Troubleshooting Bundt Cake

[ShuBunny]

Hi there,

Been binge reading the posts in the cake forum and mustering up courage to ask for help to troubleshoot my bundt cakes.

Background
I used this recipe: https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/lemon-bliss-cake-recipe
I made glaze but not icing.
Made it as is for 10cup bundt. Then halved it to fit the 4cup capacity.
Ingredients were weighed.
Baked at 350F for 25 mins. Oven pre-heated and using a thermometer. Oven is a small capacity (38qt) stand alone oven.
Unfortunately, I only have a hand held mixer. I think that impacts the consistency of the creaming and mixing in...

The 4 changes made to the original recipe was:

1. Swapping AP flour for cake flour (cake flour is bleached and chlorinated. 7.5g)
2. Swap milk for full fat plain unsweetened yogurt (to reduce the perceived sweetness, the people eating/buying the cakes tend to dislike sweet tasting stuff, but they still want their cake! haha...)
3. Replacing the zest of x1 lemon/1/8 tsp lemon oil with 1.5 tsp of lemon extract
4. Removing 1.5tsp of yogurt to compensate for the additional liquid of the extract

So my ingredients:

• 113g unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 200g granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoons baking powder
• 180g cake flour
• 113g yogurt
• 1.5 tsp lemon extract

I've made recipe 4 times.

1. first time in 10 cup capacity bundt, using milk not yogurt. Followed the recipes instructions exactly. I like the crust of the milk version. Nice bite to crust, but cake tasted slightly dry.
2. second - fourth time, in 10 cup & 4 cup capacity bundt. Using frozen pans. No more doming problem! But crust became soft...

I read that bundt pans when frozen before baking minimises the doming effect, so I did that. I had bad doming using a 10cup bundt on my first try with this recipe. Second try with frozen 10 cup bundt did not have bad dome effect.

Personally, I like the taste of these cakes, but I would really love to make better cakes as I've been asked to sell them for Christmas.

What I can improve on
From reading the threads, I'll make the following change:

1. bake at 325F instead. Check at 25 mins.
2. make sure my butter is straight from fridge (thanks for @Norcalbaker59 for these tips)
3. add flour in twice and liquid in once, instead of thrice and twice to lessen the mix in time since I am using cake flour
4. beat egg before adding in to reduce mixing time
5. let glaze cool down before glazing

Here are my questions!

1. I prefer the soft texture of the yogurt cake. But I had a bitey browner crust when I used milk instead of yogurt. How can I get the brown crust again, while still using yogurt?
2. Should I aim to have less bubbles in my crumb? How many times am I suppose to bang my uncooked batter in pan to get rid of the air bubbles?
3. What is the best way to fill the bundt pan? I spooned the batter onto the bottom, then spin the 10cup pan to force the batter to move up the sides of the pan. For the cakelet, I used a teaspoon to press the batter to the sides. Should I pipe the batter?
4. I let the cake rest in pan for 5-10 mins after removing from oven before inverting them. Is this correct?
5. How soon should I glaze the cakes?
6. And should I try to use up every bit of glaze, or save half to re-glaze the second day? Or just glaze one coating?
7. Re: the brown specks in the cake. I'm using granulated cane sugar. Why is my sugar granules so prominent? What can I do about it
8. Appreciate any other advice!

Many thanks in advance

 

[Norcalbaker59]

I don’t have a lot of time right now to write an in-depth analysis, but my first thoughts are:

1) you’re not emulsifying the egg into your butter. mixing the egg in to the butter is a critical step. and it has absolutely nothing to do with over mixing the cake batter because the flour hasn’t been added yet.

2) the sugars not fully dissolving because you eliminated the majority of water/liquid when you eliminated the milk. the undissolved sugar crystals are creating both the over browning and the flecks.

3) the elimination of milk and addition of yogurt increased the fat, but also reduces the water content. Yogurt has natural sugar (lactose), which aids browning. You added sugar is 111%, and yogurt has about 7% natural sugars. With the elimination of water and all that sugar, you will get more Maillard reaction.

 

[ShuBunny]

@Norcalbaker59
Thank you for your reply! Look forward to your additional thoughts.

