by Paola Fanutti

Created on: January 07, 2009

No matter how good a chef may be in the kitchen at preparing meals, the art of baking is a different enterprise altogether. Baking, like cooking, is an art form, which requires creativity, as well as ingredient and technique knowledge. The result of baked goods depends primarily on the recipe chosen, but also to a lesser extent on:

*your baking pan

*consistency and texture of pre-baked batter

*oven used and heat settings

*quantity and quality of ingredients chosen

A small error can transform the most aromatic, browned baked goods to a smoky-smelling, blackened batch. Every baker makes mistakes. Over the course of my many trials and mostly errors, I have managed to put together the five most common pitfalls and mistakes in baking desserts and how to rectify them and produce delicious baked goods, especially cakes.

Baking Blunder 1- Your cake fails to rise

Culprit- Liquidy batter or underbaked cake

If your cake is flat, not fluffy, this may be due to an underbaked pan. Ensure that your timer is set for the exact baking time, and that your oven is preheated and calibrated to the correct heat. A difference of a few degrees can make a significant difference in the cake's result. Also, a cake baked in a pan that is too large may not rise correctly, so ensure that your cake batter fills of the cake's pan.

A cake may also refuse to rise if the batter is too liquidy, so ensure that you are adding the right amount of liquid ingredients according to the cake directions and recipe. Milk, water, and liquid sugars or syrups all make your cake runnier, so balance out liquid ingredients with solids. Also, if your rising agent is not fresh, it will not work well either. If your baked goods are still flat, try and replace regular plain flour with self-rising flour. To make, add 2 teaspoons of baking powder to one cup of regular, all purpose flour.

Baking Blunder 2- Your cake does peak, but it cracks in the center

Culprit- Overbeat batter or overbaking

If your cake does rise in the center but it also cracks, you may have overbeat your batter, so stick to the beating speed and time specified in the recipe. Too little oil, too much baking powder or baking soda, too few liquid ingredients, or a too-hot oven may also cause cakes to crack in the center. Opening the oven door to constantly check on your cake's progress may lead to cracking too.

Baking Blunder 3- Your baked goods result uneven or clumpy, not smooth

Culprit- Poorly amalgamated mixture

Overbeating leads to cracking, but if you don't

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