Basic Cake Decorating–How to Mix the Perfect Batter
A lot of people spend so much time worrying about how their cake looks that they forget the most important step of basic cake decorating. The taste! No matter how good your cake looks, your hard work will all be for nothing if you cake tastes terrible.
Of all the essential cake decorating tips you’ll read, mixing the batter is the most important step of the cake preparation process. Many cake and cupcake recipes instruct you to cream together butter and sugar. It’s very important that your butter is at room temperature. Do not use melted butter or butter that has been warmed unevenly in the microwave.
If you’ve forgotten to leave out your butter here’s a tip to get it softened quickly. This is what I learned to do and it works quite well.
1. Place your stick of butter or the amount needed between two large pieces of waxed paper. Place on a cutting board or solid surface.
2. Pound the butter with a rolling pin. After a few pounds, flip the butter over and pound the other side. Continue until completely soft. If you can run your finger through the butter–it’s ready!
Once you get your butter into the mixing bowl, gradually add the sugar. You don’t want to dump it all in at once. Beat the butter and sugar together with a hand or stand mixer.
Depending on your recipe, you may need to add dry and wet ingredients alternately. A basic cake decorating rule of thumb is to always start and end with the dry ingredients. When adding wet ingredients such as eggs or milk, keep them at room temperature. This is especially important for recipes that call for buttermilk. Nothing ruins a good recipe faster than curdled buttermilk. Yuck!
Don’t forget to scrape the sides and bottom of your mixing bowl. A simple rule of baking is never to over-mix your batter. You want to beat the batter just long enough so that all the ingredients are mixed together. You don’t need the mixture to be completely smooth. If the batter is overbeaten your cake will taste too chewy.
If you’d like to make your cakes a little more lighter and fluffier, a trick I learned from the Cupcake Gal is to use slightly more baking powder than what’s called for in the recipe. For example, if the recipe calls for 1 teaspoon of baking powder use a heaping teaspoon instead. In fact, I think I might have to try her recipe for red velvet cupcakes for a Halloween project I have coming up!
Be sure to follow your recipe carefully but keep in mind that everyone uses a different type of mixer. Many recipes give you visual clues to watch for instead of specific times for mixing. Remember–basic cake decorating begins with baking a cake that’s worth eating. By following just a few simple steps you can bake a cake that tastes as good as it looks!
