Can You Keep The Cake Moist After Baking?
Cake baking is one of life’s greatest pleasures. It’s also one of the hardest things to master. The cake batter gets all mixed into one big mess and then you put it in the oven to bake it.
Once the cake comes out of the oven, it looks perfect. Then you cut it open and…it falls apart. What happened?
You’ve probably noticed that cakes get dry after they’re baked. This happens because of an air pocket inside the cake.
The cake expands during baking and then contracts back down after it comes out of the oven. If there isn’t enough room for the cake to expand, it won’t be able to properly rise and the cake will be flat.
When you bake a cake, you want to make sure that there’s plenty of space for the cake to expand. This is especially true if you’re making a sheet cake where you’ll need to fold the edges in to create a crusty exterior.
In this article, we will show you different ways to keep the cake moist after baking.
Best way to keep the cake moist after baking
If your cake has already been cooled on a wire rack, here are some tips for keeping the moisture from escaping:
1) Make sure that there is plenty of space between your cakes and walls or they will dry out even more quickly. Use a pan with at least 2″ spacing for each layer.
2) Wipe away any crumbs that fall onto the surface of the cake before serving. Crumbly surfaces can cause cake layers to stick together as well as causing them to crack.
3) Bake your cakes right away so that they have time to cool completely before slicing. Cooling allows the structure of the cake to set up, which prevents cracking when cutting through the middle.
4) Store your cakes in airtight containers. Airtight storage keeps the humidity level constant and helps prevent mould growth. Mold may form if there is too much water trapped within the cake itself.
5) Avoid storing your cakes near heat sources like stoves, refrigerators or microwaves. These appliances release hot steam, which dries out the interior of the cake. Additionally, these areas will probably keep high levels of humidity.
6) Always store your cakes upright. Invert moist cake often expose their bottoms to oxygen, which causes oxidation.
7) Check the cake every 5 minutes, to make sure it isn’t over-baked.
8) You can also keep the cake moist by adding a little butter with flour or margarine to the cake while it’s still warm. Be sure to cover it with aluminum foil, to keep it moist during the cooling time.
How to prevent a dry or dense cake?
One thing that many people don’t know about mixing extra cake batter is how important it is to mix everything thoroughly until the dry ingredients and wet ingredients are fully combined.
When you do not combine all the cake flour, sugar, eggs, etc., you risk creating lumps that could affect the overall texture of the finished product.
Lumpier mixtures produce denser cakes since the liquid settles below the solid particles.
Lumpier batter can lead to uneven distribution of liquids throughout the final baked item. The lighter parts of the mixture sink into the darker regions and vice versa.
This creates holes and pits in the centre of the cake instead of a smooth top surface. Denser mixtures contain less volume than those made using a proper technique.
Dense cakes lack flavour due to lower amounts of the Leaveners used. They also result in a higher amount of carbon dioxide being produced during cooking.
What is a secret ingredient to moisten cakes?
There are many ingredients that help cakes stay soft after being cooked.
Some common ones include eggs, milk products such as buttermilk, sour cream, yogurt and heavy whipping cream butter, oil, sugar, purpose flour, cocoa powder, vanilla extract and spices.
But how do you know what kind of mixture works best for your particular recipe? That depends on the type of cake you’re making!
Here are our top picks for moistening agents:
- Eggs – Eggs contain emulsifiers which work very effectively to moisturise cakes. They bind all kinds of foodstuffs, including sugars, oils, fats and proteins, into a smooth mass.
Egg whites are good at holding things together, since they don’t add any flavour. But remember not to use egg yolks unless instructed to do so otherwise.
The protein content present in egg yolk coagulates once mixed in other substances, leaving behind small lumps that could ruin your cake.
- Milk Products – Milk products provide tenderness because of their fat content. However, dairy products are slightly acidic so they won’t always work perfectly inside cakes.
For instance, some people find that using regular whole milk instead of low-fat milk gives overly sweet results.
If you’re having trouble getting a nice texture, then try substituting half skimmed milk. This adds less fat than full-skimmed milk without affecting the taste.
- Butter/Margarine – Butter contains lecithin, which binds moisture into the batter along with keeping everything from separating.
Also, temperature butter has an unusually large proportion of saturated fatty acids. Some recipes call for baking powder and baking soda instead of salt; this lowers the pH of the mixture and makes the cake more alkaline.
An acidifying agent like vinegar might also accomplish the same thing.
- Sugar – Sugar doesn’t actually hold anything together, per se. It provides sweetness and helps create a light crumb structure, which allows air pockets to expand to absorb additional moisture.
So if you want something really most just leave out the sugar completely! Or replace it with honey, molasses or maple simple syrup.
- Cocoa Powder – Cocoa powder is made up mostly of unsweetened chocolate liquor. Its main purpose is to give foods a rich colour.
- Flour – Extra flour has a lot going for them when used as a binding agent. They thicken liquids and add volume to baked goods.
And unlike most dry mixes, a combination of cake flour come premixed and ready to go. When combined with liquid, they form elastic dough structures which allow steam to escape quickly.
As long as you use enough water, these gluten networks will trap whatever else is added in order to keep its shape.
Cakes made with high amounts of corn starch may require extra moisture because the starch absorbs too much liquid.
Conclusion
Keeping cake moist can be achieved by keeping them in a cake keeper or a cake cover. However, it is best to keep them at a proper room temperature.
In addition, using a good quality of icing would definitely help in keeping the cake moist. If you still have questions, contact a professional baker.