5 common cake fails ruining your bakes and the easy cheats to fix them – including the savvy steam hack
THE Great British Bake Off has inspired the country to make a bake – but our creations can end in chaos.
More than half of Brits are forced to bin their bakes because they’re inedible, and nearly a quarter have ended up buying a cake and passing it off as their own, Samsung research found.
While the Bake Off hopefuls whip up mind blowing showstoppers, us Brits are struggling with sunken sponges, curdled mixture and flat failures.
Thankfully, Lola’s Cupcakes founder and MD Asher Budwig is here to help us cover up our common cake conundrums with some very easy cheats.
It’s too dry
If your cake is as dry as a bone or crumbling before it reaches your mouth, you’ve used too much flour and not enough butter.
Without enough moisture, the mixture won’t bind together and you’ll need a big glass of water to wash it down.
Don’t start another Bin Gate like series five baker Iain Watters – there’s a simple solution.
“Shove it in the fridge. After a day or two, the sponge will start to soak up the cool moisture, soften up and feel much easier to eat,” says Asher.
“If you’re tight on time, use a pastry brush to spread a few tablespoons of milk or juice on top of the cake and allow it to soak through – your guests will ever know.
“Here at Lola’s, we add different flavours to our cakes by brushing purees on top – and it adds extra softness too.”
It didn’t rise
Cakes aren’t supposed to look like crepes. If it emerges from the oven as flat as a paving slab, you’ve made one of three big mistakes.
Either you forgot to add baking powder (or it’s out of date), you over whisked your mix or your cake pan is too big, so the mixture didn’t rise enough to fill it.
There’s nothing you can do to make it rise after baking (except slapping on a mountain of buttercream), but it’s not a write-off.
In true Bake Off innuendo style, you can chop up your cake and ‘patch up leaky cracks’.
“Cut up the cake into small pieces and serve as mini bites, masking those pesky edges with icing – no one will suspect a thing,” says Asher. “Or you can have a go at making a cupcake milkshake.
“Blend milk, broken up cupcakes and ice cream together for a creamy, indulgent dessert.”
It sank in the middle
There’s nothing more disappointing than watching your cake deflate like a balloon through the oven door, but a sunken bake is a very easy mistake to make.
Impatient bakers are the first to fall foul of this cake crisis. Opening the oven door too much before your cake has set will do the damage. So too will using too much baking powder, and leaving the batter to sit for too long before baking.
Last year’s Bake Off kicked off in horrifying style as both Amanda and Chiggs’ cakes collapsed before their eyes.
There was no saving their showstoppers, but your sinkhole is easy to cover up.
“Scoop out the centre of your cake and fill the empty space with frosting, fresh fruit, sweets, Smarties and sprinkles of your choice. Et voila – a perfect pinata cake,” says Asher.
It feels rubbery
A slice of cake shouldn’t feel like calamari in your mouth.
If it feels like chewing an elastic band, you’ve over-mixed the flour. When this happens, the gluten inside is activated and your cake will come out hard.
Candice Brown may have won Bake Off back in 2016, but it wasn’t smooth sailing for the star baker. Judge Paul Hollywood was so disgusted by her rubbery sponge, he threw it out of the tent like a Frisbee.
“To salvage your sponge, place a steamer into a large pot on the hob. Fill the pot with water until it almost reaches the base of the steamer,” says Asher.
“Bring the water to a simmer and carefully put the cake inside. Turn off the heat and leave for ten minutes with the lid on, or until the cake has softened – the rubbery texture will disappear in favour of a lighter, more springy sponge.”
It tastes floury
What’s worse than poor Maggie forgetting to put flour in her cake last year? Too much of the stuff.
Being lazy and not sifting the flour is a surefire path to a funny-tasting cake. So too is scooping flour straight out of the bag. It packs it too densely and won’t mix well enough with the other ingredients.
Nothing can fix a floury cake once it’s baked, but it’s not a total waste.
“Put your cake in the fridge to cool it, then use your fingers to crumble it up in a bowl,” says Asher. “Mix it together with buttercream and drizzle melted chocolate on top to make cake pops.
“The added moisture and flavour of the buttercream will hide the taste of flour and they’ll be more fun to eat, too.”