Cherry Cake {A Scratch Recipe} (2024)

FAQs

What is the difference between cake mix and scratch? ›

While cake mixes have a certain nostalgic comfort-factor, they typically taste flat, sugary, and vaguely chemically while the texture leaves a lot to be desired. Cakes made from scratch just taste better: rich, buttery, and moist with lots of sweet flavor nuances that make it hard to stop eating more.

When it comes to creating moist and delicious cakes, sometimes the secret ingredient is something unexpected. In this case, it's applesauce. Not only does applesauce add moisture to your cake, but it also serves as a healthier alternative to high-fat ingredients.

The ratio of wet to dry ingredients determines a cake's moisture level. If there's simply too much flour and not enough butter, a cake will taste dry. On the other hand, if there's too much milk and not enough flour, a cake will taste too wet.

The best way to avoid sinking fruit is to toss the fruit in a couple of tablespoons of the flour (just use some from the measured amount for the recipe) to coat it lightly. Once added to the cake mixture the flour coating will thicken the batter immediately surrounding the fruit and help suspend the fruit.

Why do cherries sink to the bottom? A: They contain a lot of moisture and syrup. Need to quarter, wash and dry thoroughly before adding to the cake mixture.

Don't get caught in the trap of thinking that you must bake from scratch if you sell cakes. Most bakeries do NOT bake from scratch. In fact, I once worked at a bakery that actually claimed to be a “scratch bakery”, but all their cakes started with a Duncan Hines cake mix, the same kind you buy in the grocery store.

Your cake is too dense A cake that is overly dense typically has too much liquid, too much sugar or too little leavening (not excess flour, as is commonly thought).

By easy, I mean easy: Poke your loaf cake or layer cake (with a skewer, cake tester, or toothpick), then use a pastry brush to coat it generously with simple syrup, which will soak into the crumb through the channels you just created. That's it: You've successfully completed a “cake soak.”

Applesauce acts much like the fat. It keeps the flour protein from mixing completely with the wet ingredients and forming a rubbery, dense texture. This is what does applesauce do in baking.

Flour is perhaps the most important ingredient in a cake mix, as it creates the basic structure of the entire cake. A major component of flour is gluten, which is a protein that provides a way for the cake to bind to itself.

Which 2 ingredients help the cake to rise? ›

These are the key ingredients that make a cake rise. There are two types of leavening agents, chemical (baking soda and baking powder) and biological (yeast).

Cakes and pastries are fluffy and light in nature due to the presence of baking soda in it. When baking soda is combined with both an acidic ingredient and a liquid, it becomes activated. Upon activation, Carbon dioxide is produced, which allows baked products to rise and become light and fluffy.

Cakes sink in the middle due to several factors, including overmixing of the batter, opening the oven door too soon, or not baking at the right temperature. Expired leavening agents or incorrect proportions of ingredients can also cause sinking.

Sour cream is one of the fattiest dairy products; the extra fat content (for example, adding sour cream to a cake instead of milk) will make the cake moister and richer, says Wilk. "Fat, in any form (butter, lard, cream, etc.) shortens gluten strands, which essentially leads to the most tender baked goods," she adds.

Maraschino cherries are typically used in baked goods for: Decoration: mainly as embellishment in cakes and pastries. Flavor: can be used in fillings to provide a sweet flavor. Color: provide a bright red color to toppings and fillings.

Unfortunately whole glace (candied) cherries are just too large and will sink even if dusted with flour. You will need to halve or even quarter them to prevent them from sinking to the bottom of the cake and dust with a little flour as well.

When a recipe calls for halving the cherries, use a knife to do the job efficiently. Simply use a small and sharp paring knife to cut into the flesh and around the pit, just like cutting a peach. Twist the two sides apart, then pick out the seed.

The light coating of flour around the berries will absorb some of the fruit's liquid, making them less likely to sink. This is especially helpful when the batter is thin; thicker batters are a little better at cradling the fruit and keeping it suspended.

A cake can crumble for a variety of reasons: overmixed batter, too much flour, not enough sugar or not enough shortening.

To prevent this from happening, Berry advised, "Quarter, wash, and dry thoroughly before adding to the cake mixture." She also noted that the addition of ground almonds "helps suspend the cherries as well." However, if you're baking a different cherry dessert that doesn't include ground almonds, dusting the fruit with ...

How to prevent cake from sinking after baking? ›

Wait until the cake has set to minimize the chance of collapsing as you rotate. Utilize your oven's light to avoid opening the door when checking on your cake. Be super careful not to slam the oven door! Slamming the door can cause the cake to collapse – as can slamming your cake pans down when removing from the oven.

In cooking, to make something from scratch means to use only the most basic ingredients, with nothing premade: Brad and Rachel Cottle will run the Orlando bakery and cafe, which will feature breads milled and baked from scratch daily using wheat from Montana's Golden Triangle.

As a professional baker, I don't often use boxed mixes, but I appreciate how easily they bring a cake together. I think premade mixes are great for beginners gaining confidence around the kitchen and also for last-minute cake "emergencies."

At the same time, cakes made from scratch are said to generally be moister in terms of consistency and feel, but of course, it is still based on the skills of the baker. The great thing about cakes made from scratch is that you have greater control over what goes into your cake.

Many (if not all) of their baked goods aren't made fresh. Some former Walmart employees say that rather than baking items in the store, Walmart ships its baked goods in frozen.