Beginning Cake Baker: What Do I Need to Know?

[tangela]

Hi there everyone,

I've been baking for a good chunk of my life but I have only baked items such as cookies, lava cakes, bars, etc. I have yet to bake a cake that didn't come out of a box, and even then it isn't as good as I want it to be.

Do you have any tips or suggestions for a beginner cake baker? Anything I should keep an eye out for during the prepping and baking process?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Ellyn]

While I'm only an intermediate cake-baker myself, I'd just advise... that it's actually easy. It might seem complicated, juggling bowls, greasing pans, pre-heating ovens and such... but, it's not like you're making Hollandaise sauce. If you've ever made pancakes from scratch, the basic method is the same. Dry ingredients together, wet ingredients together, then gather them up. You know that flour is for body, sugar is for sweetening, oil/butter/shortening is for nonsticking/flavoring, vanilla is for flavoring/aroma/sticking, and baking powder (which is very different from baking soda) makes the bubbles in it. Just take it one step at a time, and it's actually easy. It's a piece of cake!

There's an urban legend that if you make a lot of noise, then the cake will fall flat. Better safe than sorry. An uneven oven can also be disastrous, as well as using an old box of baking powder (because the baking soda and cream of tartar have been triggered into a reaction by the humidity of the air, and would not rise for you anymore.)

I have a friend who always doubles the vanilla, something he read I think from the culinary science book entitled How To Read A French Fry which also has stuff about cakes and cookies and not just savory stuff--worth the read! I found out from making mock clotted cream that vanilla can help emulsify dairy fat and milk (which is water-based and usually would separate from the fat.)

Lately I've been reading about how adding whipped and aerated cream or egg whites can make a fluffier cake.