MIXING THE CAKE
To assure even distribution of ingredients, scrape around the bowl with a plastic spatula or scraper frequently to incorporate batter remaining on the sides.
The ingredients should be at room temperature. If the ingredients are not at room temperature the batter could separate and your cake could have a bread-like texture.
If the recipe calls for the sugar and butter to be creamed (usually done with a beater) make sure you follow the time guidelines to obtain the correct texture. This is important because the beaters cause air to be incorporated into the mixture. The air then becomes “trapped” by the fat from the butter creating air pockets. The heat from the oven causes the air pockets to expand and the cake to rise. See the recipe below. After creaming the butter and adding the sugar it says to” beat until the mixture resembles moist sand” this is the consistency you want to achieve. It also gives a time guide, about three minutes.
Eggs should be added one at a time. This will allow more air to be incorporated into the batter. To make a cake with a lighter texture, separate the eggs adding the yolks to the butter mixture. Beat the egg whites and gently fold into your batter at the end.
Be careful not to over or under mix the batter. Over mixing the batter can cause the cake to toughen. Under mixing will keep the cake from rising and may create lumps. To achieve identical cakes, pour the same amount of batter into each pan. Sometimes cake will rise with a dome or even split in two. This can be caused by excess air in the batter. To prevent this, remove excess air from the batter by dropping the filled cake pans about three inches onto a flat hard surface.
BAKING THE CAKE
When the pans are filled with batter they should be placed immediately into the oven, which should already be preheated.
If you will be decorating your cake then it will probably be important for the cake to rise with a flat top and not a high dome. One way to achieve this is to put a rectangle pan on the bottom rack half filled with water. The moisture released from the pan will assist the cake in rising evenly. Another way to prevent the middle dome shape is with Magi-Cake Strips. These strips are supposed to slow down the edges of the cake from baking faster than the middle so they both will rise evenly. The Strip is supposed to be moistened then wrapped around the outside and pinned in place.
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