Was experimenting before you posted your reply

Improvements

1. bake at 325F instead. Check at 25 mins... cake sprung back when touched, but toothpick had mini crumbs sticking on it. removed at 30 mins. Though toothpick still had dry crumbs.
2. make sure my butter is straight from fridge. eggs from fridge too.
3. add flour in twice and liquid in once, instead of thrice and twice to lessen the mix in time since I am using cake flour
4. let glaze cool down before glazing

I used baker's goop to lube the pan. Bang the pan thrice

The yogurt cake was slightly darker as you said it would be based on the maillard reaction. It also came out of the pan easier!

Milk was stuck, had to use a toothpick to loosen it.

I strongly prefer the taste of the yogurt!

It's crazy, my dad just bought me a stand mixer today. And my 5cup bundt pan arrived. #blessed

Going to redo this with more thorough creaming and egg emulsion.

I bake in a super humid - 90% today and warm country 80F. Staying in the tropics! <3

Yogurt

Yogurt

Milk

Milk

 

[ShuBunny]

Here's the baker's percentage of my last yogurt cake:
Reduced the liquid to compensate for humid kitchen.
trying out half milk, half yogurt.

	B %
cake flour	100.0
unsalted butter (from chiller)	62.8
granulated sugar	111.1
salt	2.2
egg (from chiller)	55.6
baking powder	2.8
1/2 yogurt & 1/2 milk (from chiller)	58.9
lemon extract	3.3

creaming butter & sugar, butter started chilled but by end of creaming, temp is 85F.

After adding chilled egg.

after adding flour and yogurt/milk mix

 

[ShuBunny]

Oops, forgot to add, the above attempt was after I read NorCalBaker59’s comments about the emulsion and the creaming.

 

[Cahoot]

It's crazy, my dad just bought me a stand mixer today. And my 5cup bundt pan arrived. #blessed

Unfortunately I don't have anything to add or any advice I can give, but congrats on the stand mixer!

I'm not sure if the picture of the batter after adding the eggs is normal or not (looks slightly curdled but that might just be inevitable), but you're making sure to add them in very gradually? The original recipe with 2 eggs said to just add them in one at a time, but I'd do 3 or 4 additions, making sure to scrape down the bowl after each. What's the batter temperature after mixing in all the eggs?

And your super detailed posts are great, I hope you're able to find the solution you're looking for.

 

[ShuBunny]

Oh @Cahoot thank you!

I’ll try to add in the egg in smaller additions. I scrapped after each addition. Forgot to take the after egg temperature .

These following pics outcome of Norcal59’s creaming and emulsion advice, and the lower 325F temp. Though I might not have done it right!

1. Bundt doming.
I did not freeze the pan this time.Do people cut the bottoms off?

placed bundt on sheet pan but seems to have made the bottom (now top!) of the cake too light coloured

knock the pan 5 times but there’s still bubbles. Any ideas? I mean, from what height do you knock your pans

After glazing, the greyness of baker’s goop is dissolved.

crumb sh

crumb shot comparison of this attempt vs earlier attempt

My goodness, now I have even more questions!!!
1. Is my creaming still incorrect? I still see the brown sugar bits. But how can I cream longer without sacrificing dough temp?
2. when is curdling okay and when is it wrong?

P.S. the yoghurt/milk combi makes me really happy.

 

[Norcalbaker59]

Here's the baker's percentage of my last yogurt cake:
Reduced the liquid to compensate for humid kitchen.
trying out half milk, half yogurt.

	B %
cake flour	100.0
unsalted butter (from chiller)	62.8
granulated sugar	111.1
salt	2.2
egg (from chiller)	55.6
baking powder	2.8
1/2 yogurt & 1/2 milk (from chiller)	58.9
lemon extract	3.3

creaming butter & sugar, butter started chilled but by end of creaming, temp is 85F.
View attachment 3461

After adding chilled egg.
View attachment 3462

after adding flour and yogurt/milk mix
View attachment 3463

When you cream butter and sugar, what is important is the look and feel of the butter and sugar. It is not about the time spent creaming the butter and sugar, it is about getting the texture correct and at the right temperature.

