How to make really really light cakes?

[Redribbon]

I bake quite often but can never get my sponge cake be it vanilla sponge or chocolate to be very light and airy.
I use self raising flour, cream sugar n butter well sift in flour. Cake is nice but not lime when you buy professional cakes from cake makers who make very light cakes.
What are they doing different? What am I missing?

 

[Becky]

I think firstly it depends on the recipe - different recipes can yield very different results.

My general tips for sponge cakes would be:

• Have all your ingredients at room temperature
• Cream together the butter and sugar first until it's light and fluffy
• Then add the eggs one at a time, being careful to watch that the batter doesn't split (ie go all grainy). You can help prevent the batter splitting by adding a spoonful of flour when you add the eggs (take the spoonful of flour from your measured flour so that you are not adding extra flour). If a batter splits it can result in a heavier bake.
• Add your flour (and other dry ingredients) by hand - do not mix it in using an electric whisk or mixer - and stir it in until it is combined but do not carry on stirring beyond that point. It will build the gluten in the flour which makes a tougher texture and can also stunt the rise.

 

[Tina Nord]

I think you have to use cake flour in order to get the light fluffy texture in cakes that you buy at the store. I am not sure what makes it different from regular flour, but I know that it is different.

 

[ChesterV]

Also triple sift all of your dry ingredients together before you add the wet stuff to them.

And depending on how light and fluffy I want a cake, will depend on how I mix it.
I've done so many cakes, that I can use one cake recipe, and it will turn out different ways just by the way I mix it.
A hand mixed cake batter will turn out a little different than using an electric mixer. A whisked cake batter will turn out different than hand beating the batter.

If I want it "light and airy" I hand whip the hell out of the batter....and stop just before it starts to break down.
This is fine most of the time, but sometimes my cake will turn out looking like Swiss Cheese on the inside.

SUPPOSEDLY, if you slowly whisk your batter by hand about 25 to 40 turns, the batter is supposed to turn out just right. Of course your batter cannot be lumpy, cause if it is, then you have to mix it more....so it doesn't always work out.

I've also heard if you put all your ingredients in a stand mixer, and then turn it on its lowest speed for 2 minutes, that is supposed to be "perfect".

 

[Redribbon]

Food for thought!
I always use room temperature ingredients, sift the flour but only once. I'll try triple sifting it.
I havnt mixed the mixture by hand in a while maybe I should go back to basics and see if it helps.
Is cake flour different to self raising flour? I will certainly read the above suggestions before my next bake.
I really hope I can get a fluffy cake like professionals do.☺

 

[ChesterV]

Food for thought!
I always use room temperature ingredients, sift the flour but only once. I'll try triple sifting it.
I havnt mixed the mixture by hand in a while maybe I should go back to basics and see if it helps.
Is cake flour different to self raising flour? I will certainly read the above suggestions before my next bake.
I really hope I can get a fluffy cake like professionals do.☺

Oh yes, cake flour is different from self-rising flour. I don't know how though.

Ok, I found this, it lists many types of flour....
http://whatscookingamerica.net/Bread/FlourTypes.htm

 

[MostlyBaked]

Professional cake makers do make a different kind of cake then home baking. It's been a topic of conversation recently in my family since we had a cake made for a family members birthday, its just tasted so good and so different then my cakes, I love my cakes I have to admit but this one was something else! I think I need to try the cake flour and different mixing ideas!

 

[ChesterV]

A couple of my cake "tricks" I use to make fluffy cakes is this....

1. Triple sift all of the dry ingredients together (as I mentioned in the above post).
If you triple sift all of your dry ingredients together, they will combine better as a unified mixture.

2. Combine all the wet ingredients separately from the dry ones. Lightly whisk all the liquid ingredients together (including food color if you are doing that).

Once the wet ingredients have been mixed, gently whisk in the dry ingredients into the liquid.

After you have finished incorporating the dry into the wet, then whisk vigorously -- about 10-15 strokes of the whisk.

Your batter should be smooth and silky. This is usually the sign of a light and fluffy cake.

As with all recipes, there are variations and other things you have to take into consideration.......the type of oven used, the kind of baking pans used, if its humid or dry weather, etc....


I always suggest making cupcakes when practicing with batters. When you finally get it the way you want it, and it comes out the way you expect, then you can use that method to make cakes.

 

[Diane Lane]

I haven't made any but the most basic of cakes lately, so this was a very interesting read. I'm going to keep that chart, as well, because it looks very helpful. I've never seen one that detailed, and I have no doubt I'll be referencing it in the future, especially with the Summer coming.

 

[Winterybella]

Well I love a sponge cake and before I started baking from scratch I thought it was so simple. A year down the road and I am afraid to try it. I have looked at recipe after recipe and I am so intimidated by them all. I like the idea of trying cupcakes as practice.

 

[myuen]

Another thing I've learned is don't overmix your batter. The more you mix, the more dense it gets.

 

[ChesterV]

Another thing I've learned is don't overmix your batter. The more you mix, the more dense it gets.

Yep!.

What happens is, the flour you use (or the box mix) has air in it, which is why it is fluffy and light. The more you sift it, the more air gets in between the grains of flour/mix.

Once the dry flour/mix gets wet from eggs, oil, and water.....the wet stuff starts taking the place of the air between the grains of flour/mix. Mixing makes this process happen even faster. So once you have mixed a batter TOO long, you have mixed all the air from between the grains of the flour/mix.

You have to know when to stop mixing, before the process of "hard cake" begins.

 

[Ima]

Despite dabbling in home baking for decades, my "big reveal" about the softest and lightest cakes only happened this year.

If you want a dense buttery cake - use a recipe with the creaming method (room temp butter and sugar).
If you want a light airy cake - use a recipe which has liquid fat (e.g. melted butter and/or oil) and heated milk as the basis, and has a lot of eggs. I don't know the food science behind this, but in a happy coincidence while I have been trying to reduce dairy intake, I found that soy milk produces astoundingly softer cakes than cow dairy milk.

 

[retired baker]

There are French sponges or biscuit that are formulated to be light as a feather and soft as a cloud.
Biscuit de savoy is one.
Eggs are separated. Yolks and whites whipped independant.
Fold together with cake flour...or flour and corn starch.