15 Successful Cake Baking Tips.

These are some baking tips that I have learned from baking through trial and error, books, Google, TV shows etc. Please note that I am not professionally qualified, just want to share whatever I have learned so far.

1. Check that you have all the necessary ingredients measured correctly and that they are at the right temperature before you start mixing.
2. Butter and eggs should always be at room temperature.
3. Sift dry ingredients to help aerate the mixture and to disperse lumps.
4. Sugar: Use correct sugar. Castor sugar creams more easily with fats than granulated sugar and is used where a fine and soft texture is required. Soft brown sugar is used for some recipes when making heavier cakes.
5. Use good quality fruit and peel for fruit cake recipes.
6. When making cakes by hand, beat well with a wooden spoon until the mixture is light and glossy; scrape down the mixture from the sides of the bowl during beating with a plastic mixing spatula to ensure even mixing.
7. If a cake is being made in a food processor or an electric mixer, be very careful not to over process or over-beat.
8. Level cake mixtures before baking.
9. Check that your oven is preheated to the temperature stated in the recipe. Failure to do so will affect the rising of the cake and the cooking time.
10. If the cake appears to be cooked before the given time,  it may indicate that the oven is too hot; conversely, if it takes longer to cook, it means the oven is too cool.
11. Butter: Salted butter (also known as sweet cream butter)- Some butter has added salt because it allows for a slightly longer shelf life. Butter made with sea salt or fleur de sel, a French version of sea salt, is ideal for using as a condiment or spread, but not recommended for baking.
Unsalted Butter-This is your best bet for baking. Butter that has added salt can affect the rising action of baked goods in recipes that use yeast.

12. Use cocoa powder instead of flour for dusting a greased pan when making chocolate cake.

13. To make a lighter cake, separate the eggs first. Add the yolks to the butter mixture, beat the egg whites then fold into the batter.

14. Brown sugar: You can make your own brown sugar. To 1 cup of granulated sugar add 1-2 tbsp of molasses, cream with a spoon or mix with a fork until the sugar can be packed in a cup and measured like brown sugar.

15: Egg whites: Sometimes you wonder why egg whites did not become stiff; it could be because the bowl you used or the whisk/beater you used contain traces of water/egg yolks. Not even a drop of yolk should get into the whites, the fats in the yolk prevent the egg whites  from whipping up. Always allow the whites to come to room temperature.

Hope this helps....Happy Baking!