Creaming the butter and sugar is mechanical leavening, not mixing or blending two ingredients. You have to cut pockets into the butter with the sugar crystals. But in doing so, you cannot overheat the butter. If the butter is overheated, it will lose it plasticity too early in the baking process, so it will not trap the air bubbles and expand. If the butter does not expand, it will not help the batter rise.

Read Stella Parks article on creaming butter and sugar on Serious Eats if you have not already done so. And watch her video. I just wish she had not added blue food coloring to the butter because IMO it prevents bakers from seeing the significant change in color and texture that happens when butter is properly creamed.

Your butter and eggs are beaten together fine here. They are not curdled.


============================================

All things considered, you have gotten a great result for just swapping out the flour and just adjusting the ratios of diary in the recipe by 4%.

You have to keep in mind that the original recipe is formulated for the highest AP protein flour on the US market (11.7% all purpose flour) and you swapped out the lowest protein flour (8% cake flour). KAF AP flour is like bread flour in comparison to cake flour.

Brands matter because what’s in the bag greatly impacts what comes out of the oven. How test kitchens formulate their recipes are based on their specific products. A cake made with King Arthur flour will need more fat to coat the flour to inhibit all that protein from developing into a massive gluten network. When more fat is added to a formula, at a certain point the baker has too look at the ratio of fat to egg, not just the flour to egg, because the fat and egg has to be balanced because if the fat content is too high, then the egg won’t emulsify into the fat.

So the amount of fat and the amount and type of liquid used in a KAF recipe will be different from a formula created by the bakers in the Softasilk test kitchen because low protein flour doesn’t have the same issues as high protein in cake.

A cake made with King Arthur Flour at 11.7% protein will need significantly more leavening than 8% cake flour.


Since a recipes are developed based on the specific product specifications, when you tweak a recipe, just keep the original product in mind. Then think about how the difference product specifications will effect the baking process. That’s how to approach your tweaks.


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

When you break out your baker’s percentages, make sure you separate out each ingredient. Yogurt is not the same as milk so you cannot lump them together. Both are dairy, but milk has more water, yogurt has far less. Also the bacteria used to make yogurt actually ferments the sugars in milk. This makes the milk more acidic, which in turns causes a protein called casein to solidify. Water is then drained from the yogurt. So yogurt has a higher concentration of casein protein. The casein decreases wheat flour’s ability to absorb water, so it is a tenderizer in that it inhibits gluten development. One the fat coats the flour; two it inhibits the protein molecules from binding to form gluten. Remember, there is no gluten in flour, only two proteins, glutenin and gliadin. And the two molecules require a water molecule to bind to then form gluten. But too much casein can undermine the structure of your baked goods. Casein also increases browning of baked goods. Knowing the role of each ingredient in baking, and tracking the ratio of each in your recipe will better help you tweak it to get the result you want.

====================================

If you are creaming properly, and when the leavening is at the right ratio to flour, the crumb should be fine and even. You should not have any large odd holes. You won’t get a completely crust free outside because a bundt pan is coated and you cannot use cloth baking strips. Plus there is significant volume in the pan. But you should be able to achieve an even crumb, and a light crust on your bundt cake with the proper mixing and proper baking temperature.

 

[ShuBunny]

@Norcalbaker59

wow. I deeply appreciate your reply. <3

I've been using KAF recipes, and tweaking for a tropical kitchen, with no access to KAF flours. So my main tweak at the moment is reducing the obvious liquid (i.e. milk) I lack the knowledge to reduce liquid from eggs etc.

I've looked at Stella Park's video and article a couple of times, will look it up again.
Will try to figure how to keep the temp of the sugar & butter at 68F, working in a 80F kitchen. May freeze both sugar and butter. Mixing bowl does not fit into freezer! Condensation will be another problem later.

From what you can see, does the sugar and butter look over creamed? or still under creamed? or since the temp is 85F it doesn't matter, it's already a fail.

Thanks for reviewing that the egg is not curdled. I'll still add them slowly.

This point u made is significant, since I'm likely to use the yogurt in batter, is egg curdling a sign of the egg not emulsifying into the fat?
"When more fat is added to a formula, at a certain point the baker has too look at the ratio of fat to egg, not just the flour to egg, because the fat and egg has to be balanced because if the fat content is too high, then the egg won’t emulsify into the fat."

