Adding 1 tablespoon of honey to any cake batter keeps your cake moist. The honey draws moisture to the cake and it stays moist from first slice to last. You do not need to change any ingredients and it can be added to a box cake mix or a homemade cake.
Source: A master beekeeper in PA.
By Lisa from Alexandria, VA
This page contains the following solutions.
Many times a cake recipe will tell you to use 2 round pans. I eliminate using 2 and use only 1 deep pan. Then when the cake is cool enough to handle I take a piece of sewing thread about 16" long and wrap it a finger on each hand.
When baking layer cakes, I cut pan liners out of brown paper bags. I lay the pan down on a bag and draw around it, then cut it out. If there is any printing on the bag, put it face down.
Add a cup of sour cream to cake batter to help make it moist and fluffy. Really good in a chocolate cake. Also lemon cake.
Cut old towel the height of the cake pan and length of the circumference or perimeter of the pan. If the towel is thin, make it twice the height and fold in in half lengthwise.
Eighteen frugal and time saving tips for baking cakes and cookies.
After baking a cake, put your cake pans in the freezer for an hour before frosting them. They will not crack and crumble when you put on the frosting.
This is in response to baking a flatter cake. All you have to do is either torte the mound off, torting means to cut the cake in several layers or just the top or in half horizontally (not up and down).
Take old (low loop nap) towels. Cut them at two times the height of the side of your pan. Wet towel strips and pin to sides of pan. Use large safety pins.
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
I have been baking for a home industries shop for 3 years now and lately my cakes are not rising properly in the center. They seem to rise nicely, then after 3/4 time has elapsed, they sink in the middle. I have changed my flour and baking powder, and reduced my oven temperature. I am now at a loss as to what to try next. Please can someone throw some light on this problem.
If your cakes were baked in the same oven and you
used same recipes before and they turned out all right
(before you switched flour, etc), sounds like element is going out and maybe cooking unevenly, if it's electric.
I agree with PIKKA, it sounds like your oven isn't heating evenly. I don't know about electric or convection ovens, but I do know that gas ovens clog and need to be cleaned out. This is a messy, somewhat difficult job. Call a repairman.
Thank you to both PIKKA and Perfumed fan. I actually have 2 ovens in which I bake (as it is my business), both electric, and it is happening in both of them. I cannot for the life of me understand what is happening.
Grandmas old trick was to hollow the centre of the cake out slightly might be worth trying sounds as if the element is faulty and is not cooking evenly one advantage with the fan bake style even temperature on all levels.
I think before you call a repairman, try going back to your original flour and baking powder (and baking temp) and see if it may be them. I know it does make a difference in flours and the baking powder may not be good (even tho you may have just bought it).
If your cakes are not rising, in the middle, it is one of two things. One, the rising/leven agent may be bad in your mix. Test your mix by adding a tablespoon of mix to a tablespoon of vineger, if it bubbles or foams it is ok. Second, most likely it is the thermostate or temperature control in your over is not right.
It is rather curious why this is happening. Try using a cake tin with a hole in the centre and see what happens. Also check the seals around the oven door, maybe they have been damaged and letting in cool air? Good luck, Kay from country NSW OZ
Dear Carolyn,
I agree that the oven is not working properly. If you have changed the flour, baking powder, etc, it has got to be the oven that has gone bad.
Thank you to all who responded. I found the problem. EGGS! I have my own chickens as we live on a farm. I changed their feed a while ago and they produced smaller and inferior eggs without me really noticing. Needless to say, have gone back to the original feed and whalla - cakes are perfect once again. Hope this might help anyone with the same problem.
You can try to add a little more flour .I have found that some recipes from the coastal towns don't rise and if you add a bit more flour it seems to help not too much or you will have to adjust the liquid as well in some cases.Also check if your raising agent is fresh as stale raising agent can cause cakes to flop too.
I have a recipe that calls for baking a cake in a skillet. I don't have a skillet that I can put in the oven. Can I use a regular cake pan?
Yes, just be and check the last few minutes to make sure it wont burn. Cast iron holds heat a little differently that regular bakeware. Good luck!
What about a iron skillet or even a skillet you have in which you could unscrew the handle from and take off to use in the oven that might work?
Is it possible that your meant to bake your cake on top of the stove? Heavy tri-ply skillets work very well for that.
You could remove the handles (ones with screws in them) from your pans to use in your oven. Then put them back on when finished with it.
Hi Judy, I bake one layer cakes in a frying pan on the stove. Maybe that is what the recipe is asking you to do.
What Judy wants to know is: Can she bake the cake in a regular cake pan instead of a skillet. The simple straightforward answer is "YES!"
Is it the handle melting,you are worried about? Just wrape the handle in foil first.I saw this on many,tv.cooking shows.
