Ginger Ale Pound Cake - Sweet ReciPEAs (2024)

FAQs

What makes a pound cake heavy? ›

Store brands of sugar are often more finely ground than name brands, yielding more sugar per cup, which can cause the cake to fall. Store brands of butter may contain more liquid fat, and flours more hard wheat, making the cake heavy.

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 …

Those gluey pound cake streaks happen when your over-cream the butter and sugar. The cake rises in the oven and then it quickly collapses a bit while cooling which causes those gummy streaks. To prevent this, use a low speed with creaming and do so just until combined and fluffy, about 3 minutes.

Overbeating, Overmixing, or Undermixing Your Cake Batter

Incorporate too little air and your cake won't rise enough. Too much air and your cake will collapse because it simply can't hold onto all that air.

Preheat oven to 325°F (163°C). Not 350°F. Generously grease a 10-12 cup Bundt pan with butter or nonstick spray. Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, beat the butter on high speed until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes.

When to use which one. Baking soda is used in recipes that also include an acidic ingredient, such as cream of tartar, buttermilk, or citrus juice. Conversely, baking powder is typically used when the recipe doesn't feature an acidic ingredient, as the powder already includes the acid needed to produce carbon dioxide.

Bundt pans are a baking essential. Their unique construction allows an even browning on denser cakes, like pound cake, with the well-defined curves that are the hallmark of the form. Bundts now come in the shape of rosettes, castles, and even pine forests.

Sour cream is one of the fattiest dairy products; the extra fat content (for example, adding sour cream to a cake instead of milk) will make the cake moister and richer, says Wilk. "Fat, in any form (butter, lard, cream, etc.) shortens gluten strands, which essentially leads to the most tender baked goods," she adds.

The Fix: Tone down an overly sweet dish by adding a sour, salty, or bitter ingredient to it. Sour fruit (such as blackberries or cherries), cooling herbs such as mint, and chopped nuts work well in sweets such as cakes, cookies, and pies.

Why does the top of my pound cake crack? ›

First, why the crack occurs: Since quick breads and pound cake batters tend to be thick and dense, the exterior bakes first. But as the center of the cake continues to bake, releasing moisture, it rises, pushing through the top crust, and creating a crack.

If you're unsure, it's safest to use a 50/50 combination of butter and oil instead of replacing the butter completely. This way you'll get the added moisture from the oil without sacrificing the structural integrity that butter provides.

The reason why you shouldn't overbeat the eggs for pound cake is that it makes the cake crumbly. First, the overmixed eggs give you trouble because it makes a mess in your oven; the batter oozes out of the baking dish. Then, once you cut into the baked cake, the weakened structure doesn't hold up as it should.

A pound cake without a crack usually indicates a deflated, overly dense, and decidedly un-fluffy pound cake. However, as any baker will tell you, batters and doughs can have a mind of their own. Sometimes, these cracks happen unevenly and can affect the evenness of the cooking on the whole loaf.

How Long to Cool a Cake Before Icing It? Our recommendation on how long to cool a cake before icing it is to wait 2-3 hours for your cake to cool completely. Then, add a crumb coat and refrigerate the cake for up to 30 minutes. Once that is done, you'll be able to ice until your heart's content.

It's a heavy cake (as pound cakes should be!) with a dense, velvety crumb, but there's nothing dry or crumbly about it. While this cake can hold it's own, it's even better when served with homemade whipped cream and fresh fruit.

Possible reasons your cake is heavy/dense: Too little baking powder. Too many eggs. Batter is overmixed.

8. My cake is very dense. This could be because a/ the cake mixture hasn't had enough air beaten into it, b/ the eggs were added too quickly and curdled or c/ there's not enough raising agent.

A cake can become heavy if there is too much flour or not enough liquid in the recipe. A cake can become dry if it is overcooked or if there is not enough fat or moisture in the recipe. Additionally, the type of ingredients used and the method of preparation can also affect the texture of a cake.