5 Reasons Your Cakes Are Dry (2024)

There’s nothing more frustrating than spending time and ingredients on baking a cake, and when you come to taste it – it’s dry! Thankfully, there’s usually a good explanation as to why you’ve ended up with a dry cake. In this post I’ll be sharing 5 reasons why your cakes are dry so that you can make some adjustments next time you bake – and hopefully you’re never surprised with a dry and crumbly cake again!

5 Reasons Your Cakes Are Dry (1)

1 – Using a different sized cake pan

The first reason why you might end up with a dry cake is that you’ve used a different sized cake pan, and haven’t accounted for any changes in cooking time.

Say for example, your recipe calls for 8 inch cake pans (which is what most of my cake recipes use), however, you only have 10 inch cake pans so you decide to use those. What this means is that your batter is going to spread out more, and therefore your cake is going to be thinner. Because of this, it’s going to cook faster, and so to ensure you don’t overbake the cake you will need to reduce the cooking time.

If a recipe calls for a bake time of 30 minutes, you would want to check your cake about 5-7 minutes earlier than the stated cooking time to ensure it doesn’t overbake. Believe it or not, but just a few extra minutes in the oven can result in an overbaked cake!

2 – Using a pan that is a different material or colour to the one used in the original recipe

Something as simple as using a pan that has a different material or colour than the ones used in the original recipe can result in a dry cake. Let me explain.

The most common material used for cake pans is aluminium, which is great for absorbing and retaining heat. However, cake pans come in different colours, and darker coloured pans are going to absorb and retain more heat than lighter colored ones. This means that a darker colored baking pan is going to bake your cake slightly faster than a light coloured baking pan, so if the original recipe uses a light colored baking pan and you’re using a dark colored one, then you want to reduce the cooking time slightly to ensure you don’t overbake your cake.

The same can apply when using pans made of different materials. For example, metal pans absorb and retain heat bettter than glass baking dishes, so your cakes are going to cook faster in metal pans compared to glass ones.

5 Reasons Your Cakes Are Dry (3)

Using metal vs glass baking pans can impact the cooking time of your cakes

3 – Incorrect measurements were used

The third reason why you might end up with a dry cake is that incorrect measurements were used. Now I know I sound like a broken record with this one (if you’re a regular reader then you’ll know I have mentioned this so many times in the past), but I cannot express how important properly measuring your ingredients is when baking a cake.

This is particularly important when measuring dry ingredients. If you have too much flour in a recipe and not enough fat, like butter or oil, your cake is going to be dry and hard. For best results, I would encourage you to use a scale when baking, but if you don’t have a scale, then just make sure you’re using measuring cups correctly.

4 – Oven temperature is too high

The fourth reason is that your oven temperature is too high, and you’ve therefore overbaked your cake.

A simple fix is to simply reduce your oven temperature slightly and see if that fixes the issue. Another reason could be that your oven is on convection mode, but your baking temperature is for a conventional oven.

I have spoken about the difference between conventional and convection ovens before in more detail in this blog post, but here is the main thing you need to know – if your recipe calls for you to preheat your oven to say 180C or 350F in a conventional oven (which means it doesn’t have a fan function), then if you do decide to use a fan function then you will need to reduce the tempertature by about 15 to 20 degrees celcius otherwise your cake is going to overbake. This is because convection ovens bake cakes faster than those that don’t.

So if you are someone who does tend to bake using the fan function, then make sure you reduce the oven temperature if the original recipe doesn’t use a fan function, otherwise your cake will overbake and become dry.

5 Reasons Your Cakes Are Dry (4)

If your oven temperature is too high it can dry out your cake

5 – Inappropriate substitutions or reductions were made

You’ve probably already heard the phrase ‘baking is a science’, and it’s 100% true! This means that every ingredient chosen in a recipe has a reason, so changing one or more of these ingredients can result in a dry cake.

For example, if a recipe calls for oil, but you substitute oil with butter, you’re going to end up with a less moist cake. This is because oil has more fat than butter, and is liquid at room temperature.

Another example is substituting plain all purpose flour with whole-wheat or wholemeal flour. Wholemeal flour is more coarse than regular flour and also absorbs more moisture, so using it instead of all purpose flour in a recipe can result in a dry cake.

An example of where reducing an ingredient can result in a dry cake is when less sugar is used than what is called for in the recipe. Sugar is considered a wet ingredient in cake batter, so if you reduce the sugar its going to make your cake less moist.

Now I’m not saying you can’t make the substitutions above, but what I am saying is being aware of the impacts these substitutions have will allow you to amend the recipe in other ways to account for loss of moisture. So for example, if you decide to use wholemeal flour instead of all purpose flour, you might add a little more liquid into the batter so that you don’t end up with a dry cake.

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Interested in learning more baking tips and tricks? Check out more posts here.

5 Reasons Your Cakes Are Dry (2024)

FAQs

5 Reasons Your Cakes Are Dry? ›

If you have too much flour in a recipe and not enough fat, like butter or oil, your cake is going to be dry and hard.

