Thick Cakes ;_;

[Meknoclone]

Hey folks I've got a question.
When I make cakes from scratch they come out really thick.
Is there a reason for this?
Should I be using a different flour or using a hand mixer to mix it instead of a hand and a whisk?

 

[Ellyn]

It could be a lot of things.

Baking powder that reacted while it was still dry, so it doesn't form bubbles.
Uneven heat in the oven.
Noise that made the cake fall flat.
Was it supposed to be self-raising flour or cake flour instead of all-purpose flour?
Was it wholewheat flour, maybe that was too heavy?
Too many eggs, not enough milk...

Even humidity in the air, I think.

 

[monkeyboots]

Hi Meknoclone,
Perhaps your hand mixing doesn't incorporate enough air into the batter. This can lead to a dense cake.

 

[Tina Nord]

Eggs are usually the biggest culpritfor dense and thick cakes. Try making the cake with a little less egg, or smaller eggs, and see if that makes the cake more fluffy. Are your cakes on the dry side as well? You may be using too much flour.

 

[Meknoclone]

It's a one egg cake. I don't think I could have used less eggs. =]
I did use a aluminum free baking powder not sure if that changed it. I won't touch the other kind of baking powder.
I did use the correct flour, so i don't think it was that.
Maybe I just didn't incorp enough air into it like mentioned above. I'll see if I can borrow my Mom's mixer and try the recipe again and get back to everyone.
Thank you for the help!

 

[Becky]

Do you mean that the cooked cake is dense? If so it could be that you are over beating it once you have added the flour. Usually you would cream together the butter and sugar first until light and fluffy (the lighter it is the more air you have incorporated), then add your eggs and any other 'wet' ingredients, and beat well. However when you add your flour and other dry ingredients you want to be really careful not to overbeat it because it can make the cake heavy - it's because of the flour, the more you work it the more developed the gluten becomes.