If Cake Is A Tad Bit Dry...do You Bake Less Or Do You Add
Decorating By aprilcake Updated 12 Sep 2007 , 7:55pm by MariaLovesCakes
Hi! I made my first scratch cake the other day and it was very good taste but a little bit on the dry side, not by much though...my question since I am new to this is why is it like that, did I bake it to long or should I add more something to it to add moisture? Please help! Thanks!
April :0)
It could be that the cake was baked too long, or at too high of a temperature. What I do to try to avoid dryness is bake all my cakes at 325. If your recipe called for milk, maybe you could add a little more? I find that adding 1/2 to 1 cup of sour cream can give a cake extra richness and moisture.
You might want to add something that retains moisture - any cake with carrot / courgette / fruit in will generally be moist. Or bake it for a little less time - overbaked cakes will be dry. To remedy it you can pour a simple sugar syrup on the sponge - flavour with lemon / vanilla or whatever.
I have a recipe for white cake that if I don't add extra milk, it get's a bit dry, and is really heavy. I tried playing around with the baking time, but it wasn't done before it was "time" to take it out. I have also used sour cream, and it makes a HUGE difference!
You might want to add something that retains moisture - any cake with carrot / courgette / fruit in will generally be moist. Or bake it for a little less time - overbaked cakes will be dry. To remedy it you can pour a simple sugar syrup on the sponge - flavour with lemon / vanilla or whatever.
yup...i was thinking the same thing...sugar syrup...especially if you flavor it! 
I bake from scratch now, and find that it's not necessarily a dry cake, but just a different crumb than we're used to from the box. Not as "oily" and so it seems drier, maybe?
Sometimes I'll drizzle the cake layers with a simple syrup + liquer after they've cooled to keep them moist. But mostly it's fine without that- once I've torted and filled the cake, the scratch cake will stay pretty moist, but it will also make for what I think is a more appealing combination of cake and filling and icing.
That being said, one of my favorite scratch cake recipes is one here on CC called A Better White Cake, which uses sour cream in the recipe.
Hi! I made my first scratch cake the other day and it was very good taste but a little bit on the dry side, not by much though...my question since I am new to this is why is it like that, did I bake it to long or should I add more something to it to add moisture? Please help! Thanks!
April :0)
To add moisture I always add simple syrup to all my scratch cakes. It also keeps them more dyring out as the days pass.
here is a basic recipe that you can double for bigger cakes. You can use spray bottle or pastry brush.
Simple Syrup
2 cups of water
1 cup of sugar
1 tablespoon of vanilla
Optional: 3 tablespoons of brandy
2 tablespoons of Amaretto liquor
Boil water and sugar at medium heat. Let it boil for 10 minutes. Remove from heat. Let it get lukewarm or cold and then add vanilla and liquors.
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