Strawberry Cake Recipe--Stability Question/help Needed
Baking By TurksandCaicos Updated 16 Apr 2016 , 8:58pm by kramersl
Hello!
I think I might have a bit of a cake problem on
my hands....I would really appreciate any advice. I'm fairly green at
this, as you will see.
I just finished baking and leveling a strawberry cake recipe that I found on Sweetapolita.com. I thought everything was going well until I started leveling/prepping the cake for the freezer. While I was going about this, I kept noticing how soft/moist the cake seemed. It just seemed not that stable, if that makes sense. It leveled fine. I noticed a crack in the middle of one of the layers but it wasn't horrible and certainly wasn't something worth trashing that particular layer for.
To my novice eye, it seemed like something that
wouldn't even be noticeable once I frost it with buttercream.
I followed the recipe exactly and I know the cakes were cooked all the way
through as the wooden skewers came out clean when I tested each layer. To
freeze the layers, I wrapped each one in press and seal wrap twice and then put
those layers in ziploc bags. But I digress...I'll get to the point
now.
Maybe it is just that I'm pretty much a beginner when it comes to cake
decorating (I think I'm more proficient with baking overall than cake decorating
specifically).....but should I be worried about these layers? Given how
soft/moist the cake seemed, I wondered if maybe I should be. Or will they
be more "stable" for lack of a better word after being frozen?
When you are picking a recipe, is there any way to tell just by looking at the
ingredients and their amounts whether or not a cake will be stable?
I made 3 8-inch layers and 4 6-inch layers. I plan to make this a 2 tier
cake for a relative's birthday and to use bubble tea straws for supports. That
being said, any thoughts on whether or not it might stand up to a vanilla
buttercream frosting? The frosting is part butter and part hi-ratio
shortening. I really hope this cake will hold up to the frosting.
I'd hate to have to make another recipe of something else.
Here are the ingredients in the cake recipe in case that clarifies anything:
1-3/4 cups (350 g) granulated sugar
1 (85 g) package strawberry flavored gelatin (such as Jell-O)
1 cup (227 g) unsalted butter, softened
4 eggs (room temperature)
3 cups (300 g) sifted cake & pastry flour
1 tablespoon (15 g) baking powder
3/4 teaspoon (5 g) salt
1 cup (240 ml) whole milk, room temperature
1 tablespoon (15 ml) pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup (60 ml) strawberry puree made from frozen strawberries (puree itself
should be closer to room temp, not frozen or icy)
There is a small issue with the recipe… If you increase the 4 eggs to 5 eggs (or 6 eggs depending on the weight of the eggs), the cake will be more stable. In recipes using bleached cake flour the weight of the eggs needs to be greater than the weight of the fat.
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