Tip for Best Cake Batter

 One thing it took me a while to figure out is how to make the most perfect cake batter.

Believe it or not, there is a science to cake making. There's a science to just about everything!

My tip for the best cake batter is make sure to have....

ROOM TEMPERATURE INGREDIENTS

Yes that's right. All your ingredients should be at the same temperature when combining together to ensure they bind properly and have the proper emulsion. 

The science of it if you're interested is this:

To emulsify means to combine two liquids that normally do not combine easily, such as oil and vinegar. Many food products are emulsions. The most common natural example of an emulsifier is portrayed in milk, a complex mixture of fat suspended in an aqueous solution.
Fat and liquid by nature are unmixable, and the goal when mixing a recipe is to form a water-in-fat emulsion. A well emulsified cake batter, for example, should not be curdled or weeping liquid. This is because the butter and liquids are in a stable emersion. If not stable, the batter will loose air cells. This results in a baked cake that is grainy or flat in texture, dry and flavorless, look, uneven and may even sink.

Phew! Thats a lot to take in. Basically what this is saying is when you have a proper and well-mixed cake batter, it will create air bubbles getting you that perfectly airy and moist cake that will hold together well.

For those that use a boxed cake mix (that's ok!), the biggest mistake is throwing the eggs or liquid directly into the mix, cold and then they don't bind properly. Rule of thumb should be that the dry ingredients are mixed together, and the wet ingredients are mixed together separately at room temperature, then combined. 

How do you do this??

-- Eggs, butter, buttermilk, milk, oil, whatever you are mixing should be combined in your mixer at ROOM TEMPERATURE first then add in the dry ingredients, incorporating slowly. The mixing should be continuous as you are adding ingredients.

Give this a try the next time you bake. I bet you will have a lighter, fluffy, and more stable cake.

Happy baking!