How Do You Bake For Beginners
Baking is an easy skill to learn for anyone. There are many different ways to bake goods, and the best way to learn how to bake is by trying it yourself. There are a few things you need before starting to bake: flour, sugar, butter, eggs, and baking powder. Here are some tips on how to start baking:
Why Does The Top Of My Pound Cake Crack
Pound cake is typically a denser and more sturdy cake than layer cake. Over time, the sugar in the batter crystallizes and forms large bubbles. When these bubbles burst, they release energy, causing the cake to crack. The result of this energy release can be anything from a small hole to a gaping rift in the top of your pound cake.
How To Make Carrot Cake From Scratch
This carrot cake is quick, easy to make, and utterly delicious. It wasnt until recently that we realized just how much we love carrot cake. It wasnt something either of us grew up eating. Thanks to this easy recipe, we fell in love. You can make this cake quickly without lots of fancy equipment. Not only is this the best-tasting carrot cake weve made, but its a cinch to make. If you are looking to make cupcakes, see our easy carrot cake cupcakes recipe! Its inspired by this cake.
More carrot recipes: Try our quick and easy roasted carrots, carrots with garlic butter, or these honey roasted carrots.
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+ Decadent Cake Recipes From Scratch
We’re huge fans of a box cake mix, but if you’ve got the time to pay a little extra attention, there’s nothing like a homemade cake from scratch. We’ve rounded up our best from-scratch cake recipes and covered all the bases, from vanilla cake to holiday-worthy carrot cake, cakes dressed up like unicorns, and even cakes inspired by our favorite cocktails. No matter how simple or complex you go, these cake recipes from scratch guarantee a memorable treat.
Swirl chocolate and yellow cake batter together in this marble sheet cake recipe and top with a rich mocha frosting.
How To Make Vanilla Cake
The cake has a soft crumb and goes heavy on the vanilla to hit some nostalgia buttons.
Theres a little butter that gets worked into the dry mixture, which keeps the cake tender and adds a little flavor. I also use oil because it keeps the cake from drying out.
The perfect frosting for this cake is a basic vanilla buttercream , which is a simple mixture of butter, powdered sugar, cream, and flavoring whipped together until fluffy and spreadable. This cake would be great with pretty much any frosting you love.
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How To Make My Best Vanilla Cake
A stand mixer makes this vanilla cake a breeze to make, though it can be made with a handheld electric beater. While it takes time to beat the eggs to make a lovely fluffy cake, this recipe is more fail-proof than the usual cream butter and sugar until fluffy recipes read the above box for why.
The unique plush, fluffy crumb of this cake is from double lifting power whipped eggs PLUS baking powder!
1. Whip the eggs and sugar Beat the eggs with sugar for a whole 7 minutes until thick and glossy, it changes from yellow to white, and tripled in volume .
The aeration created during this step is key for a soft, fluffy crumb. This is a technique borrowed from Japanese sponge cakes.
TOP TIP: After this step, keep beating to a minimum otherwise youll knock the air out. Just follow my time and beater speeds and you cant go wrong!
Heres what it looks like before and after beating:
2. Gradually add flour Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Then add into egg mixture in 3 lots, mixing for just 5 seconds on Speed 1 in between. This should make the flour just incorporated dont worry if there are some bits not mixed in.
3. Hot melted butter in milk use a microwave or stove to heat milk with the butter until it melts. Believe it or not, HOT milk helps with aeration in this cake. I doubted it, so I tried with cooled melted butter in milk and found it did not rise as well.
6. Pour into 2 cake pans lined with parchment/baking paper.
How To Decorate A Vanilla Cake Step
Im going to decorate my vanilla cake with some pretty buttercream flowers using a palette knife technique. If you dont have a palette knife you can decorate the cake any way you like. Watch my how to decorate your first cake video for more ideas and I also go over standard tools that I use for cake decorating.
Step 1 Trim the domes off your cakes so that they stack nice and level. I use a serrated bread knife to do this.
Optional: trim off the brown edges so that when you slice your cakes, you see nothing but pure white cake. This is something I usually do for wedding cakes where looks matter.
Step 2 Place your first layer of cake onto a 6 cake board or directly onto your cake plate.
Step 3 Spread a layer of buttercream over the cake, I shoot for about 1/4 thick. Try to make it level with your offset spatula.
Step 4 Add your next layer of cake and repeat the process with buttercream and finish with the top layer of cake.
