I'm just starting baking/decorating for money instead of all the neighbors and my kids and the first client loved the cake said it was gorgeous but then said it was dry and the fondant was too thick; they couldn't cut the cake. ended up peeling it off. help! do i give up. everyone's always liked the taste/texture before.
it was chocolate cake with choc. ganache frosting and white fondant.
Don't give up, everyone has different tastebuds and ideas of how a cake should taste! I have made dry, hard bricks many times! Experiment with recipes.
Maybe you can try a different type of fondant or roll it thinner? Also, buttercream is always a good thing to try instead of fondant.
It's hard for you to say what it really tasted like unless she let you have a slice.
Don't give up! If you've never had the problem before it is probably just a picky customer :) if you are concerned that your cakes actually are dry, try different recipes until you find one you like, or brush your cakes with some sugar syrup to add some moisture after baking.
I guess i never tried to do white fondant over chocolate and maybe subconsciously made it thicker to cover the chocolate. As far as the dryness i have no idea. when i was shaping the cake i tasted it and it was good. I kept it covered in between working on it. Maybe the center was dry? I basically time it by sight and the toothpick coming out clean. maybe I need to be more exacting? Also, would you brush sugar syrup on yellow cake as well or only chocolate?
and thanks everyone
AI let the center stay a bit moist on the toothpick, but test it about 2/3 of the way to the the center from the edge if the pan. If that is dry, I take it out.
Are you baking from scratch or using a mix? Sometimes people think that the spongy gum-texture of a mix is actually "moist", and if the cake doesn't have that gummy texture they call it "dry" even if it isn't.
When baking from scratch it can be difficult to achieve that moist boxed cake taste. Try brushing on a wash (simple syrup mixture) between your layers when assembling the cake, it will add to the overall moisture of your finished cake.
I would brush sugar syrup on both yellow cakes and chocolate cakes. I almost always fill my cakes with mousse, and since the cakes will absorb some of the moisture from the mousse I don't need to brush the cakes. But when I fill with ganache I use sugar syrup.
Are you baking from scratch or using a mix? Sometimes people think that the spongy gum-texture of a mix is actually "moist", and if the cake doesn't have that gummy texture they call it "dry" even if it isn't.
And oily...if it ain't oily, it ain't moist. Blech!
Yeah...If your recipe is good and your baking technique is good you shouldn't need to freeze or use syrups to adjust the texture. I use syrups for added flavors depending on the cake, but never for moistness. And the oily texture from the cake mix?? Gross. A scratch cake shouldn't have the same texture as a mix because scratch cakes generally don't have proplyene glycol and gums added to it...Those ingredients are reserved for "inferior product."
I was actually using a cake mix dr. Recipe. Have made from scratch other times but liked this one better.
To tell the truth, I had the Cake Mix Dr book years ago before I went to culinary school and I ended up throwing it out because the recipes were nasty. If you want a good basic baking book get the Cake Bible, it has recipes and the explanations of why they work in it. If you can learn why formulas work then you can alter your recipes when they don't behave the way you want them to so that you get the results that you want.
You need to bake what YOU like, not what others tell you that you should like.
Every persons taste buds are different. I know for certain that I've had chocolate cakes that were soooooo chocolatey that they felt dry on my tongue--dark chocolate and cocoa are very alkaline and drying.
Bake the same recipe for yourself and see what YOU think. I do a doctored recipe and instead of adding extra chocolate or cocoa powder, I use brewed espresso in place of the water. This bumps up the flavor without drying it out.
As for the fondant issue, I prefer a thicker buttercream coating with a thinner fondant layer. Maybe that would be a good alternative for the next time.
AThank you all so much. I'm going to try everything and not let this happen again. I really would have packed it in w/o you. I love baking but am in it for the decorating. I was (still am) a painter/ sculptor so working with fondant is a no brainer. I'm now insecure about the baking part. Again, I can't thank everyone enough for taking the time
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