My pound cake came out dry, although I used 7 eggs as the recipe called for. My oven cooks slowly and I had to leave it in 15 minutes beyond the recommend cooking time. Could this have caused the dryness?
By Pamela from Philadelphia, PA
I would guess you're probably right.
Yes. If you leave any cake in the oven until it is set and firm, it will always be drier. Check your oven temperature with an oven themometer (sp?) and cook only for the time listed on the receipe.
To save it rather then chucking it. Make trifle with it or serve it with berries and whipped cream (like strawberry shortcake). Turn your dry cake into a delicious dessert! Depending on how dry and dense the pound cake is, you could dip slices in egg/milk and pan fry and serve with powdered sugar (like French toast only cakier)
It could also be your elevation; higher elevations usually need longer cooking times while lower elevations shorter. You may want to see what the elevation is/was where the recipe originated from. If you don't know, set the timer 5 minutes earlier than suggested and prick with a toothpick or a small bamboo skewer in the centre/highest point(s). If it comes out with batter on it, it needs to cook longer. If it comes out clean, maybe a couple of crumbs, take it out of the oven, it is pretty much done!
The addition of some sour cream and also using lower oven temperatures will help. I found this made a big difference when I make banana bread. I used to ignore the 1 hr and 20 minute @ 325F and instead followed other recipes that called for 350-375F for one hour. The extra 20 minutes at lower temperature retained much more moistness. Check early (especially if you have a convection oven) with a toothpick in center and remove from oven as soon as there is no batter or very minimal since it will retain heat and continue to bake. Good Luck!
Don't waste your dry cake! Try making a glaze to pour over it to moisten it back up. Put your cake back into the pan you baked it in, then use the handle of a wooden spoon to poke lots of holes in it. In a small sauce pan, put a stick of butter, about 3/4 or 1 cup of sugar and a tsp. of flavoring of your choice (almond, vanilla, etc.) bring to a boil and pour over the cake in the pan. Let sit about 10-15 minutes then invert on your plate. I use this method for making rum cake--bake cake with rum in it and then boil rum in the glaze. Yumm.... Hope this idea helps when you need a "save"!
Use 2-3 more eggs and use mayonnaise instead of oil. Also only cook it in the time alloted and remove it from the oven (as it will still continue to cook) or turn the oven off 10 minutes before the cooking time is finished.
I bake from scratch and my white and yellow cakes are always dry and my cupcakes are like biscuit consistency. Can someone please tell me what I am doing wrong? Any tips?
I used a white cake mix and followed all directions to the 'T.' It would not rise. I then bought a yellow cake mix and it would not rise. Why oh why? I bought them at the same store. Could they be old? I have been using cake mixes for 30 years and never had this problem.
By gg
Will the powder sugar melt if I dust them the day before I want to serve the cake?
By xueli from Malaysia
When I bake a cake and take it out of the oven to cool, and give it plenty of time before taking it out of pan I find that the crust is way above the cake. I then have to pull the crust off of the top and flip the cake bottoms up to glaze. Even my pound cakes.
I have baked pound cake many of times, but with a bundt pan. But this time the pans are square with no hole.
How do I get it to bake in the middle without drying the outside of the cake? Please help soon. Thanks.I make a glaze that has to boil for 3 minutes and then you poke holes in the cake and drizzle over. What would cause the glaze to harden?
By Kelly P.
I have a NordicWare fluted bundt muffin pan; and it sticks so badly it tear sthe muffins up when trying to get them out. I know I can use the baking cups, but then I don't get the pretty formation of the pan's muffins.
I tried spraying with Pam the last time I used it, but it is as if I used nothing. I have not used the pan for awhile because my beloved hubby passed away and I haven't had the heart to cook for a long time.Why does a new pound cake pan not do as good as my old one?
Why did my cake stick to the greaseproof paper that I lined the tin with? Can anyone help me please? This happens every time I bake a cake, even though I grease the paper before I put the cake mixture in.
By Susan C from Shrewsbury, England
You should also flour the pan with flour or even with some of the dry cake mix (if using a mix - will keep bottom from turning white on chocolate cakes and other cakes other than white.
My cakes are not browning when I use three layers. How do I get them to brown without drying them out?
By Tim
I recently moved to Florida from Vermont and find the humidity makes the flour very heavy and in order to have my cakes rise better I have been sifting the flour at least 4x. Does humidity effect ones baking ?
By Thelma S
I just picked up a heart shaped pan at an estate sale. The size looks like it would hold 1 box of cake mix, but it has a hole in the middle (6 inches) in diameter. What kind of pan is this?
By Meryl R. from TN
This is a page about preventing cakes from sticking to a cake pan. It is extremely frustrating to spend the time baking a cake only to have it stick to the pan.
