HOW TO BAKE CAKES.
Baking a cake is as simple as measuring ingredients, mixing them in the
right order, and remembering to take the cake out of the oven before it
burns. Read on to learn how to bake three basic cakes: chocolate cake,
apple cake, and vanilla pound cake. Scroll to the bottom for tips on how
to follow a cake recipe.
HOW TO MAKE A CHOCOLATE CAKE.
Gather your ingredients.
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 3/4 cup flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup buttermilk or sour cream
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Grease your cake pan. You can use a round standard
cake pan, a square baking dish, a loaf pan, a bunt cake pan, or
whatever you have on hand. Make sure to grease it well with butter or
cooking spray so the cake won't stick to the pan when it's baked.
Mix the wet ingredients in a large bowl. Place the
butter, eggs, vanilla extract, sugar, and buttermilk in a bowl. Use a
whisk or a hand mixer to blend the ingredients well.
- The "wet ingredients" in cake recipes are generally those that have
moisture. Sugar is often listed as a wet ingredient, too, even though it
isn't actually wet.
- The wet ingredients are usually mixed first in a large bowl. The dry ingredients are mixed separately and added later.
- It's important to follow instructions regarding the texture of the
butter in cake recipes. If you use melted butter where softened butter
is called for, the cake could come out ruined. In this case the recipe
calls for room temperature butter. You can plan ahead by setting the
butter out while you get the rest of the ingredients ready, so it has
time to come to room temperature.
Mix the dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Place the flour, salt, cocoa powder, and baking powder in a small bowl. Stir them together until they are well incorporated.
Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture. Beat the mixture on low until the batter comes together and no white bits of flour remain.
Pour the batter into the cake pan. Use a spoon or spatula to scrape the sides of the bowl so every bit of batter makes it into the pan.
Put the pan in the oven and bake the cake for 30 minutes.
Check the cake's progress every so often to make sure it doesn't burn.
The cake is ready when a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out
clean, rather than coated with batter.
Take the cake from the oven and let it cool. Set it on the counter and let it cool for about 5 minutes before handling it.
Invert the cake onto a plate. Use whatever plate you're planning on using to serve the cake.
