How to Keep Your Cake Moist

Today you’ll learn which ingredients will help you bake a moist cake. When baking a cake there are certain ingredients that make a huge impact on the texture. After reading this post you’ll learn about the secret ingredients that will transform your cake from dry to delicious and tender.

Creating a Moist Cake

The first secret ingredient is baking soda. Baking soda is a chemical leavening agent. After, combining baking soda with buttermilk, carbon dioxide is released. If you’re looking for a good cake recipe, be sure to look out for recipes that include baking soda and buttermilk. These ingredients will make your cake light and fluffy. Check out my cake baking guide to learn how to make a layer cake.

Reasons to Love These Ingredients

There are so many reasons to love these secret ingredients. First, these ingredients prevent you from eating a cake that is dry and lacking in flavor. One of the benefits of using buttermilk in cake batter is that buttermilk adds flavor. This makes a huge difference because it transforms a neutral taste to a more flavorful, moist cake.

Secondly, using fruits with a very soft consistency like banana or pumpkin puree helps create a moist cake. Adding baking soda in addition to buttermilk and baking powder allows the cake to rise while balancing the cake’s flavor.

Types of Buttermilk to Choose From

When you are shopping for buttermilk at the grocery store look for full fat buttermilk. It adds flavor and buttermilk is acidic, which causes a reaction with baking soda that allows your cake to rise.

In addition, for all the chocolate lovers out there, coffee is a perfect ingredient to add to your chocolate cake. Coffee reacts with ingredients like butter, which have a lot of fat. This adds moisture to your cake. Also, coffee adds richness to cake. It deepens the flavor and elevates your cake to the next level.

Finally, the last secret ingredient for baking a moist cake is oil. Adding vegetable oil to your cake batter gives the cake moisture. Usually, cakes that are made with butter and no oil have a dry texture. Incorporating these ingredients into the batter gives you the opportunity to ensure that the cake gets as much moisture as possible. The next time you want to try out a new cake recipe make sure that it has at least 3 of these secret ingredients. These ingredients will give you a delicious, moist cake that makes you savor every bite.

Dos and Don’ts

There are a few things that you want to avoid as much as possible. Make sure you don’t over mix your cake batter. When you over mix, your cake batter it creates a drier texture. In addition, avoid adding ingredients like buttermilk, eggs, or butter straight from the fridge. Adding cold dairy products to your cake batter can have a negative impact on your cake. The difference in temperature makes it harder for the ingredients to incorporate together. 

To prevent this from happening make sure that you take one extra step. Bring your dairy ingredients to room temperature before adding them to your cake batter. Use a food thermometer to check the temperature of the ingredients. For more information on room temperature ingredients read my baking tips for beginner’s guide. It will tell you everything you need to know when it comes to taking steps to successfully bake at home.

Use the Right Ingredients

Please do make sure that you use quality ingredients. The brand that you use for certain ingredients won’t have a negative impact on your cake. For example, salt is literally used in almost every baking recipe. Moreover, the desserts still taste the same regardless of the brand of salt you use.

Adding too much baking powder and baking soda can cause a bitter taste. It can also ruin the cakes structure by rising in the oven excessively.

On the other hand, ingredients like chocolate or vanilla make a huge impact on the taste of the cake. Imitation vanilla will never substitute the flavor you get from baking with pure vanilla extract. Those preservatives and fillers take away from the flavor. Be sure to choose high quality chocolate if you’re adding chopped chocolate to your cake. It will certainly make all the difference!

Another ingredient that you should use is cake flour. Cake flour will make your homemade cakes soft. Adding cake flour into your cake mix prevents the cake layers from being too dense. This type of flour has a lower gluten content, which results in a lighter, fluffier cake. Also, dense cakes can be caused by adding extra sugar.

I learned this the hard way when I accidentally used dark chocolate instead of semi-sweet chocolate in a cake recipe. Overcompensating for the bitter taste with extra sugar causes a dense inedible cake. Remember, Ingredients like vanilla contribute to the sweetness. Now you will be able to avoid these baking nightmares in the kitchen!

Add a Soak

Another way to add moisture to your cake is to apply a soak to the top of the cake. A soak gives the cake extra flavor. Plus, it will prevent your cake from getting dry. For layer cakes, add the soak after you level the cakes. Use a pastry brush to lightly dab the soak onto the top of the cake layer. This allows the cake to absorb the moisture.

You can use a cake soak that compliments the flavor of your homemade cake. Some bakers like to add simple syrup or lemon juice in their soaks for lemon flavored cake. The easiest solution is to use milk.

Store Bought Versus Homemade Cake

The difference between store bought cake and cakes baked from scratch comes down to taste and texture. Some grocery stores take a lot of pride in baking a quality cake for their customers. However, there are store-bought cakes that are not tasty.

This is because certain additives or dyes ruin the flavor. Resulting in the after taste of medicine. Additives can increase the shelf life of baked goods, but they won’t taste as balanced as a regular cake. A good thing to remember is that cakes that are made with a variety of frosting colors are not going to taste as rich and flavorful as a homemade cake made with quality ingredients. 

Oven Temperature

Remember to Preheat the oven to the right temperature. This can easily get overlooked. Usually, cakes are baked at a lower temperature. The average temperature for baking a cake is between 325°F and 350°F. Layer cakes take less time in the oven. While sheet cakes take longer to bake. Around 35 minutes compared to the shorter cook time for layer cakes.

When cakes are over baked, they get dry. A cake may look under baked, but your eyes can be deceiving. For best results use a cake tester to see if your cake is done.    

Cake placement is a key factor for ensuring that your cakes bake evenly. If you have a smaller oven place your cakes on the top rack. Placing your cake on the bottom rack for the whole baking time will result in an over-baked cake.

If you place your cake layer on the bottom rack, remember to rotate the cakes position to the top rack halfway through. This will give you a moist cake with a soft crumb.  

Cooling Process

Let the cake cool properly. Don’t put your cake on the kitchen counter after taking them out of the oven. This will cause heat to concentrate in one area, while the other parts of the cake get cool.

Use a cooling rack to let the cake rest. This allows the cake to cool off evenly. The best part about using a cooling rack is that it reduces the rest time. Leaving a cake on the kitchen counter to cool off takes much longer.

Baking Pans

When you find the cake recipe that you plan on using remember to use the suggested baking pan. For layer cakes the recipe will often suggest using 8 or 9-inch round cake pans. You can use my baking pan guide to help you find the right pan for cake baking. If you are baking a sheet cake the standard size is a 9 x 13 inch baking pan. If you need to bake a larger sheet cake you’ll need to look out for recipes that provide enough cake batter for a half sheet cake: 13” x 18” or a full sheet cake: 18” x 26”.

Cake Storage

The way that you store your cake is extremely important! It’s important to properly store cakes because the temperature in your kitchen fluctuates which can cause your frosting to melt. The cake can get stale as well.

Keep your cake fresh by storing it in an airtight cake keeper or cake carrier. When shopping for a cake keeper there are glass and plastic options to choose from. After you cover your cake keep it in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days.

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