Step 5 Spread a thin layer of buttercream all over the cake. This is called the crumb coat and it seals in the crumbs so they do not get into your final layer of cake. Put your cake in the fridge or freezer for 15 minutes until the buttercream is firm to the touch.
Step 7 Color your buttercream. I colored about 1/4 cup of each color, light, and medium pink using Americolor electric pink food coloring.
Step 8 Use your palette knife to make your buttercream flowers . I also added a few white sprinkles here and there for texture.
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Create Beautiful Custom Cakes Without Having To Pay Custom Cake Prices
Custom cakes are expensive. They are worth the money, but if you dont have to spend the money all the better. Its also very cool to have your kids make crazy cake requests and you know you can actually make them.
My youngest daughter does her best to come up with crazy flavor combinations like whipped cream chocolate oreo, with cheesecake in the middle and puppy decorations on top just to see if I can be stumped.
So far, Ive pulled it off every time. 10 points to me!
Baking Your Own Cake Puts You In Control Of The Ingredients
A few years ago I had never made a cake from scratch. I was a busy teacher and mom of 4 and I used box mixes for almost everything, including cake. Thats just how we baked in my family!
Then I read the label on the box of cake mix:
Sugar, Enriched Bleached Wheat Flour , Vegetable Oil Shortening Leavening , Wheat Starch. Contains 2% Or Less Of: Salt, Propylene Glycol Mono- And Diesters Of Fats And Fatty Acids, Mono- And Diglycerides, Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, Dextrose, Artificial Flavors, Cellulose Gum, Xanthan Gum, Yellow 5 Lake, Red 40 Lake.
Yikes. I didnt want to eat 8 of those ingredients or feed them to my family. Still, I needed cakes in my life. Baking my own was one sure way to know what I was eating, so I set out to learn.
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Is It Done Baking
Putting together a great cake batter is no simple task, so its a good idea to know what to look for when checking to make sure your cake has baked properly. Instead of just relying on the clock, here are a few other indicators that your cake is done:
- A cake is fully baked when a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, or with a few dry crumbs. If the toothpick appears wet with batter, then the cake is not done baking. Try baking for another few minutes before checking again.
- When done, the surface of the cake should spring back after being gently pressed with a fingertip.
- In some cases, the sides of the cake will start to pull away from the pan when done. Be careful, though if the cake shrinks too much, then it might be on its way to being overbaked
Once done, let your cakes cool on a wire rack. Wait for about 15 minutes, or until the cakes and pans are cool enough to handle, before removing the cakes from their pans. If you try to remove a cake that is too hot, it may break into pieces.
Let the cakes completely cool before trimming, cutting, or frosting. A chilled cake is much easier to cut and leaves less crumbs behind.
Dry Ingredient Measuring Cups And Measuring Spoons
Dry measuring cups are flat across the top and usually come in a set with 1 cup, 3/4 cup, 1/2 cup, and 1/4 cup.
Measuring spoons are also flat across the top to level ingredients and come in 1 Tablespoon, 1 teaspoon, 1/2 teaspoon, 1/4 teaspoon, and sometimes 1/8 teaspoon.
Stick with one brand because they all can vary slightly and give you different results as you start to get really picky good at baking. Ive been happier with my steel ones over my other plastic and silicone handled sets.
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Store And Freeze This Cake
I usually make this cake the night before, just because I like to split up my baking and frosting days . But this cake is fine baked the same day or in advance.
If youre making the cake a day ahead, just cool and wrap it well with plastic and leave it at room temperature until you are ready to frost it.
If you want to bake the cake even farther in advance, bake and cool it as directed. Then, turn the cooled cake out and wrap it well in a double layer of plastic wrap, and freeze for up to two weeks.
Since buttercream frosting is pretty easy to make, I always wait to frost the cake the day I serve it. However, if you want, you can make the frosting in advance and store it in an airtight container in either the refrigerator or the freezer .
Defrost the frosting on the counter at room temperature and beat vigorously with a mixer to fluff it up again.
Two Types Of Naked Cakes
There are 2 types of naked cakes. The cake in todays photos is called a semi-naked or half dressed cake. Theres a minimal amount of frosting swiped around the sides. So in other words, a semi-naked cake is a crumb-coated cake. Or you can simplify the design even further with a true naked cake. This means the sides of the cake are bare like my fresh berry cream cake. Both styles are simple, approachable, and beautiful.
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Tips To Making The Best Vanilla Cake:
- Bring eggs and butter to room temperature. When all of the cake ingredients are roughly the same temperature everything mixes up so much better! Doing so will help get the moist crumbs everyone loves! Plus, youre less likely to overmix.