To apply what you have written, I'll make the following tweaks to the baking powder. 2.8% > 2% since it is cake flour.

B %
cake flour	100.0
unsalted butter (from chiller)	62.8
granulated sugar	111.1
salt	2.2
egg (from chiller)	55.6
baking powder	2.0
milk (from chiller)	29.5
yogurt (from chiller)	29.5
lemon extract	3.3

I'm still crazy curious, how did you fill up your bundt pan so neatly?

Lemon Blueberry loaf

Just made this for the first time today. absolutely lush! :)I followed Joy Of Baking recipe, including her thin glaze brushed on top which seeps into the cake and keeps it moist via holes I made. But I also added an icing sugar glaze.

www.baking-forums.com

I'm also going to try baking at slightly less than 325F to see if there is less doming when I bake in the bundt pan.

Thanks again

 

[Norcalbaker59]

@Norcalbaker59

wow. I deeply appreciate your reply. <3

I've been using KAF recipes, and tweaking for a tropical kitchen, with no access to KAF flours. So my main tweak at the moment is reducing the obvious liquid (i.e. milk) I lack the knowledge to reduce liquid from eggs etc.

I've looked at Stella Park's video and article a couple of times, will look it up again.
Will try to figure how to keep the temp of the sugar & butter at 68F, working in a 80F kitchen. May freeze both sugar and butter. Mixing bowl does not fit into freezer! Condensation will be another problem later.

From what you can see, does the sugar and butter look over creamed? or still under creamed? or since the temp is 85F it doesn't matter, it's already a fail.

Thanks for reviewing that the egg is not curdled. I'll still add them slowly.

This point u made is significant, since I'm likely to use the yogurt in batter, is egg curdling a sign of the egg not emulsifying into the fat?
"When more fat is added to a formula, at a certain point the baker has too look at the ratio of fat to egg, not just the flour to egg, because the fat and egg has to be balanced because if the fat content is too high, then the egg won’t emulsify into the fat."

To apply what you have written, I'll make the following tweaks to the baking powder. 2.8% > 2% since it is cake flour.

B %
cake flour	100.0
unsalted butter (from chiller)	62.8
granulated sugar	111.1
salt	2.2
egg (from chiller)	55.6
baking powder	2.0
milk (from chiller)	29.5
yogurt (from chiller)	29.5
lemon extract	3.3

I'm still crazy curious, how did you fill up your bundt pan so neatly?

Lemon Blueberry loaf

Just made this for the first time today. absolutely lush! :)I followed Joy Of Baking recipe, including her thin glaze brushed on top which seeps into the cake and keeps it moist via holes I made. But I also added an icing sugar glaze.

www.baking-forums.com

I'm also going to try baking at slightly less than 325F to see if there is less doming when I bake in the bundt pan.

Thanks again

@ShuBunny, I wouldn’t worry about not having access to KAF. The high protein content means it is only good for rolls, bread, and some cookies like biscotti, chocolate chip, and oatmeal. The protein is just to high for shortbread, cake, pie and tart crust, and almost all pastry. I only use it for a couple of applications.

Even though your kitchen is 80°F, I do not recommend you freeze your butter and sugar. My guess is you are probably over creaming because you are still learning what to look for in texture and color. Just keep using it out of the refrigerator, and practice. The butter will go from a darker yellow to lighter; and the volume will increase. As the volume increases, the butter will go from dense and compact to fluffier looking. The transition is pretty fast once it happens.

Depending of the temperature of the butter and your kitchen and the speed of your mixer, it might take 3 min 45 seconds or 5.5 minutes. The brand of butter I creamed last week took more than 5 minutes. My usual brand takes about 4 min 15 sec., some times 4.5 minutes. But never 5 minutes. So every brand, kitchen, and mixer will be different.


=======================
Butter cake batter is an emulsion. I hate the word “curdling” for cake batter because it really isn’t accurate since nothing caused a separation of the ingredients. Rather, it is the failure to emulsify. Fat and water do not readily mix. Butter is fat, and egg whites contain a lot of water. The water in the egg has to get dispersed into the fat in order for the fat to evenly coat the flour and for the flour to absorb the water evenly. So the egg is beat into the creamed butter first, then the flour and liquid is added alternately.

