What Makes A Cake More Dense And Moist

But the one on the left shows streaks – areas of dense, sodden cake. Taking a bite, you'd think it was under-baked – even though it's actually completely baked.

One of my fellow King Arthur Flour test bakers, Frank Tegethoff, recently called me into the test kitchen for show & tell.

We bakers often do this with one another – Hey, wanna see something interesting? someone will say, pulling a deflated loaf of bread, ultra-flat cookie – or perfectly shaped muffin – out of the oven.

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We then gather around for a quick lesson in the particular area of baking science demonstrated by said unsuccessful (or super-successful) baked good.

Frank said, Both of these slices of cake are from the same recipe. Same ingredients; same pan. Same baking time and temperature. Why do you think this one has this pasty middle, and the other one looks fine?

I considered the question. Preparation method must be the variable. Ummm... something about how you put together the batter? (The girl's a genius!)

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Frank explained that's true, but creaming (beating together sugar, butter, and eggs) has to be done slowly; no higher than medium speed.

And once any flour is added, the mixing has to be slower still. Developing the flour's gluten too much means the cake will rise beautifully in the oven – then sink (a little, or a lot) as soon as you pull it out.

Since you can't be right here in the test kitchen with us, we offer you the next best thing: our toll-free baker's hotline, staffed by test kitchen bakers. Next time your cake collapses, your cookies crumble, or your bread behaves badly, call us: 855-371-BAKE (2253). We're here to help.

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PJ Hamel grew up in New England, graduated from Brown University, and was an award-winning Maine journalist (favorite topics: sports and food) before joining King Arthur Flour in 1990. Hired to write the newly launched Baker’s Catalogue, PJ became the small but growing company’s sixth employee.    ...

This super-plush yellow cake skips the butter (and the oil!) What exactly is whipped cream cake, and why is it so tender and rich?

The easiest way to upgrade cake is with a soak. Here's our guide. A little liquid can take your cakes a long way.Have you ever wondered how to make moist cakes, or how to make cake moister? You're in right place--the secret to moist cake lies in the bakery methods and secret ingredients that I've been perfecting with my bakery recipes for over a decade!

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Let’s talk about cake. When you think of a delicious made-from-scratch cake, it should be dense and yet soft, with a moist, tender crumb.

A cake baked from scratch usually has a much different texture than a grocery store cake or a cake mix cake (which is more light and airy and typically not as moist.) I’m not pooh-poohing on grocery store or cake mix cakes. Any cake is better than no cake, right?

But our goal here today is to make the most delicious, moistest cake that stays moist for days and has your guests raving at every bite. This is what we were known for at Amycakes Bakery.

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In fact, I'm a little skeptical of cake recipes that contain milk instead, and will often substitute buttermilk in these cases. (Be forewarned, simply substituting may not always give you perfect results as other ingredients like baking soda could be affected and change the rise of your cake when switching to buttermilk. I go into tweaking recipes a bit more on #4). 

Buttermilk is an acidic ingredient, which helps break down the gluten in your baking and creates a more tender cake. As a flavor bonus, the slight tang of buttermilk compliments the overall sweetness in your cake batter, making a more balanced cake.

While butter will give you the best flavor, vegetable oil will make your cakes moister. I use a combination of salted butter and vegetable oil in all my cake recipes to get the most flavorful and moistest results.

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Vegetable oil stays a liquid at room temperature, while butter solidifies. That’s why you’ll notice that cakes made with vegetable oil will have a softer texture at all temperatures, even straight from the fridge.

Instant Clearjel, which is “modified cornstarch, ” is a starch that allows your cakes to retain more moisture. Instant Pudding mix is a great substitute as it contains Instant Clearjel as the second ingredient.

I recommend checking out this entertaining video by Adam Ragusea where he discusses the science of pudding mix and Instant Clearjel in cakes. I love this ingredient so much that I wrote a whole article on it: Instant Clearjel: A Magical Little-Known Bakery Ingredient.

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I know, I know, it’s hard to predict what's a good recipe before testing it out. I suggest scanning cake recipes and choosing one that already contains buttermilk and/ or vegetable oil.

But because baking is a science, you may not be able to simply substitute in the above suggestions and be guaranteed a great recipe. (Although if you don’t mind a bit of trial and error, it’s a great place to start).

When I tweak recipes, I like to downsize the recipe first to make the tiniest batch possible to test out the quality (I'll usually do a ¼ or ⅛ of a recipe).

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If I'm happy with the result, I'll remake it on a larger scale. Or, just check out my Extra-Moist Cake Recipes that I’ve been perfecting over the past 11.5 years. ☺️

Most of my cake recipes are baked in a half sheet pan and then cut out using cake rings with what I call the Cut & Stack Method. This sped up our baking and frosting process at Amycakes Bakery and provided us with moist cakes every time.

I first saw a similar method in the pastry chef Christina Tosi's book Momofuku Milk Bar. (Here's a video of Christina Tosi's cake stacking process, although we used larger pans and cut and stacked our cakes a bit differently at my bakery without the need for acetate sheets.)

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You can view our bakery method in my tutorial How to Bake and Layer Cakes Like a Pro. I love this method because of its versatility.

You can bake the cake in the same cake pan each time, and then decide if you want to make an 8” cake, two 6” cakes, several tiny cakes, or an extra tall 6 cake, etc.

The other reason I do this is to eliminate browned, darker or crispy edges. You may have noticed this on cakes baked in smaller individual pans: As you get to the edge of the cake that has the delicious frosting, the cake starts to get a little darker, drier, and simply not as delicious.

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The Cut and Stack method means your finished cake will have NO dark edges! Just moist and soft cake in every bite.

Do you only have individual pans or are baking a naked cake? No problem--you can get similar soft edges by baking more layers with less batter in each pan. For instance, 4 round cake pans with one inch of cake batter in each pan will bake faster and more evenly than 2 round cake pans with 2 inches of batter in each pan.

Simple syrup is not going to make a dry cake moist (it may just make it soggy). But if your cake is already moist from using the steps above, simple syrup is the last step to seal in all your hard work and ensure it stays moist even longer.

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Simple syrup is, in fact, incredibly simple. Just mix equal parts water and sugar, and microwave until the sugar is fully dissolved, stirring frequently in between heats. I use a silicone pastry brush (no risk of lost pastry brush hairs with silicone brushes) to lightly brush a thin layer of simple syrup on the top of all my cakes.

For some cake flavors, you may prefer a flavored glaze instead of a simple syrup. For instance, my Lemon Cream Cake has a lemon glaze made with lemon juice and powdered sugar, and my Coconut Cream cake has Cream of Coconut drizzled on top.

Now you're ready to get to baking an incredibly moist cake--let me know how it turns out! Check back soon if you'd like to try my extra moist cake and bakery recipes, or sign up for my Newsletter to be notified with a weekly email when new recipes are ready.

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Have you tried these moisture-making methods in your cakes? Are there any that I've forgotten? Comment below as I'd love to hear from you!Sugar plays an important role in any cake recipe.  Without the inclusion of sugar, a cake would be bland and uninspired in relation to flavor, but did you know that your cake would also be pale in color, squatty and dense?  Sugar’s effects on cake are quite diverse.  To really get a feel for the importance of sugar in a recipe, I baked cakes with anywhere from no sugar at all to one and a half times the standard sugar weight (2:3 sugar to flour).  How does changing sugar volume affect your cake?  Read ahead and you may