How to make the cake flat

In the confectionery world, if you want to obtain optimal results when preparing any recipe, you deserve the following essential things: good use of techniques, quality ingredients, precision, care and, especially, attention to detail. For this reason, in the specific case of how to make the cake even, there are certain basic tips to get a 10-point cake. Don’t worry, they are all very simple recommendations to comply with and some you may already know.

So, if you can’t get the perfect sponge cake to prepare a cake, we invite you to read this article, it will surely clarify many of the doubts you may have. Without further ado, we invite you to put these tricks into practice to know how to make the cake flat.

Avoid buying poor quality or unsuitable ingredients

Acquiring fresh ingredients and in good condition is a basic requirement in any recipe, and especially if you want to learn how to make the cake even, that is, as flat as possible. In this sense, also take into account that if you substitute a food inappropriately, you can affect the preparation and, therefore, it is possible that you will have the cake sunken in the center or, on the contrary, with the lower edges. Thinking about this, we share the following tips:

• Prefers size M eggs. Generally, neither very small (S) nor very large (L) eggs are used in standard recipes. Each type M egg is equivalent to 50 g of this product.
• Do not use expired or poorly stored flour. Never store this food in the fridge or in a humid place, as it deteriorates prematurely. If you use flour like this, the cake will be caked and with an unpleasant flavor (it will taste musty). Also do not use this expired ingredient because it loses its essential qualities.
• Use low-gluten flour. The best ones for this type of recipe have between 4-8% gluten (preferably always below 8%). Among this type of flour are: all-purpose flour and self-rising flour (also known as cake or pastry flour).
• Use baking powder, not baker’s yeast. Although baking powder is also known as yeast, make no mistake, the two ingredients are very different things. The baking powder draws air into the mixture, while the yeast ferments it. Both serve to give sponginess, but in different types of dough and are activated differently. Of course, it is also important to say that in some countries baking powder is marketed under the name of “chemical yeast”, but in these cases it is always specified that it is special for confectionery to differentiate it from baker’s yeast.
• Don’t use expired baking powder. Once the time of this product has passed, it loses its qualities. That is, the cake will rise little or not at all.
• Avoid very heavy fats or low-quality butter. Bad butter contains too many liquids, which unbalance the proportions of the preparation. On the other hand, very heavy fats can sink the cake, so it would not be even.

Use the exact amount of ingredients

Baking recipes are very similar to chemical formulas, since accuracy counts, and a lot! One ingredient more or less changes everything: texture, flavor, size, color, etc. If you want to make the cake flat and it doesn’t turn out the way you want, it could be due to a lack, excess, or too little of a product.

Remember, it is best to weigh food and if you do not have a special scale for this, use measuring cups and spoons (never use conventional utensils, as they are very inaccurate, but if you do use them, try to always use the same ones). Also take into account when making substitutions that you must know the corresponding equivalences very well. Once all this has been clarified, you can check below what happens to the cake if the measurements are inaccurate:

• Excess fat. Although the ideal would be not to use it, because this way you achieve a more spongy texture in the cake, there are recipes that include it. In those cases, if you go too far with the fat, the dough will weigh heavier than normal and, consequently, the cake will have a hard time rising or will sink. Solution: add a little more yeast or use a lighter fat, such as sunflower oil (reducing the amount of it also works well).
• Too much yeast or little. Too much yeast causes the mixture to rise more than it should, which is why it overflows the mold and the contents are wasted (altering the final result). If you use little yeast, the cake does not rise, unless the egg whites have been beaten very well and then you have beaten the flour a little. On the other hand, if you use too little yeast and too much flour, the cake won’t rise and will cake.
• Excess flour. Too much flour (especially if it has little yeast) can cause the cake to not rise and become cake. It could also cook faster and consequently form a thick layer on the surface or burn.
• Excess dry ingredients. If there is a lack of fat or liquids in the dough, the cake will be very dry and compact.
• Little sugar. A cake low in sugar does not get its appetizing golden color or rise enough.  In this sense, it is important to note that there are many ways to add sugar if you want to make a sugar-free sponge cake, for example with natural fruit.