Fat is a tenderizer. Egg is a strengthener.

When you look at the cake recipes, you will see that in some types of cakes, there is not fat at all:

Angel, sponge, and biscuit (French) contain 0% fat.
Genoise <40% fat; eggs 160% +/-
Chiffon 50% fat; 100% egg whites; 50% yolks
Butter 45% fat; 40% egg

Only the pound cake contains equal parts flour, fat, egg.

Many bakers mistakenly call a pound or butter cake a sponge. In the UK, the Victoria sponge is in fact a pound cake. A true sponge cake is in fact is just eggs and sugar, and flour.

Because fat is a tenderizer, meaning it inhibits gluten development, you have to have something to counter the weakening effects of the fat. So egg is added. The more fat in the formula, the more egg to keep the strength of the batter.


==============================

Yes I think reducing the baking powder to around 2% is good. With creaming and cake flour, there shouldn’t be a need for more than that amount.

=========
Edit: regarding oven temperature: do you use an oven thermometer to check your oven temperature? Make sure your oven temperature is correct. Also before you drop the oven temperature, try lowering the oven rack down one level—assuming your heating element is in the oven floor and placing an small sheet of aluminum foil under the cake pan on the bottom rack. Do not place anything on the oven floor.

We often set the rack dead center, not realizing that the cake pans are tall, so they above center. Heat does not rise. Rather, the heating element heats the air in the oven. Hot air displaces cold air. So the hot air rises. The air in the upper part of the oven chamber should be hotter than the lower part. So lowering the rack will bring the cake into a cooler zone. By placing a small piece of foil under the cake pan on the lower rack, it will displace the hot air directly under the cake pan from the oven floor.

 

[ShuBunny]

@Norcalbaker59

Again, I deeply appreciate your in depth reply. <3

Today's changes
Will be making this cake again today

1. checking my creaming. Won't freeze the butter - but I'll weigh it, cube it and put it back in the fridge till I'm about to use it, so that the butter stays as chilled as possible.
2. So I will try with 320F today
3. reducing the baking powder.
4. switch to my flimsiest sheet to put under the bundt cake pan

KIV changes
I won't change the egg and fat ratio at the moment! Too many variables... Until I see the outcome of the above. I'm guessing that this will be a matter of taste and cake structure. Ie: the cake tastes moist and tender, but the cake does not collapse.

Oven
The oven situation is really embarrassing. It's a cheap stove-top oven, the most expensive I could afford at present. Oven is 38QT/ 38L capacity. Hey, but I used to bake in my airfryer.

I use an oven thermometer. And I've done a hot spot test with white bread slices to see where the hot spot it.

I use the lowest racks for my cakes. nothing on the oven floor. Not even crumb tray on lowest rack. Just the wire tray.

I use the convention mode. Unfortunately, oven temp allows only 10 degrees changes. The closest I can get to 325F is either 330F or under 320F. I did 330F for the last round.

 

[Norcalbaker59]

@Norcalbaker59

Again, I deeply appreciate your in depth reply. <3

Today's changes
Will be making this cake again today

1. checking my creaming. Won't freeze the butter - but I'll weigh it, cube it and put it back in the fridge till I'm about to use it, so that the butter stays as chilled as possible.
2. So I will try with 320F today
3. reducing the baking powder.
4. switch to my flimsiest sheet to put under the bundt cake pan

KIV changes
I won't change the egg and fat ratio at the moment! Too many variables... Until I see the outcome of the above. I'm guessing that this will be a matter of taste and cake structure. Ie: the cake tastes moist and tender, but the cake does not collapse.

Oven
The oven situation is really embarrassing. It's a cheap stove-top oven, the most expensive I could afford at present. Oven is 38QT/ 38L capacity. Hey, but I used to bake in my airfryer.

I use an oven thermometer. And I've done a hot spot test with white bread slices to see where the hot spot it.

I use the lowest racks for my cakes. nothing on the oven floor. Not even crumb tray on lowest rack. Just the wire tray.

