Back to Basics, Baking 101

As you may have heard me mention in the past, I am a Wilton Method instructor, in essence, I teach cake decorating, not cake baking. Yes we do touch very briefly on the importance of baking cake correctly in the classes, as it is much easier to create a nicely decorated cake when you have a good foundation. But I still end up with students who come to class with overbeaten, dense, sinking, dry, crumbly cakes. And it just makes learning that much more difficult! Cake decorating should be almost therapeutic, not frustrating.

That brings me to the topic at hand. This is Baking 101. I want to take a moment to make sure everyone understands the importance of proper cake baking before going off to whip up a batch of buttercream.

First, remember that baking and cooking are two very different creatures. Although recipes are commonly used when cooking, there is usually enough freedom to be able to substitute and stray from said recipe without concern of botching the whole meal! Baking is chemistry. All the ingredients in baking play very important roles, and changing too many can very easily ruin an otherwise lovely recipe. A good example of this brings to mind a story of my aunt. I have an aunt who is very health conscious. She tends to follow food tends and health food buzzwords. As expected, she is currently attempting a gluten free lifestyle. But she has dabbled in carb-free living as well as sugar free, which brings me to my anecdote.

My mother is number five in a family of seven girls, which means I have a large family. Once you factor in spouses, cousins, grandparents and the like, you end up with large family gatherings during holidays. While I can't recall exactly which holiday we were celebrating at the time, there was of course a dessert. My sugar-free aunt (at the time) decided to contribute a pie, and in her quest to educate the rest of the family of her healthy ways, she made the pie sugar free as well... Again, the details are fuzzy as to what type of pie it was, all I remember is that it was fruit. I will use apple pie as my example here though. Now sugar has a natural tendency to draw moisture out of fruit, in this case apples, so it is common to slice the apples and let them sit in a mixture of cinnamon and sugar to create the juicy filling found in apple pie. Sugar also acts as a tenderizer when used in baking things like pie crust, helping make the crust tender and flaky (along with the added fats). There are some substitutes that can be used in place to help balance out the flavor and texture, but unfortunately, she just decided to make it sans sugar and did not bother replacing the missing ingredients! If you omit this sugar what do you end up with? A dry, dense, hard apple pie that one eats.

This bring me to my next point: substitutions. Done correctly, you can easily sub ingredients if you find that you are short something or want to change the flavor or nutritional value of your baked goods. The trick here is knowing what purpose each ingredient serves, then you can change things accordingly.

Example. Baking Soda vs. Baking Powder.

They are both white powdery substances often found in baking recipes, but do you know what they actually do? They are leavening agents, yes, but both very different formulas which behave in different ways.
Baking soda is sodium bicarbonate which when combined with an acidic ingredient, say buttermilk, lemon juice or vinegar, creates carbon dioxide gas which expands in the heat of the oven to make baked goods rise. The acid also helps balance out the sodium carbonate produced by baking soda, which tends to have a bitter metallic taste. The acid is the important ingredient here, so replacing buttermilk with regular milk will not create the chemical reaction needed, leaving your cakes very sunken. A good replacement for buttermilk (since I very seldom keep it around!) is to add one tablespoon of white vinegar to every cup of regular milk. This substitution gives you the liquid ingredient as well as the acid needed for proper leavening.

Baking powder is an all-in-one type leavener. It is a mixture of baking soda, an acid and cornstarch. Since the acid is already included, there is really to chemical need for additional acidic ingredients. Because baking soda is about four times stronger than baking powder, you can’t just swap one for the other. And every once in a while, you may notice a recipe calling for both baking soda and powder. In this case the baking powder is doing most the actual leavening, while the baking soda is there to neutralize the acid in the recipe as well as contribute to the rise.

This talk of rising brings me to my next point. Sinking or falling cakes. A very common (and very easy to do) mistake is overbeating cake batter. Overbeating can actually cause a whole plethora of problems when it comes to cake. Not only does it make your cake dense, but it can incorporate too much air when mixing, causing the cake to peak and develop cracks on the top. It can also create holes and tunnels throughout the cake. Under beating can disable the cake to rise properly as too little air was incorporated during mixing. It can also lead to a sunken cake center and a coarse grain and cause the cake to stay soggy after baking. There is a very fine line to walk when mixing cake batter. If using a box mix (tisk tisk*) follow the directions to the minute! When making a cake from scratch, make sure that you add the ingredients according to the recipe and mixing just until the batter is combined. For whatever reason, we seem to have a natural tendency to beat cake batter until it is smooth and creamy, but this is not always the case. When in doubt, refer to the recipe!

Ovens are another factor that plays into sinking cakes. Usually, we set our oven to preheat, sometimes not long enough, and just plop in our cake pan without a second thought. Preheat your oven for at least 20 minutes, and make sure that your oven rack is centered to distribute heat more evenly. Don't crowd your oven either, make sure there is at least one inch of room all the way around  your cake pans (top to bottom, front to back and side to side). Not all ovens are created equal! If your oven is not properly calibrated it can run too hot or too cool and easily cause a cake to rise improperly. If your oven runs hot, set it cooler than called for and let your cake bake for longer. If you are using insulated baking strips like Wilton's Bake Even Strips, my rule of thumb is to go 'low and slow.' Turn down the heat about 25 degrees (F) and bake about 15 min longer, or until toothpick comes out clean. It is also very important not to open your oven door during the first 20 minutes of baking. Every time you open the oven door, the temperature can drop as much as 10 degrees and that can be death to a cake!

Here are a few other substitutions that can usually be used successfully when you may find yourself short an ingredient:

1 cup brown sugar (packed): 1 cup granulated white sugar mixed with 2 tablespoons of molasses 

1 cup buttermilk: 1 tablespoon lemon juice or white vinegar plus enough milk to make 1 cup; let stand a few minutes. Or 1 cup plain yogurt.

1 cup self-rising flour: 1 cup all-purpose flour plus 1 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt

1 cup cake flour: 1 cup minus 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour

1 cup all-purpose flour: 1 cup plus 2 Tbsp cake flour
1 cup sour cream: 1 cup plain yogurt

1 cup butter/margarine: 1 cup Crisco shortening + 2 tablespoons water