How Can I Make It More Moist?

Baking By SamHarrison Updated 25 May 2011 , 1:23pm by seedrv

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SamHarrison Posted 24 May 2011 , 1:03pm
post #1 of 10

I have a coconut cake recipe I like but it's just a bit too dry. I have tried other recipes and the flavour just wasn't right. The recipe I use is:

200g (8 oz) flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
75g (3 oz) butter
75g (3 oz) sugar
50g (2 oz) desiccated coconut
1/2 teaspoon grated lime zest
1 egg
125ml milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Does anyone have any ideas on how I could make the cake more moist but keep it as similar as possible? I did think of maybe using sour cream instead of milk or maybe as well as the milk?

Any advice will be greatly appreciated!

9 replies
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LindaF144a Posted 24 May 2011 , 2:58pm
post #2 of 10

It is possible that it is not moisture you are looking for, but tenderness. A tender cake equates to a moisture cake feel in the mouth.

Also you do not say how you mix the batter, that will affect moisture too. But 3 oz of sugar to 8 of flour will produce a "dry" cake. My suggestion is to up the sugar to the same weight as the flour.

And where did you get the recipe? Sometimes the sugar is low like this because then you add a simple syrup over the top and that contributes to the moisture and tenderness. But if the recipe was reprinted somewhere else without these instructions then one does not know that is how the recipe is formulated.

And I do not know know how much 125 ml milk is in our US system. Can you give the equivalent for that also?

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rowantree Posted 24 May 2011 , 3:05pm
post #3 of 10

125ml is 4.23 fluid ounces US

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SamHarrison Posted 24 May 2011 , 3:16pm
post #4 of 10

I mix it the same as I do with any of my cakes and my cakes are moist, that's the best thing about my cakes, they're light and moist but this one refuses to do so. I cream the butter and sugar, add the flour and add the eggs and milk. I put the lime zest and coconut in last.

The cake is very crumbly and not moist at all but the taste is exactly what I want. I found the recipe online and even in the picture it doesn't look like mine turns out. The picture looks more moist. It's supposed to have a really sweet cream on it but I use my own topping on it. I think if I up the sugar to the same quantity as the flour it's going to make it far too sweet. I top it with a passion fruit cream cheese which compliments the cake really well. I think if it was sweeter it may ruin the flavour of the cake.

I thought it was a strange looking recipe with it's quantities. I tried one with the same weight in butter, flour and egg and it was nearly as dry as this one but didn't have any of it's yummy flavour. Could the fact that the recipe calls for plain flour contribute to it? I much prefer to use self raising flour.

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LindaF144a Posted 24 May 2011 , 3:39pm
post #5 of 10

The recipe as I read it is off balance. Not having tasted it, I can't help with the sweetness factor.

My suggestion is to contact the person where you found it online and ask where it came from then.

AP vs self-rising will not make a difference as the correct amount of salt and BP is in the recipe.


A recipe with the same weight of flour, sugar AND butter is not the same as having the weight of the flour and sugar the same. The recipe you are referring to is more like a pound cake and that will come out dryer, especially with that amount of egg.

This is all I can offer for help. Sorry.

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auzzi Posted 25 May 2011 , 8:40am
post #6 of 10

Use either Imperial or Metric, because these numbers do not match ..

Simple Coconut Cake
4 oz butter
7 oz sugar
7 oz flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 oz desiccated coconut
1/2 teaspoon grated lime zest
2 egg
125ml milk*
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
*if the batter is too dense add up to 60mls more milk
Don't over-mix and don't over-bake

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Eva2 Posted 25 May 2011 , 9:30am
post #7 of 10

Just want to save this post so that I can reread it later.

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Eva2 Posted 25 May 2011 , 9:30am
post #8 of 10

Just want to save this post so that I can reread it later.

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SamHarrison Posted 25 May 2011 , 12:59pm
post #9 of 10

Sorry I just cut and pasted it from where I found it. I tend to bake in metric so I used those figures.
I will give that recipe a go. Thank you!

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seedrv Posted 25 May 2011 , 1:23pm
post #10 of 10
Quote:
Originally Posted by SamHarrison



The cake is very crumbly and not moist at all but the taste is exactly what I want. flour.




In one of the CC magazines that actually arrived there was an article about experimenting with eggs. Fewer eggs made a cake dry and crumbly. Maybe try at least one more egg.

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