I use the convention mode. Unfortunately, oven temp allows only 10 degrees changes. The closest I can get to 325F is either 330F or under 320F. I did 330F for the last round.

can you turn the convection off?

Convection is not suited for home baking. It’s designed for commercial baking in which you have multiple racks, filled with multiple trays. When there is so much product in an oven you have to have air circulating in the chamber to ensure heat distribution between the racks and trays/pans.

But in home baking when you only have one rack, with one or two cake pans, convections absolutely is too much heat.


so if you can turn the function off and just use a conventional oven mode, try that. The hot dry heat from convection just bakes everything too fast.

Yes I wouldn’t change your fat ratio if it’s working for you. If you like the texture of your cake that’s what matters.

I totally understand the oven situation. My families Japanese. In Japan most people don’t have full-size ovens in their kitchens. Countertop ovens are the norm there. When I sent baking equipment to my SIL’s sister, I had to make sure it was suited to a countertop oven.

 

[ShuBunny]

hi @Norcalbaker59 ,

Yes, I made sure to use conventional mode for my bakes. That's so sweet that you were sending equip to your SIL's sister, must have taken quite some calculations!

Today's tests in Baker's Percentage
I did the following tests today. Unfortunately, supermarket was out of unsalted butter. So I used salted butter, but reduced the salt by half. Baking powder reduced to 2.0% due to cake flour.

Test 1:

cake flour	100.0
salted butter (57F/14C)	62.8
granulated sugar	111.1
salt	1
egg (57F/14C)	55.6
baking powder	2.0
yogurt (57F/14C)	29.4
milk (57F/14C)	29.4
lemon extract	3.3

Notes:

1. creaming went south. FAST: my butter was cubed. 56g of it. I use the paddle for about 30 sec, scrapped down. added suagr slowly, scrap thrice, at min then to medium speeds. in under 90sec, butter and sugar was not creamed, but got to 75F/24C, by the time I added egg, temp 80F/27C.
2. I'm wondering if the earlier baking powder at 2.8% counteracts the heaviness of the yogurt?
3. And i'm cooking at super low proportions now - to save on ingredients. Using 90g flour, 53g eggs etc. Maybe that's not enough ingredients to cream in a stand mixer?
4. The last texture when made in the bundt pan was better. Can't tell if it was the halved ingredients, the reduction of baking powder, or the salted butter or the pan. Serves me right for changing so many variables.
5. baked at 320F for 50 mins in mini loaf pan.
6. I'm tasting FAILURE in my mouth.

Test 2:
Tweaking the milk/yogurt ratios again to reduce the sweet taste

cake flour	100.0
salted butter	62.8
granulated sugar	111.1
salt	1
egg	55.6
baking powder	2.0
yogurt	40
milk	20
lemon extract	3.3

Notes:

1. creaming went south. SLOWER: my butter was cubed. 56g of it. I CHILLED MY MIXING BOWL AND PADDLE.
2. I use the paddle for about 30 sec, butter just clumped together and rode the paddle like a carousel. Nudge it down repeatedly. Added sugar slow. scrap thrice, at min then to medium speeds. in under 2 mins, butter and sugar was still not creamed, but but got to 71F/22C. Looked creamed at 3min, temp: 75F/24C. Can't WIN!
3. Test 2

Test 1 on Left, Test 2 on Right.

 

[ShuBunny]

Test 3:
Use of caster sugar instead of granulated, Reducing sugar to 105%

cake flour	100.0
salted butter	62.8
caster sugar	105
salt	1
egg	55.6
baking powder	2.0
yogurt	29.4
milk	29.4
lemon extract	3.3

Notes:

1. creaming went south. even SLOWER: my butter was cubed. 56g of it. I CHILLED MY MIXING BOWL AND PADDLE.
2. I use the paddle for about 30 sec, cut smaller cubes. Added sugar slow. scrap twice at min then to medium speeds. forgot to time. butter and sugar looked combined - but was it creamed? Stopped at 70.5F/21.5C.
3. after emulsifying the egg - temp: 70.5F/21.5C
4. send the dough into oven at about 71.5F/22.5C
5. Taste-wise, cake is less sweet, which i like, but the taste of flour is more obvious.
6. Texture-wise, something has gone wrong. when i let the cake dissolve in my mouth, i can feel small gummy strands.

