This may work for cake mixes, but if you are a scratch baker, you need to follow the directions and if it calls for creaming first, do it. Don't just dump the ingredients in the bowl and mix, you will have a disaster. As to why a recipe you took from a blog doesn't work, it may not be you but the recipe. Often, I swear recipes are misstated on purpose.

I do not like the last statement in recipes that say beat for two minutes. That is just plan wrong. All my research finds that to be disastrous to cake batters. This stre gthens the gluten I. The flour that you do NOT want to happen and yup get one tough dry cake.
For scratch baking, and there is a distinction, you want to turn your KA to 4 and beat for 10 seconds while counting 1, 1,000, 2, 1,000..... etc. til you get to 10. Then turn off the mixer. Take your spatula and get down to the bottom of the bowl and give it a good turn. If there is any discoloration in the batter that looks like it was not mixed thoroughly, I will then fold the batter over a few times, but then that is it.

Overbeating is definitely the culprit. Listen to your intuition.

Originally Posted by playingwithsugar

First, why is it that a lot of newbies think they have to wait months before they register as a member here? Hey, just sign on and say hello - learn how to read the past forums, learn how to use the search option in the forums to see if your question has already been asked, and read, read, read, until you need visine to get the red out!

That being said -

Buy a good oven thermometer (not one from a dollar store) and check to make sure your oven is baking at the correct temperature. If it is not, you will either have to have it re-calibrated or lower your temp to accommodate the difference. Your oven may be baking too hot, which would give you a top that bakes too fast and a center that does not bake at all. Compensating temperature is a pain in the butt. There are instructions for calibrating ovens available online.

I never mix a cake past 5 on my ka, unless I'm beating the egg whites separately from the yolks.

Theresa

Thanks for your insight. I did purchase an oven thermometer, two even - probably a year ago. I feel pretty confident that the issue has nothing to do with my oven temperature.

I can't say I never go past 5, but I will say I don't do it routinely.

Also - I know how to use the search function, and have read threads and posts from years ago. I've spent hours on this forum and know how to use the search function, and have read many, many, many old posts/threads. I might be a newbie, but I'm not a total newb!

Thanks for your response. I do use cake mixes sometimes - have a few on hand for 'emergencies,' haha, but I do mostly bake from scratch. It has been so long since I've made a cake with a baking mix that I don't even remember how I mixed it. I normally use an enhanced or modified recipe anyway, so I guess it probably differed depending on what cake.

Thanks for responding. I will definitely try your counting tip and then the last little hand mixing. I read where some folks just hand mix the batter after the last addition of flour, but I thought it might not get mixed properly. Your method seems like a good solution - a little bit of both!

Sometimes I feel like I am almost being tooooo picky about this, but it just seems to me that even very minor things can make such a big difference.

I had plans to bake a cake tonight - went to the store, bought some new baking powder just to be sure that wasn't the issue, and got home only to realize I was missing an entirely different ingredient. Ugh! Maybe tomorrow!

Thanks! I guess you are right - I hadn't thought much about the source. I do read comments on some of the recipes I use from blogs and of course people may leave feedback, but sometimes they don't so in some ways I am flying blind.

I love the Farm Journal books and have at least 5 or 6, and even the one on ice cream and cakes! They are all real gems. I will check out the websites you've mentioned - I think I've only looked at KA Flour site briefly, but the other two, I am pretty sure I haven't even peeked it. Oh, and I just subscribed to Taste of Home, so I'm glad to see that you have had good luck with their recipes.

I thought the fact that this specific recipe is a cold oven pound cake recipe might make it more finicky! Ick! I really love the recipe so I'm wondering how it would fare if I just baked it in a pre-heated oven. I'll have to give it a try.

Thank you!

There are many methods for mixing cakes - it depends on the ingredients and the desired outcome: One Step Method; High Ratio Method (YES - will often require about 2 minutes); Creaming Method; Modified Creaming Method; Angel Food Mixing Method; Chiffon Mixing Method; Sponge Mixing Method (e.g. sponge, genoise, biscuit, etc...), etc... To state that you should never beat something for 2 minutes is not correct. If you want to email me your recipe I can look at it try to figure it out as your issue could be the recipe. Ingredients and the quantities will react differently - some will tenderize, some will toughen (and the word 'toughen is not negative as you need some strength in all types of cakes).

I haven't tried them yet because I've heard mixed results with them. I will shop around and give them a try - honestly, since I decided not to use them, I had kind of forgotten about them!

For most cakes, I bake on 325 F. For this specific cold oven pound cake recipe, I bake on them on 275 F for 1 hour per the recipe instructions.

When I bake on 325 with some recipes (typically the butter cakes), I have the same problem, though. This is especially true if I bake in a wide/large pan like a 9x13 - a cake that turns out just fine in a regular 9 inch round will be under baked in the middle in a 9x13 pan.

Thanks for your help!

I should have specified those cakes that employ the creaming method - sorry!

I appreciate the offer - here is the full recipe. It was actually found through a blog with a link back to this page on Bakespace:

http://www.bakespace.com/recipes/detail/Annie-Laurie's-Cold-Oven-Pound-Cake/7096/

On the blog post where I found the recipe, the author and another reader had no problems making the cake. I and another reader experience similar problems as one another.