Beat the preparation properly

This is the starting point of any good cake, so if you want to make the cake even, beat it correctly. In this aspect, the most important thing will be the balance: beat enough when it is necessary and beat little when it is merited. For this reason, it will be very useful to guide you in the following aspects:

• Incorporate enough air into the dough. The more air you incorporate, the fluffier the cake will be (infallible). Eggs and butter are the ingredients that help us incorporate air into the dough, apart from yeast. In the case of biscuits, beat the egg whites alone or with a little sugar until stiff. In the case of pancakes, butter and sugar are used for the same function during cremation. If you want to facilitate this process, you will need a deep bowl, as that depth helps to trap the air in the preparation. Likewise, he prefers balloon rods, regardless of whether they are manual or electric. As for the technique, start beating at a low speed and then gradually increase it.
• Avoid over beating the dough once the flour has been added. Gluten develops as you churn it. When preparing biscuits, keep in mind that the less gluten develops, the fluffier it will be, since when the proteins multiply (disproportionately compared to the rest of the ingredients), the biscuit is caked and dry. For this reason, once this ingredient has been incorporated, you should only beat just long enough to remove lumps and integrate it well, not a second longer! The best way to incorporate the flour is to use enveloping movements aided by a silicone spatula or a manual balloon whisk.
• Integrate the ingredients well. The idea is to beat until there are no lumps and the dough is completely homogeneous. For this reason, you must add the dry ingredients little by little, sifting them and distributing them evenly in the preparation. Thus, among other things, the baking powder will be well distributed and the cake will rise evenly during baking.

Add leavening agents at the right time

The second ingredient in charge of giving the cake height, proportion and sponginess are the leavening agents (baking powder or chemical yeast, bicarbonate, etc.). Although, if you beat the eggs very well and do not beat the flour too much, you can get the same result without using them.

In any case, using yeast never hurts, but you must know the correct moment to integrate it and we will indicate it below:

• If you use baking soda, add it last. Remember that this leavening agent is activated as soon as it makes contact with the mixture thanks to the egg and the acidic ingredients it may contain. Do not forget to distribute it evenly in the preparation and dissolve it very well.
• If you use baking powder, add it along with the dry ingredients. Although there are baking powders with double activation (on contact with the mixture and then on contact with heat), they are generally activated only during baking (single-action powders).

Avoid sudden temperature changes

To make the cake even and flat, it is essential to avoid drastic changes in temperature during the different stages of work: in preparation, baking and post-baking time. In this sense, the following points are decisive in the final result:

• Use ingredients at room temperature. Incorporating very cold products in the preparation can cause two things: that they do not integrate well into the mixture or that the yeast does not activate during baking. This recommendation is especially important for eggs, which is why you should remove them 30 minutes before preparing the cake.
• Preheat the oven. This allows you to cook at just the right time and obtain uniform cooking. If you don’t do this, the cake won’t puff up or will be raw inside. The correct thing is to heat the oven at least 10-15 minutes in advance so that it is hot enough. Discover more reasons that can cause this in this other article: “Why is the cake raw inside me “.
• Avoid opening the oven ahead of time. Baking powder begins its chemical process the moment it comes into contact with heat; therefore this reaction should not be interrupted. So, do not open the oven during ¾ of the stipulated cooking time, that is, during the first 30-35 minutes or so. Otherwise, the cake may sink.
• Do not raise or lower the temperature during baking. Unless the recipe calls for it, don’t change the temperature arbitrarily, otherwise you will also affect the action of the chemical leavening (baking powder).
• Avoid exposing the cake to drafts as soon as it comes out of the oven. A sudden change can cause it to sink or lose height. Put it to cool away from windows, doors or places with strong drafts.

Tip: never leave the cake cooling in the oven while it is still hot, as it will continue to cook.  What you can do is open the door a little so that the heat comes out progressively and the change is not so abrupt.

