Common Mistakes when Baking

This week we had a class and the homework was to make a cake. Two of the students made a pound cake that came black, like the one in the picture. So, I made them come here and make the cake under my supervision.

What we found out was that they were using too much sugar in comparison to the flour and instead of using baking powder they used baking soda. They were using less flour because they did not weigh it correctly. They fixed it using a scale instead of a measuring cup.

Following are some of the most common mistakes when baking a cake from scratch:

Mistake Cause

Dark crust Too much sugar

Oven too hot

Light crust Less sugar

Heat on the oven was not sufficient

Hard cake Flour too strong

Too much flour

Less butter and too much mixing