Hi guys! Recently my mom just moved in with me. There are some things that she does in her baking that puzzle and baffle me. So I would like to ask in this forum if what she does were correct and normal. Yesterday she made carrot cakes using disposable aluminium loaf pans. Total 2 loaves. After she took the cakes out from the oven, she bang the disposable pans on the counter a few times. Bang it like how we bang the cake tin to remove air bubbles before baking. Also, I do think that she overmixed her cake batter. So her carrot cake turned out to have crusty tops, even after it has completely cool down. Can anyone please tell me what caused the crusty carrot cake top? Another thing, if a cake recipe calls for 200g of caster sugar, she would cut it down to 100g or sometimes 80g. From my understanding, cutting down too much sugar will cause the cake to be dry, won't it? Thank you in advance to anyone who takes the time to read my post and respond to it.
Hello bakers
- Thread starter ellayup
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You’ll have to ask her why she is banging the loaf pans on the counter after baking. I don’t know of any reason for it.
regarding the crusty top I assume you mean a thick tough crust. there are a number of causes. The culprit here was most likely baking in disposal aluminum loaf pans.
Deep pans displaces the batter, so increases the baking time. That increased time results in a thick and dry crust. The disposable aluminum pans do not Insulate the batter, so it bakes hotter.
Overmixing of course will develop more gluten and make for a tougher cake as well.
Reduced sugar will make for a dry and tough cake. Sugar is hygroscopic, meaning it will pull sugar out of its environment. In a batter other ingredients such as flour will compete with the sugar for any free water molecules. When baked goods (or anything with sugar in it) sit out the sugar will pull water from the air. The more sugar it contains of course then the more water it will attract.
The cake will also be tough because with less sugar in the formula the flour will absorb more free water. There is no gluten in flour until water Is added. Only with water can the proteins gliadin and glutenin bond to form a gluten network. More available water to the flour means more gliadin and glutenin bonds.