Thanks a bunch!

Personally, I feel this could be part of the issue. Most recipes in home cook books are written for little hand mixers. There is a difference between the small beaters of a hand mixer, vs the Paddle attachment of a KA mixer.
The mixing times and speeds would be different. Your KA mixer came with a book, and I believe there maybe recipes in it for cake. I would look up those recipes and try it, and then compare it to the other recipes you want to use. If the recipe in the KA book are similar, then you should be able to adjust your mixing time and speeds accordingly.

That paddle could be responsible for over beating. You can get funky results from beating eggs too long. (unless for meringue) You can also beat the dickens out of the gluten in the flour, thus creating tough baked goods.

I think you are on the right track, trying to trouble shoot your recipes and asking for help.
All I can suggest is that you keep trouble shooting until you find a product you like.

I hope this helps.
tokazodo

I sent you back an email - check your spam if you don't get it.

I'm sorry, but most home hobby bakers this is correct to a degree. There are two reasons. First the "hi-ratio" method is for recipes that have more sugar then flour ratio. This works for batters that use hi ratio shortening, something not readily available to the average home baker. Or before Crisco went mostly, but not all, trans fat free. Now we have the blogosphere where people take recipes, substitute butter for the shortening without reformulating the flour/sugar ratio. They also do not redo the batter making process. They may get good luck for whatever reason the first time, or think that the sunken look in the center is just indicative of scratch cakes and not do anything about it. I have seen plenty of cake photos with the sunken bottom and the author stating it is the best cake ever. Shirley Corriher said it best in her book Bakewise that a sad cake is the best cake to eat. That doesn't mean it was made right.

It certainly is better for the cake to not be beaten for two minutes than it is to beat for two minutes - at the end stage. The gluten gets over developed, as said several times here, and then problems arise. I find that most recipes assume one is using a hand mixer. I have also seen over and over the statement that if you use a hand mixer that is the time you need to mix longer than a stand mixer.

The second reason is that we all have different equipment, different brands (even that will make a difference, more than one thinks) and different ideas on what a cake should taste like.

I notice in the recipe she does state to beat for two minutes "using a hand mixer". Those words there should raise a red flag to any body using a stand mixer that this recipe process needs to be revamped to work with your tools. Plus that recipe is a very temperamental recipe calling for all the products toe ice cold. And then we will add another problem to the mix - use a different pan than the recipe called for and you will have other issues also, even using a 10 cup bunt pan vs. A 12 cup bunt pan.

I have said this before, and will put it here. There are excellent books to read that can educate you on all the nuances of scratch baking. I find this topic to be of great interest and pour over them again and again like novels. Here are some of the books you can read:

Bakewise and another book Cookwise, both by Shirley Corriher. How Baking Works by Paula Figoni (may have spelling wrong), The Professional Decorator by Toba Garrett, The Professional Baker, a college text book by Garrett (last name), The Cake Bible by Rose Levenbaum. Every recipe and the last chapter all have information on how the recipe works. I may be forgetting a book or two, but these are all good starts. Most of these can be found in your local library.

I don't remember exactly if I said you should never mix for two minutes. Certainly those that can get the hi ratio shortening will have different methods for mixing as well as those that use a hand mixer over a stand mixer. But I can say I have a happier cake and a more satisfied crowd when I don't over mix. If you want to mix for the 2 minutes, then I suggest a slow speed over medium. But I still stand by my statement that it is better to NOT mix for 2 minutes than to mix. I have done months and months of experimenting to come to this conclusion. I have done my share of dumping a lot of product before I followed my intuition and after months of research and found what worked with my equipment. For me and my KA, I do not beat for 2 minutes. Ever since I changed that method I have not had to toss any more products.

So I will still say follow your intuition. And actually the best way I have found to see if it works is to get into the kitchen and do some "science" experiments. Make a batter several different ways with the same ingredients. Find the one that works for you, and works more than once, and then use that method. Recipes are guidelines and you are the scientist. Go and explore. It will be fun

Just to clarify, the high-ratio cakes are ones which the weight of the sugar equals or exceeds the weight of the flour and hi-ratio shortening is not a requirement for using this mixing method (butter and other fats can be used). Standard process is to mix all the dry ingredients with your fats (e.g. butter / shortening - and shortening does not need to be high-ratio), the process of incorporating the fats usually will take about two minutes using a stand kitchen-aide (I mix on low speed - e.g. 2 - 3 and your mixture will look a bit like cornmeal - this process will not create excess gluten strands) then add liquids, including the eggs, combining these in three parts.

Thanks for your response! I looked at the book, trying to pay close attention between what the numbers supposedly correspond to - you know, like cream, mix, etc. But, I didn't think about looking at the recipes and seeing what they suggest...duh - what a good idea!

I JUST got that one yesterday at a used bookstore. I love those FJ books so much and have had good luck finding them at a local used bookstore on occasion for $3-$5. I have had to order a couple that I desperately wanted, but even those, including shipping charges, weren't high priced.

I'll check out that recipe!! I've never made a sponge cake, but I'd love to try! I did see a couple of pie recipes in there that I'm dying to try - specifically a chocolate one, because I've been in a chocolate mood lately.