In order to not have a cake you wouldn’t want to eat, it’s important to learn the best tips for mixing batter correctly.
What Are Tips For Mixing Cake Batters?
If using the creaming method where you cream your sugar and butter first, it doesn’t require as much mixing once all ingredients are added. The type of method that you use for mixing is very important and will determine how well your batter develops. The right amount of gluten development is important when mixing a cake batter.
This is so the batter doesn’t develop a lot of gluten which will affect your cake once baked.
Whereas, if doing the reverse creaming method, it’s a little bit more forgiving as you are mixing your dry ingredients with the fat. The gluten doesn’t develop as fast it’s a little bit slower. It’s easier not to mix too much.
Knowing exactly what type of cake you want will help you from the beginning to know the type of texture you’re going for. So, if you want a very moist cake it helps a lot to use cake flour as it has less protein so no matter what you’ll get a very soft cake.
If you don’t want a dry and crumbly cake, you want to make sure that when you’re mixing the cake you use the proper amount of fats to ensure that the cake comes out soft with a fine crumb.
It’s important to know how to make the best batter possible, but it’s also crucial that you understand the goal of making a good batch before it hits the oven and how it impacts the final stage– the baked cake.
What Are The Three 3 Main Goals Of Mixing Cake Batters?
The three main goals of mixing cake batter are
- Having your ingredients mixed properly and combined.
- The cake batter should have the right consistency. If it’s meant to be thin it should be thin and if it’s meant to be thick it should be thick.
- To cream the butter well, you must use room-temperature butter and no colder.
Whether you use the one-step method to mix your ingredients or use the creaming method or reverse method. Always combine your ingredients the way it’s supposed to be ensuring it’s well mixed. If the recipe calls for it to be creamy, cream the ingredients until creamed. If the recipe calls for it to be mixed and combined in one bowl, mix it until all the ingredients dissolve with each other.
If you’re making a cake batter and you notice that it’s too thick when it should be thin that’s an issue as it can lead to a dry and dense cake. It’s important to be very aware and supervise the batter while making it.
Here are some tips to follow if you’re a new baker and don’t want to ruin your batter.
Add the ingredients as per the recipe. One of the biggest reasons why most batters fail is sometimes the ingredients is not at room temperature or people tend to mix the batter too much and it forms too much gluten and leads to the batter no longer being good for baking.
Is Cake Batter Better With Butter Or Oil?
When you put oil in your cake batter it will be more moist and tender. If you use butter there will be more flavor but it will be less moist. Think carrot cake vs white cake. The carrot cake is usually moister because it’s usually oil-based.
Oil is 100% fat and there’s no hydration compared to butter where there is some sort of hydration within it. If you were to put oil-based cake in the fridge it will stay moister than if you put a butter-based cake in the fridge it would be more solid but it would still be good.
In this case, it’s not a matter of which one is better, it’s a matter of preference and what the taste bud prefers. Oil doesn’t add any flavor to the cake but butter does. Oil does do better in some recipes than others.
It’s very popular to use butter when doing a vanilla cake versus a chocolate cake. Chocolate cake is usually oil-based as the idea is you don’t want the butter to kill the chocolate flavor within a cake.
It really comes down to the texture and the flavor you prefer. It may require a day for you to just be in a testing mood and see what you like better.
Which Mixing Techniques Is Best For Making Cakes Why?
The most common mixing technique that is used to bake cakes is the creaming method. It is not the easiest but has the best outcome as it will be very soft and fluffy. But this cake is not the easiest if you’re inexperienced with mixing batter, especially with all-purpose flour.
The process of doing creaming method is creaming the butter and sugar first until fluffy then adding the egg one at a time and then adding all the other common dry ingredients.
Not knowing how to tell when the batter is done mixing before baking, because of inexperience — can make a cake not rise and be dense.
So though this is the most common method there are other options that can be used to ensure a soft and moist cake. It’s suggested to use cake flour if using this method to make mixing easier and reduce errors.
Is It Better To Mix Cake Batter By Hand Or With Mixer?
Mixing the batter is one of the most important parts especially when doing the creaming method. The advantage of using a mixer to cream the butter and sugar is to help create air bubbles so the cake can rise.
If you’re adding the other ingredients in small bashes you can then use your hand to mix it really well but be careful not to over mix but only once you’re done creaming. If you were to mix everything by hand you’ll notice that the batter would probably more be denser than if you were to mix using a mixer it helps the batter to be lighter.
Having air bubbles within the batter allows the batter to cook more evenly in the oven and allows it to be more fluffy and have a crumb. If there are no air bubbles it will cause the cake to be dense and there will be a high chance the cake wouldn’t rise.
The main thing you want to look out for when using a mixer is to make sure that you mix until the batter is smooth on low to medium speed.