by K. M. Crowley

Created on: September 27, 2009

Nothing beats a delicious home-made from scratch cake for showing someone you care and satisfying their sweet tooth. Making cakes is easy once you get the hang of it, but even the most experienced bakers come across little obstacles and problems, like icing sticking to the batter and ruining the look of an otherwise perfect cake, batter burning to the pan, or uneven cooking in your oven. Here are a few little tips and tricks I've come across over time to help make that perfect cake.

The Batter:

-If all you have is all-purpose flour instead of cake flour, use 7/8's of a cup instead of a full cup, sifting it twice to make it lighter and fluffier.

-Use shortening instead of oil.

-Heat fruits and raisins in the oven before adding them to the batter to make them plumper and juicier. Also, roll them in flour before adding them to the batter and they will be less likely to sink to the bottom of the pan while cooking.

-If the top of the cake is browning too quickly, put a small pan of warm water on the top rack of the oven above the cake to slow this down.

The Pan:

-Trace the bottom of the cake pan on waxed paper and cut it out. Line the bottom of the pan with this,greasing only the sides, before pouring in the batter. When you remove the cake from the oven it will not stick to the pan at all and the paper can be easily peeled off.

-When you buy a brand new cake pan, smear it with butter and heat it in a mod. oven for about 15 minutes. This should help to avoid burned cake bottoms.

The Icing:

-For thicker icings, such as those with a base of brown sugar, I have found it helpful to use extra butter to prevent it from sticking to the batter and ruining the top of the cake.

-To prevent the icing from picking up flakes of batter while spreading, first dip the knife of spatula in hot water each time.

-If frosting seems too hard or stiff while being beaten, add a tiny bit of lemon juice.

-To make icing look nice and smooth, first apply a thin layer of the icing. When it is dry add a second, final coat for a smooth finish.

-To make fudge frosting smooth, add a teaspoon of cornstarch.

Good Luck and have fun!

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