Baked a cake, what did i do wrong?!
Baked a cake, what did i do wrong?
I baked my first homemade cake following the recipe below (wilton.com). I followed the directions pretty closely. I didn't use an electric mixer, i mixed by spoon. I made sure the mixture was completely lump free and well dissolved. I also didn't sift the powder because i don't know how. The cake ended up tasting pretty good but it had the texture of cornbread. Any suggestions?
3 cups sifted cake flour, 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 3/4 cups sugar, 2/3 cup butter or margarine, 2 eggs, 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla, 1 1/4 cups milk
Preheat 350°F. Grease bottom of two 8-inch round cake pans, line with parchment paper. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside. Cream sugar and butter together until light. Add eggs and vanilla to creamed mixture and beat until thoroughly mixed. Add flour mixture to creamed mixture alternately with milk, beating well after each addition. Continue beating one minute. Spread batter evenly in prepared pans. Bake 30 to 35 minutes
Answers:
Hi,
I have a few reasons that the cake may not have have the texture you were looking for... First off, you can buy "cake flour", which is different than all-purpose flour, and I think it comes already sifted. It comes in a red box, a popular brand is Swans, and it is more expensive than regular all-purpose flour. However, you can replace 1 cup of A.P flour minus 2 Tablespoons for 1 cup of Cake Flour. I do that often with good results. But just using 3 cups of A.P. flour instead of 3 cups of Cake Flour without taking out the 2T/cup will give you a heavier, denser, less desirable product.
Second, when a recipe calls for you to cream butter and sugar until light, you really do need an electric mixer, you are not going to be able to get enough air whipped into it to give the cake a light, airy texture by hand mixing alone. The same applies to the last one minute of beating at the end of the recipe. This serves to beat quite a bit of air into the mixture, which also serves to give you that light, cake-like texture.
Hope this helps, and good luck on all your baking endeavors! Don't worry, anyone who bakes screws up lots of stuff as they learn. I sure have!