- Theres a lot of science when it comes to baking. Follow the recipe closely!
- Want a pure white cake that makes the best wedding cake? Use egg whites! Youll need to use 8 egg whites in this recipe, since 2 egg whites equals one egg. Vanilla extract also has a little bit of coloring, so you can switch it out for the clear baking version if youre wanting a perfectly white cake. Since it only adds a little bit of color, most of the time you wont notice it.
- Let the cake layers completely cool before you begin assembling and icing the layer cake. Even a slightly warm cake will begin to melt the icing which will cause it to shift or collapse. To speed up the cooling time, pop the layers in the refrigerator or freezer!
- Use ¾ teaspoons of baking soda to help give the cake layers a little more height. The baking powder reacts with the salt and the baking powder to help create a higher rise on your cake layers. Its an optional addition since there isnt much of a difference and the recipe already calls for baking powder and salt.
Serve Your Cake At Room Temperature
Yes, I said it and I know its controversial
I know many of you like cold cake, and if you do, then keep eating cold cake and enjoy! However, if youre serving your cake cold, just remember that the texture of the cake layers and buttercream will be different than when you serve cake at room temperature. I think sometimes we associate cold cake with dry cake, when in fact, the cake isnt actually dry and just needs to be left at room temperature for a little longer.
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How To Bake A Pound Cake From Scratch
Answer
If youre looking for a easy, delicious pound cake to make from scratch, look no further than this recipe.Using many simple ingredients, this recipe produces an excellent cake thats both moist and fluffy. Plus, its perfect for any birthday or Christmas party! If youre looking for a delicious and easy way to make a pound cake from scratch, look no further than this recipe! This cake is not only healthy but also delicious, so be sure to give it a try!
Should You Let A Pound Cake Cool Before Removing From Pan
A lot of people believe that its best to let a pound cake cool before removal from the pan. This is supposedly because the temperature will be more homogeneous and the cake will be less likely to crumble. Others argue that this is not necessary and that the cake will still be delicious if cooled properly. The key is to decide what youre comfortable with and make sure that your pound cake remains in good shape before removing it from the oven.
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How To Grease A Cake Pan
Taste of Home
Learning how to grease a cake pan is essential, particularly for layer cakes and Bundt cakes. Coating the pans with a bit of butter or shortening and then dusting with flour is key. This will allow your cakes to come out in one piece. If working with a flat-bottomed cake pan, you can add a layer of parchment paper on the bottom, too, for easy release.
How To Frost A Layer Cake
Taste of Home
Frosting a layer cake might seem like a fussy process, but it doesnt need to be a struggle. All you need to get the job done is a cake plate or cake stand and an offset spatula. Level off your cakes and start stacking. Keep the plate clean by layering waxed paper around the edge. When youre done, pull it away for a clean plate ready for serving.
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My Best Vanilla Cake Recipe Is
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Plush, moist, fluffy crumb without being freakishly unnaturally so . No more dense cakes!
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Keeps near perfectly for 4 whole days. 100% fresh on Day 1, still 96% perfect on Day 4. Thats unheard of!
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Lovely vanilla and butter flavour without a greasy mouthfeel
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Even, elegant crumb no large tunnels or irregular, crumbly holes
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Bakes perfectly flat no levelling required!
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Makes perfect cupcakes
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Not overly sweet and
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As tender as it can be but still be stable enough to make a large layered cake smothered with frosting or piles of cream and berries. In contrast, Chiffon Cakes and Japanese Sponges which, while lighter still, cannot actually hold up to much extra weight the bottom layer gets quite squished.
So if all that appeals to you too, then I dare say this might become YOUR favourite vanilla cake recipe too! And heres a little preview to show you how soft and fluffy it still is after 4 days:
How Many Eggs Are Needed For A Cake
When it comes to baking, most people think about the ingredients they need for their cake. However, there are other factors that come into play when making a cake. One of those is the amount of eggs needed. In order to make a cake with nine eggs, you would need three of each egg white and egg yolk. This isnt as common, as many cakes have eight or even ten eggs in them.
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What Will An Extra Egg Do To A Cake
Some people believe that an extra egg in a cake will make it taste better. Others think that the addition of an extra egg might not be necessary and that a cake would still taste great without one. Ultimately, there is no right or wrong answer to this question.
Extra eggs can add some extra flavor and texture to cakes, but they can also cause them to rise more than usual. If your cake is already cooked through, an extra egg may not make a big difference. But if youre making a cake for a special occasion, adding an extra egg may make a big difference.