Bake at the right temperature

A basic rule for any baking lover is: know your oven as you know yourself. This is important because not all ovens are the same and not all heat in the same way. In this sense, you must vary the temperature of the recipe depending on your oven and to do this you have two options: try or buy a special thermometer. This way, you will avoid overcooking or undercooking your biscuits. That said, here’s what happens if you cook at a very high or very low temperature to know how to make the cake flat:

What happens if the temperature is very high

• Cracks form. The yeast rises very quickly, without giving time to form the crumb.
• The bark is hard because it forms a crust. Just the previous step before burning.

Solution: use a slightly lower temperature, but without exaggerating, even if this means leaving the cake for a longer time to obtain good results.

What happens if the temperature is very low?

• The central area sinks. The yeast does not activate or takes time to activate, so the cake does not cook well and the crumb does not develop. It will probably not only be sunken in the middle, but with raw dough leftovers, especially in the center.
• The cake dries out. If the temperature is too low, the cooking time is greatly extended and it loses moisture.
• You get a dense and compact crumb. The yeast is not activated properly, consequently the dough does not rise and develop as it should.
• It stays whitish and does not brown. The first 20 minutes are key for the cake to acquire an appetizing golden color. If the temperature is very low, surely this will not happen.  Also, a very pale color can indicate raw or undercooked portions.

If you use the right temperature, it is important that you do not bake several things at once. Nothing should go wrong using the required temperature, however, baking several preparations together prevents an equal distribution of heat. As a result, the cake will cook unevenly and take longer to cook.

Tip: Get an oven thermometer so you’ll be accurate.

Meet the precise baking time

Although we already know that if we want a perfect cake we cannot cook it too much or too little, if you do not know the intensity of your oven well, you may overlook that the times vary because of this detail. Consequently, you will most likely get the following results:

• If you overcook a cake, it breaks, cracks occur, the crust dries out and can burn.
• If you cook a short time a cake sinks in the middle, does not grow or / and remains raw.

Adjust the suggested time of the recipe to the capacity of your oven.

Use a suitable mold

Believe it or not, if you don’t use a mold of the right size you can lose all the work done.  Why? Because the dough can overflow the mold during the baking process, thus changing the proportions and obtaining an uneven cake as a final result.

In this sense, you must leave two fingers without filling in the mold. If you do not have a mold with the necessary measurements, you can line the sides of it with parchment paper, leaving the paper protruding a few centimeters upwards. Either way, always checks the recipe specifications to find out which mold you need.

In addition, the mold must be in optimal conditions, otherwise you will not get the desired result either. For this reason, we recommend you wash it with a soft sponge and store it carefully, because if it deteriorates it loses its qualities.

Finally, it is important to talk about the mold materials. In general, it is preferable to opt for those made of stainless steel, glass or silicone, although depending on the oven, not all of them may be suitable for you. For example, if your oven tends to get very hot, in addition to adjusting the temperature, you may need to only use glass pans because stainless steel pans tend to get hotter, which can cause the cake to be raw inside or not cook properly. Also, leave the cake for 10 minutes in the mold before unmolding it. Then place it on a wire rack to cool.

Cut the top of the cake

During the learning process to achieve a flat and even cake, it is very possible that you prepare cakes with a higher or cracked center, that is, cakes that do not meet your expectations to make a good decorated cake. For these cases, there is an infallible and very simple trick: cut that upper part that you do not like to leave it flat. That easy! The extracted part can be used to make tiramisu in glasses or cake pops, for example.

To cut the top of the cake, we recommend leaving it in the fridge for at least an hour, this way the crumb will be a little more compact and you will make sure not to break it when cutting it. Next, use a bread knife, which is usually quite long and you will be able to make a straight cut.

Flip the cake

Don’t want to spend time cutting the top or are you having a hard time getting it completely straight? Don’t worry, there’s another trick that’s even easier: flip the cake.  Normally, the bottom part is completely flat and with well-defined edges, so it is perfect for decorating and making a nice birthday cake. So, turn it over to obtain a flat and even cake, cover it with the cream that you like the most and decorate it