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My Cake Recipes Always Seem To Be Extra Dense

Jmills

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So I'm very new to baking and whenever I make cakes and now even cupcakes, the different recipes I try, it seems like my cakes are very just thick and dense. They're never light and fluffy. Is it the recipes that I'm following am I doing something wrong and it comes from all different types recipes I find online. Should I specify light cakes or is it that all these cakes just happen to have a very dense thickness to them?
 

Hot fries

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You could try cake flour instead of regular flour. If you substitute it I think you use a little bit more cake flour. But I usually find recipes that already have the proper cake flour amount listed in the ingredients
 

PinkPancakes

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I'm not sure what the trick is. I love to bake but haven't tried cake for the same reason.

My friend has been baking her entire life and she won't even bake a cake from scratch. She said it's incredibly difficult to bake a good homemade cake. She uses boxed cake but dresses it up by adding things. Folks don't know the difference.
 

CBGB

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So I'm very new to baking and whenever I make cakes and now even cupcakes, the different recipes I try, it seems like my cakes are very just thick and dense. They're never light and fluffy. Is it the recipes that I'm following am I doing something wrong and it comes from all different types recipes I find online. Should I specify light cakes or is it that all these cakes just happen to have a very dense thickness to them?

If you beat your cake batter for too long, you may be beating the air out of it.

Try this cake recipe (it is guaranteed to be light due to the method of integrating ingredients): My very best Vanilla Cake - stays moist 4 days!
 

BigChoppa

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It sounds like you may be over mixing. Depending on the cake, you either have to mix until everything is just combined, or fold the ingredients in together. Doing anything more than that will cause a deflated cake. You can also try cake flour like others have suggested already.

Baking takes a lot of trial and error. You'll get the hang of it the more you bake.
 

CharlieGirl17

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If you beat your cake batter for too long, you may be beating the air out of it.

Try this cake recipe (it is guaranteed to be light due to the method of integrating ingredients): My very best Vanilla Cake - stays moist 4 days!

Yep. I bet she is beating the mixture too long. Try beating the butter and sugar till it is light and fluffy. Then mix in the dry ingredients just until they are blended
 

spark1970

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It sounds like you may be over mixing. Depending on the cake, you either have to mix until everything is just combined, or fold the ingredients in together. Doing anything more than that will cause a deflated cake. You can also try cake flour like others have suggested already.

Baking takes a lot of trial and error. You'll get the hang of it the more you bake.

check! no reason for me to repeat.
 

Frescura

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Sounds like your wet to dry ratios might be off or you may be going wrong somewhere else in the process. Baking can be finicky and the results won’t turn out right if you go wrong somewhere.

Some tips that may help:

1.Make sure that you are using liquid measures to measure out the liquid ingredients and dry measures to measure out your dry ingredients. Liquids should be measured with the liquid measuring cup sitting on the counter or table for accuracy, not in your hand. Dry ingredients should be leveled off unless instructions say otherwise.
*some bakers even use a kitchen scale to ensure accuracy*

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2. Use room temperature eggs
3. Use room temperature butter
4. Try using cake flour instead of all purpose flour
5. Do not over cream your butter or over mix your batter
6. Make sure that your oven is preheated to the correct temperature before placing the cake in the oven as this can affect density as well.
 

gingerlynn

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My baking results improved drastically when I started using better quality butter, like Plugera. Just look for European butter. I also weigh all my dry ingredients using a digital scale. If recipe calls for room temperature butter make sure it’s room temperature. Same with eggs and dairy. Using a stand or handmixer can help. I also invested in an oven thermometer to make sure my old ass oven was accurate. Of course it was not. It runs 10° cooler so for A 350° oven I have to send it to 360°. make sure you place the thermometer in the area you will be cooking in. Pretty much the center of the oven.
 

B.B. Homemaker

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Another option would be to sift your flour. It aerates the flour and eliminates a dense cake (especially true for pound cake).
 

Hooliganista

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It really depends on the recipe you are using. Some cakes you can't overbeat and others you need to beat to get an airy consistency.
Make sure your ingredients are room temperature.
Also for a moist cake add sour cream or mayo It's controversial but it works
When measuring flour, spoon it into your measuring cup and level off.
 

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