Blue velvet cake Gone Sideways

[Pretti]

- my cake seemed alright but after cutting I noticed that it crumbled easily in my hand, why? I added everything suggested. It also lacked some moisture

 

[Ima]

I am sorry that your cake turned out poorly. Sometimes our actual oven temperatures are too hot (especially when recipes dont state if it is convection or fan to be used), and an overbaked cake could be the reason for dryness.

Maybe it is the universe's sign to save you and your guests from toxic food dyes. The International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health published a paper in 2012 which raised health concerns about all synthetic food dyes on the market. In 2021, the journal of Advanced Nutrition published a paper citing similar toxicity concerns about blue synthetic dyes.

However, natural blue pigment has a lot of health benefits, especially for the heart and nervous system. When I want blue cake, I make two white sponge cakes, place blueberry jam to sandwich them together, and on top I place a cream cheese frosting tinted with strained blueberry jam. I agree it's not "blue" - more purple - but dreamily beautiful nonetheless, and goes down a treat.

Although I've never tried using blueberry pulp to colour cake dough, it sounds like a delicious experiment to get a "true" blueberry velvet cake. If someone tries this, let us know what happens please.

Pretti, to be clear, the word "velvet" is only a remarkable marketing tool. If we remove marketing hype and label it honestly, it should be called something like dye cake - but I guess that would sell fewer cakes. And if I and other "velvet cake haters" in another thread on this Forum and medical journals had our way, I guess we'd call it "toxic dye cake". Then no such cakes would be sold

 

[retired baker]

- my cake seemed alright but after cutting I noticed that it crumbled easily in my hand, why? I added everything suggested. It also lacked some moisture

Just don't make that stuff.
It's not pastry.
Try chocolate velvet instead.

 

[Norcalbaker59]

- my cake seemed alright but after cutting I noticed that it crumbled easily in my hand, why? I added everything suggested. It also lacked some moisture

1. The crumb, meaning the interior of the cake, will be determined on the type of flour, percentage of fat and liquid to flour, types of fat, and the mixing method. A butter cake using the creaming method made with all purpose flour will have a stronger and coarser crumb than a chiffon cake since chiffon cake is made with cake flour, whipped egg whites, and oil.

2. Different brands have different specifications; King Arthur Flour has significantly more protein than Gold Medal flour. So brands make a difference in the final quality of the product. You can bake three cakes using the same recipe but different brands; you will have three different cakes.

3. Most recipes don’t tell bakers how to properly stack a cake. They don’t torte layers. So bakers stack the full layer, which is wrong. Bake cake. Let it settle 24 hrs. minimum. Torte, dam, and fill each layer. Crumb coat. Then ice and decorate. If covering in fondant, cake has to be de-gassed overnight after crumb coating, before covering in fondant to prevent air bubbles from forming between cake and fondant.

4. Some additives like dyes will breakdown the crumb, especially when a lot is needed to color the product. Dye also alters the taste of the batter.