Test 4:
Reducing sugar by to 100% and increasing baking powder to 2.8 again

1. cake flour	100.0
   salted butter	62.8
   caster sugar	100.0
   salt	1
   egg	55.6
   baking powder	2.8
   yogurt	29.4
   milk	29.4
   lemon extract	3.3

   
   Notes:
   1. Chilled Bowl & Paddle & butter. pushed the caster sugar creaming to 3 mins. Temp: but got to 75F/24C. Using caster sugar didn't help with creaming at right temp.
   2. pushing sugar to 100% made cake taste bland, and texture slightly granular.
   3. upping back baking powder made texture worse.
   4. tasted like an epic fail.
   
   
   
   Thoughts:
   1. I won't be able to get hold of a creaming paddle locally. Not exactly sure if the creaming failure is also due to the empty space between the paddle and bowl. I've about 1/3 inch of space.
   2. I can't think of a way to win the temp vs creaming battle without being in a temperature controlled room. haaaaa...
   3. Caster sugar doesn't seem to have given any advantage to the creaming. In fact, the bigger granulated sugar might have caught on better
   4. cake structure is something complex now. I guess there is no point in trying for a fluffy cake because this is not a fluffy cake. DEFINITELY reducing the baking powder.

 

[Norcalbaker59]

butter
I really don’t think there’s anything all that wrong with your last ratios given what the crumb looked like in the cake you had produced just before these last two. Rather I think what’s happening is you are using such small quantities now in your test cakes that the friction factor is winning out.

The torque of the mixer head, points of contact of the paddle in the bowl, the number of rotations of the paddle at whatever speed all determines the friction. The less butter in the bowl, the more friction created because the paddle will have less resistance and more surface contact with the bowl.

Once you get below 200g butter, you’re going to start having issues with friction heat. 115g butter can still be creamed within temperature, but once you drop below that amount, you will have issues with friction heat.

You will need to use a larger batch size to avoid the friction heat problem.

Because your kitchen is so hot, you may fare better to just add the sugar and cubed butter into the bowl together. If you like, thoroughly whisk the leavening and salt to the sugar. But put the sugar at the bottom of the bowl and the butter on top of it.

Don’t take a long time going from slow to medium speed. You only want to allow the sugar to get incorporated into the butter, then increase the speed. On my KitchenAid I go up to #6. You may need to slow the speed on your mixer. It may be that the speed you are using on your mixer is just a little too high for creaming properly. So just take it down one speed.

The key to being a good baker is finding the right technique using the equipment that you have.


Set the timer for 2 minutes. The 113g cold butter should finished in this short of time. So your first half of beating can always be 2 minutes.

Scrape down the sides AND bottom of the bowl ONCE.

Set the timer for another 1 minute. I actually set my timer for 2 minutes but you have a very hot kitchen.

Continue beating on the medium setting.

But watch the progress. It may be the butter is finished beating before the 1 minute. It may need to go a bit longer.

It’s the second half of beating which the timing is unknown. This is where your experience as a baker comes into play.


You have to watch the color and volume.


The timer is there simply as a reminder that time = friction = temperature.


The timer is not there to tell me how long to beat the butter, rather to caution me as to the limits of the butter’s temperature.


Five minutes is probably the limit for a 72°F kitchen, yet I deliberately set the timer to alarm 30 seconds before that limit. Your kitchen is much hotter than the average kitchen so you need to set a timer


Leavening
3.5% leavening works for a sour cream cake with 150% sour cream and 150% of butter, so 2% leavening is sufficient for 29.4% yogurt and 62.8% butter.

Normally the cake does better with a combination of baking powder and baking soda. Reason is they react at different times. Baking soda will react immediately when it comes in contact with water and an acid. So the timeframe in which is working ends sooner than baking powder just is double acting.



Baking powder has an two acids; one that reacts to moisture, the other reacts to heat.


By adding both baking soda and baking powder, you get a stronger leavening action at the beginning of baking, then continued leavening action for longer because the baking powder has the heat activated acid to keep the leavening action active beyond that of baking soda.



