make sure that the water is boiling. If you're making a chocolate cake then substitute boiling coffee for water. Add about 1 teaspoon or so of vanilla extract. Add about two large heaping spoons of softened cream cheese or about 1 1/2 to 2 ounces. The cake batter will be a little dense, so you will want to thin it out with a little orange juice or pineapple juice. If you are making a chocolate cake then add a little cinnamon.

Adding the pudding and whip topping mix came from my mother. Adding the baking soda and boiling water and vinegar came from Internet postings. Adding the cream cheese and then thinning it out with OJ or pineapple juice is something I stumbled upon by accident.

 

[Zyni]

I've been thinking about this one and I don't think it is that much different from adding vinegar and baking soda to a batter before dipping fish or veg into it before deep frying.
The vinegar would supply the acidity needed for bicarbonate of soda (or soda in baking powder) ensuring that there was enough acidity to form the carbon dioxide needed to make the cake rise. hence the cake being lighter and fluffier.

Oh, look at you, getting all science-y on us.

That does make sense though. I mean, look what happens when you add vinegar to baking soda for those 3rd grade science projects, ha ha.

All I know is that it made the cake very light and fluffy. My daughter didn't want to say the "secret ingredient" out loud before anyone tried it though. She was afraid no one would taste it.

 

[ChesterV]

Yes, it's all SCIENCE!

Vinegar reacts with the rising agents in the batter to add more air bubbles at a smaller level, which makes the cake rise a bit more and puts more air in between strands of the mixture.

Using Apple Cider Vinegar is the best, as it is not as strong as white vinegar.

For the equivalent of one batch of cake batter for a standard sized cake, you can use 2 Tablespoons of vinegar.

Vinegar also cuts the "sweet" level down a bit, so you taste more cake and less sugar.

Don't worry, in order for you to taste the vinegar in the cake, you would have to use too much of it, which would either make the cake inedible or not bake correctly.

One Tablespoon per one standard layer is usually the right amount. But if you are making cake with other items in it, like fruit or nuts, you might want to add a little bit more.


I put Apple Cider Vinegar in my Buttercream Frosting, as it helps cut the "sweet" so it's not sugary sweet and hurts your teeth.

 

[Zyni]

Yes, it's all SCIENCE!

Vinegar reacts with the rising agents in the batter to add more air bubbles at a smaller level, which makes the cake rise a bit more and puts more air in between strands of the mixture.

Using Apple Cider Vinegar is the best, as it is not as strong as white vinegar.

For the equivalent of one batch of cake batter for a standard sized cake, you can use 2 Tablespoons of vinegar.

Vinegar also cuts the "sweet" level down a bit, so you taste more cake and less sugar.

Don't worry, in order for you to taste the vinegar in the cake, you would have to use too much of it, which would either make the cake inedible or not bake correctly.

One Tablespoon per one standard layer is usually the right amount. But if you are making cake with other items in it, like fruit or nuts, you might want to add a little bit more.


I put Apple Cider Vinegar in my Buttercream Frosting, as it helps cut the "sweet" so it's not sugary sweet and hurts your teeth.

Very interesting. It's simple, but something I hadn't put much thought into. Makes sense. Thanks.

Yeah, no one could taste the vinegar. She was just afraid they'd be squeamish about it. You know how it goes.

Hmm, that sounds like a good tip for the frosting as well. I enjoy butter cream, but yes, it can be a bit overpowering. I'll try the apple cider vinegar next time. It's supposed to be good for you too, so adding it to baking must be a good thing, right?