by Nicholas Stitt

Created on: November 12, 2008   Last Updated: September 07, 2010

So you've decided to bake a cake. Congratulations; you've entered the wonderful world of combining ground up grain, chicken ova, and sodium bicarbonate to make a greater, more tastier whole. You've prepped the ingredients, measuring them with academic accuracy. You've followed the recipe - mostly. And you baked it for the exact time specified, in the exact size pan specified; you even measured to be sure.

But if you're reading this, your finished product probably wasn't so hot. Chances are you've made one of these common bakers' mistakes, few of which have to do with following the recipe or using the exact ingredients. No, these are the rules they don't explain on the back of the box, and the only way to really perfect your style is practice.

Problem: My baked goods didn't raise!

Cause: Dead yeast and/or baking soda/powder.

Baked goods are largely dependent on two types of leavening (well, eggs help  too). Baking soda or powder are what make brownies instead of cookies (or chocolate flatbread). If your soda has expired, your baked goods will raise significantly less while cooking, or sometimes not even at all. While baking powder and soda take over a year to really go bad, casual bakers don't use it very often, so that can sitting in the back of the cupboard - yeah, the one from the grocery store no longer in business - can ruin your whole recipe.

Now yeast is different, and unfortunately, pretty tricky. Yeast are living critters, which are dormant in the envelope until you add them to your warm milk or water to make them grow, which is a nice way of saying "reproduce and flatulate." Wonderful thought, isn't it?

But as yeast are alive, they are fickle and needy. Milk heated past 120 degrees F will usually kill them, while liquid too cold won't bring them around at all. Granted, there's a 10-15 degree window in there, but its very easy to kill off your yeast, and since they're the first thing you prep for a recipe, moving on with dead yeast (or half dead yeast) is very shaky. Luckily, those envelopes are cheap, so if you're unsure, feel free to try again. A candy thermometer is an excellent way to double check the temperature. If you warm the milk on the stovetop (LOW!) while stirring constantly, always checking the temperature, you can get the numbers that yeast needs to smile.

There is one more alternative; if you've gone ahead and mixed your dough with shaky yeast, give it extra time to proof before baking. Cover it well and coat your dough-ball with

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