So if you have some baking soda and you using both.

 

[ShuBunny]

I made this as closely as you described, and the temperature was close to the ideal but still over by a little.
Planning to chill the sugar the next time to push the DDT lower. Will fluff the butter too!

I had the creaming attachment shipped from the states, just to watch it malfunction during the first use. The silicone wing just came off. Trashing the damn creaming attachment.

I’m tempted to abandon this cake recipe for now, and practice creaming with the chocolate chip cookies Instead.

 

[Norcalbaker59]

I made this as closely as you described, and the temperature was close to the ideal but still over by a little.
Planning to chill the sugar the next time to push the DDT lower. Will fluff the butter too!

I had the creaming attachment shipped from the states, just to watch it malfunction during the first use. The silicone wing just came off. Trashing the damn creaming attachment.

I’m tempted to abandon this cake recipe for now, and practice creaming with the chocolate chip cookies Instead.

What speed are you mixing on? Try lowering the speed. It seems to me you’re creating too much friction in the bowl. So maybe lowering the speed with your mixer might help.

That is really disappointing that your attachment fell apart.

Baking equipment is very expensive. you have to be very careful. Research brands. And really only buy from reputable distributors. I rarely buy on the Internet. Amazon has a horrible counterfeit problem. I would rather pay slightly more and purchase from a reputable distributor locally than risk buying a counterfeit online.

 

[ShuBunny]

What speed are you mixing on? Try lowering the speed. It seems to me you’re creating too much friction in the bowl. So maybe lowering the speed with your mixer might help.

That is really disappointing that your attachment fell apart.

Baking equipment is very expensive. you have to be very careful. Research brands. And really only buy from reputable distributors. I rarely buy on the Internet. Amazon has a horrible counterfeit problem. I would rather pay slightly more and purchase from a reputable distributor locally than risk buying a counterfeit online.

I’m creaming on ‘Mininum’ and then then speed 1-3 mostly. The Max is 6 & ‘Max’.

I bought kenwood Mixer, which is supposed to be a work horse, and the poor man’s kitchen aid. Bought it from a reputable department store. Because they didn’t have the creaming attachment in stock here, I then ordered the attachment from the us kenwood store. Gosh. I did expect some quality control. Will be writing in to them.

 

[Norcalbaker59]

I’m creaming on ‘Mininum’ and then then speed 1-3 mostly. The Max is 6 & ‘Max’.

I bought kenwood Mixer, which is supposed to be a work horse, and the poor man’s kitchen aid. Bought it from a reputable department store. Because they didn’t have the creaming attachment in stock here, I then ordered the attachment from the us kenwood store. Gosh. I did expect some quality control. Will be writing in to them.

try reducing your mixing speed to a 4. since your kitchen temperature is always so warm, it might work better if you just slow the speed and create less friction.


Kenwood is not a bad mixer. If you purchased the attachments from a reputable store, definitely contact the store. They should replace the attachment. But I’m not sure why they would order the attachment from the US. Kenwood is a British company, not an American company. but if you bought it from a store locally, then definitely I would contact them. The attachment should not have fallen apart. I have several paddles for my mixers, Including a paddle with a silicone edge. My silicone edged paddles last for several years with 3 - 4x weekly use. and I toss those things in the dishwasher too.

 

[ShuBunny]

try reducing your mixing speed to a 4. since your kitchen temperature is always so warm, it might work better if you just slow the speed and create less friction.


Kenwood is not a bad mixer. If you purchased the attachments from a reputable store, definitely contact the store. They should replace the attachment. But I’m not sure why they would order the attachment from the US. Kenwood is a British company, not an American company. but if you bought it from a store locally, then definitely I would contact them. The attachment should not have fallen apart. I have several paddles for my mixers, Including a paddle with a silicone edge. My silicone edged paddles last for several years with 3 - 4x weekly use. and I toss those things in the dishwasher too.

The local Kenwood agent is really crappy, and they couldn't update when they would restock the creaming paddle - so i kinda took matters into my own hands and found creaming paddles sold by the Kenwood US. which is why i ordered it from Kenwood USA. And Kenwood USA was 70% off. Kenwood UK was full price before shipping!

Still, I'll write to them...