What causes cake to be dry? ›

If you have too much flour in a recipe and not enough fat, like butter or oil, your cake is going to be dry and hard.

How do you stop a cake from being dry? ›

Ways To Prevent Your Cake From Becoming Dense & Dry
  1. Using Cake Flour: It is ideal to use cake flour instead of all-purpose flour. ...
  2. Using Sour Cream: Sour cream enhances the moistness and fluffiness of the cake. ...
  3. Room Temperature Butter: ...
  4. Brush With Syrup:
Aug 8, 2023

How to make a cake more moist? ›

Try switching out any water in your recipe for full-fat milk or buttermilk for a moist, decadent texture. Another ingredient that can enhance the moisture of your cake is mayonnaise. Adding a dollop of mayonnaise to your batter can help make your freshly baked cake softer with an added boost of moisture.

How to keep number cake from drying out? ›

Theres a couple things I do to prevent moisture loss. The easiest thing is that I usually make these cakes the day that I'm going to serve them. Even if I bake the sheet cakes the day before, they are wrapped in plastic and saved on my counter top. Then the day I need it, I cut, fill, stack, and decorate.

How to fix dry cake mix? ›

Yes, you can add water to make a dry cake moist. One way to do this is to brush the cake with a simple syrup made of equal parts sugar and water. Another way is to poke holes in the cake and pour a mixture of sweetened condensed milk and evaporated milk over it.

What causes a cake to be too wet? ›

A cake that's wet in the middle, in most cases, has not baked long enough. Put it back in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes. Be sure to check every 5 minutes with the toothpick test for any changes. If sliced, cover with aluminum foil to prevent the top from browning even more.

What to use to keep cake moist? ›

Seven Bakery Secrets to Incredibly Moist Cakes Every Time
  1. Use Buttermilk Instead of Milk.
  2. Add Vegetable Oil.
  3. Use Instant Clearjel or Instant Pudding Mix.
  4. Use the Right Recipe.
  5. Don't Overbake.
  6. Bake in Sheet Pans Instead of individual Cake Pans.
  7. Use a Simple Syrup or Glaze.
Apr 23, 2021

How do you store cake so it doesn't dry out? ›

Unfrosted: Before refrigerating, wrap the cake or cake layers in plastic wrap to protect them from drying out or absorbing refrigerator smells. Frosted: Chill the cake uncovered for 15 minutes to harden the icing, then loosely wrap it in plastic wrap.

How to keep cut cake from drying out? ›

To prevent the cake from drying out, push the two halves of the cake together — exposed sides touching — and, after rotating, repeat the process. The next time you're at an event and you're looking for a new impressive trick, you'll have no problem wowing the crowd with this cake-cutting hack.

What makes a cake less moist? ›

The ratio of wet to dry ingredients determines a cake's moisture level. If there's simply too much flour and not enough butter, a cake will taste dry.

What makes a cake more moist, oil or butter? ›

Why does oil give cake superior texture? Butter is 18% water, so when the batter is baked, some of its liquid evaporates. Replacing the water from the butter with oil means there's more fat left in the cakes to ensure tenderness.

What makes cake rise and moist? ›

Leavening Agents

Breads, cakes, cookies, and nearly all baked goods require a leavening agent. These are the key ingredients that make a cake rise. There are two types of leavening agents, chemical (baking soda and baking powder) and biological (yeast).

What causes cake dryness? ›

If you use a cup rather than a scale there's a good chance you're using too much flour: up to 20% too much, if you use the measuring cup as a scoop then tamp the flour down. Any baked good — especially cake —with too much flour will be dry, hard, crumbly … take your unhappy pick.

How to prevent a cake from being dry? ›

Using an air-tight container is the best and easiest way to keep your cake from getting exposed to air. However, if you don't have one of those, you can wrap your cake in cling film, or if it's iced, place a large inverted bowl over it to trap the air.

Why does my cake become hard after cooling? ›

Baking the cake for too long. If you bake your cake too long, the cake will become drier. The hardness of the cake will not be obvious immediately you take it out of the oven. But, when the cake comes to room temperature, it will become hard and dry.

Why are my cakes so moist? ›

Sticky cake and cupcake tops are from a reaction with sugar and water. Sugars are hygroscopic, meaning they attract water. Within baked goods, sugars help maintain a moist and tender crumb. Sugar on the exposed tops, however, will grab water from humid air, creating a wet or sticky top.

How to make box cake more dense and moist? ›

How To Make Boxed Cake Denser
  1. Add 2 extra egg yolks. ...
  2. Swap out oil for melted butter. ...
  3. Add 2 mashed ripe bananas, fold in just before baking. ...
  4. Add 1 cup pumpkin purée, fold in just before baking. ...
  5. Swap out water for coconut milk. ...
  6. Swap out oil for ricotta cheese. ...
  7. Add 4 ounces of chocolate, melted. ...
  8. Swap out water for heavy cream.
May 16, 2023

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