Baking really is a science. There are a lot of things that go awry when making a cake. I’ve lost count of the number of frantic emails and messages I’ve received about cake mishaps over the years. To make life easier for all of us, I’ve created this cake troubleshooting guide.
While I always do my best to answer your questions, I figured I’d streamline the process by sharing troubleshooting tips on the most common issues people run into with cakes.
It’s also easier to have pictures of common problems, to help you identify what might have happened if your cake turns out less than perfect.
Best Pound Cake Bake Off
Four cake layers with four different problems. Can you tell what’s wrong with them just by looking? One was made with too much flour, one was underbaked, one was over-baked, and one was over-mixed.
My hope is that this cake troubleshooting guide will help you understand what caused your problem and empower you to bake amazing cakes in the future. So, without further ado, let’s dive in!
This cake layer was made with too much flour and was over-mixed. The crumb isn’t tender or soft, and the texture is dense with an oddly gummy center. It causes the cake layer to almost look underbaked once it’s leveled, even though it’s cooked through.
I Tried To Make A Cake But It Came Out Really Dense For Some Reason.
This cake layer was baked in an oven that ran hot and was placed too close to the sides of the oven which made the edges over-brown.
This cake layer was over-mixed! This causes strong gluten strands to form which trap the leavening agent in the batter which creates these air bubbles and tunnels.
A cake should not be frosted with a rubber spatula like this! It can cause the cake layers to break and crumble as it drags the frosting around the cake. Instead, use an offset spatula to more easily spread frosting.
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I bought an oven thermometer to check the accuracy of my oven! Despite my oven being old and gas-powered, it bakes surprisingly accurately.
My go-to vanilla cake recipe doesn’t rise up much as it bakes! It rises by about a centimeter. Some people think they did something wrong because of the limited rise, but it’s formulated to bake flat. As long as the cake texture is soft and fluffy, the layers turned out exactly how they should.
When I make a round cake occasionally the frosting will bulge and start to fall off. I do not have this problem when I make sheet cakes. My frosting is half cup of Crisco four cups powdered sugar quarter cup of water. Any help would be appreciated.
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This can happen when the cake layers settle, or if air gets trapped between the cake layers. A way to help avoid this is to gently press on the cake layers once they're filled and stacked, to remove any air before you frost the outside of the cake. Hope that helps, happy baking!
My cake was too brown on the bottom and had a gummy layer on the top that I scraped off with a spatula?.
So sorry to hear that! What recipe are you using? That's the first thing I'll need to know to help! What type of pans are you using? Sometimes dark pans can cause cakes to over brown. Your oven might also have hot spots or run hot on the bottom!
Cake Was Dense And Rubbery
Have you tested your oven to make sure it's baking accurately? Those would be my first guesses as to what might be happening!
This post actually doesn't have a recipe card in it. Are you asking about my vanilla layer cake (https:///best-vanilla-layer-cake-recipe/)? If so, one batch of that recipe makes 10 cups of batter. Hope that helps, happy baking!
Thank you for the troubleshooting information. I am having trouble with my butter cake getting too brown. You said it could be my pans, as they are dark metal, I will change them up and try again. Thanks in advance.
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[…] your cake layers turn out less than perfect, check out my cake troubleshooting guide to try to figure out what […]This is the only guide you will ever need to make delicious, moist, perfect classic pound cake! A comprehensive step by step pound cake recipe with all the troubleshooting tips to ensure success!
The perfect pound cake is dense but soft, rich, buttery, and moist, and is easy to make. This extensively tested, foolproof pound cake recipe will guide you to make the best pound cakes that you’ve ever made!
Pound cakes first originated in Europe. They’ve been around since as early as the 1700s, and the term traditionally referred to a cake that weighed four pounds. That’s because a classic pound cake consisted of 1 pound of each of the following FOUR ingredients,
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A classic pound cake doesn’t rely on any leavening agents (such as baking powder or baking soda) to give the cake any lift, or any extra liquid to make the cake moist. The result is a dense cake, that is also somewhat dry (especially when over-baked).
As pound cakes have become more popular throughout different parts of the world, different variations of the vanilla pound cake have emerged, that are lighter and more moist.
Each region (or country) has their own version of a pound cake, incorporating different ratios of the main ingredients, and sometimes including extra liquid and baking powder too.
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Start with good ingredients. Well, that’s a given, but it’s especially true with pound cakes. Rather than using generic ingredients, try and use brand name ingredients when possible.
Make sure to get cane sugar because it has a finer grain than other white sugars (if it doesn’t say cane sugar, then it’s probably beet sugar). If you can get your hands on pure cane caster sugar (superfine sugar) that’s even better!
Use GOOD quality butter to ensure a good butter pound cake. Not margarine, not spreadable butter, but classic butter. I prefer to use unsalted butter, but you can use salted butter as well. However, due to the higher water content in salted butter, there’s a higher chance for inconsistent results when using salted butter.
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I prefer to use eggs that are about 1 week old and here’s why. The egg whites in fresh eggs are tighter and thicker whereas in older eggs, the egg whites are thinner and looser. These older eggs mix into the cake batter more easily and readily, resulting in a pound cake that’s lighter in mouthfeel and crumb texture.
Another reason is that fresh eggs are heavier than older eggs – so 8 fresh large eggs would be way heavier than 1 lb, while 8 older large eggs would be closer to 1 lb.
But you can also use cake flour instead. This is lighter, and has less gluten than AP flour. Resulting in pound cake that rises a little more, and has a tender crumb.
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If you choose to go with pastry flour, you can substitute cake flour for AP flour at a 1:1 ratio – BY WEIGHT (not volume).
We add salt to balance the sweetness of the pound cake. Without salt, the cake can either taste too sweet or a little bland. A little salt goes a long way to improve the flavor of the cake.
Baking powder is a chemical leavener (read more about it in my baking powder vs baking soda article). The acid and base react in the presence of liquid and create CO2, which helps to expand the batter and rise. However, unlike other cakes, pound cakes rely on air and eggs to rise. So it’s inherently a dense cake with a close crumb.
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But baking powder can be added to make the cake rise a little more – especially if you’re not fully sure that you mixed the ingredients well. This is why baking powder is an optional ingredient.
I am a HUGE advocate for using an inexpensive kitchen scale for all your baking needs as I’ve discussed at length in my measurement conversions page. Baking needs some precision and a cheap weighing scale will ensure consistent baking results every time, which in turn will save you so much more time and money in the long run from failed recipes and wasted ingredients.
Flour than you intended. OR, if you choose to use cake flour for your classic pound cake instead – 1 cup of cake flour is lighter than AP flour, so you will end up with LESS cake flour than needed for your recipe if you use a cup to measure.
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This is why a measuring scale would be very handy to ensure the best pound cake recipe that you could make. Or you could easily end up with a sickly sweet pound cake because of too much sugar.
If you do use cups however, it’s important to fluff up the flour and sugar in the container, and then scoop the flour and sugar into the measuring cup to the point of overflowing. Then, using a flat knife, level off the excess flour/sugar. It would still be difficult to guarantee consistent results this way, however.
If you’re in the US, then 1 stick of butter = 4 oz / 115 g / or 0.5 cups.
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