7 quick fixes for baking mistakes which can turn your cake from disaster again into a delicious pie

Baking a cake is an art which improves with practice. There are times when a tragedy can transfer your cake straight into the dustbin. It may be burning, sinking, sticking or drying, a silly mistake and all your hard work goes futile. So, here we have brought some quick and handy methods for you to prevent the wastage of your cake and labor. Along with them, we have also brought corresponding prevention tip so that the same mistake is not repeated the next time. Have a look:-

Burnt cake

Prevention- If you are forgetful, set the timer in the oven for the minimum baking time mentioned in the recipe and set an alarm on your watch/ mobile phone so that you can immediately check it. To prevent burning on the top of the cake, you can cover the pan with a parchment paper while placing it in the oven.

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Fix- Take a metal strainer (chalni) and rub it against the burnt surface of the cake. The burnt pieces of the cake will get removed without having to cut the cake. You can also slice off the burnt areas of the cake with a knife and then cover those parts with frosting. Follow these tips only if the cake has got burnt slightly as otherwise, the burnt taste would have got percolated deep inside the cake.

Sunken cake

Prevention- A cake sinks when it is undercooked or the door of the oven is opened at the inappropriate time. To avoid sinking of cakes, always open the oven door at the minimum baking time mentioned in the recipe. Then poke a toothpick keeping it in the oven itself. If the toothpick comes out clean with only a few crumbs attached to it, the cake has already been baked. Always perform this check before removing the pan completely from the heat.

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Fix-

In the case of a sunken cake, you basically have these 3 choices:-

If you want to use the same cake and have no time to prepare another, just fill the sunken part with a lot of frosting cream and fruits like strawberries, cherries etc.

Another option is to carve out the sunken part of the cake and your sunken cake will turn into a beautiful ring cake.

Last option is to crumble this cake. Add a beaten egg and some desiccated coconut to this. You can use this mixture as a topping for another cake.

Stale/ dry cake

Prevention- A cake generally becomes dry due to overbaking or when kept in open for long. If you are storing a cake, ensure that it is properly wrapped and kept at a low temperature.

Fix- If you lack time and wish to mend it quickly, split the cake into two halves using a knife. Make a simple syrup from 60gms sugar dissolved in 3 tbs of water and 2 tbs of fruit juice. Sweep the syrup over the sponge cake and between the two layers using a brush and then add a creamy filling and fruit between them. However, if you have sufficient time and do not want to split the cake, you can simply pour some lemon juice on the cake, wrap it and keep it for almost 2 days.

Stuck cake

Prevention- Sticking of cake is common in cakes with high sugar or honey content. In these cases, do not forget to line the pan with a parchment paper. Insufficient greasing could be another reason for this. You can also use non- sticky surfaces like silicon pans which do not require greasing.

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Fix- A stuck cake breaks into pieces while demolding it. You can form mini cakes from these pieces and pile them up with a beautiful frosting.

Heavy cake

Prevention- A cake may turn out to be heavy due to over mixing the batter or splitting of eggs. Never overmix the batter, just try to cut and fold it in a figure of 8 motion.

Fix- Chop the heavy cake into thin slices and brush each slice with oil or melted butter. Bake the slices in the oven till they turn crunchy. These crispy slices can be enjoyed as cookies with the tea.

So, from today, don’t throw the cake directly when any of these problems occur. Follow these simple hacks to save your cake and labor. However, if you do not wish to take any burden and do not have much time to fix the mistake, you can avail online cake delivery in Delhi- NCR through services like CakenGifts.