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• Always have ingredients at room
temperature. Warm the bowl to be used in
really cold weather.
• Add flavouring and essences to the
shortening for a better flavour.
• Add the sugar to the softened shortening
and beat until the colour lightens slightly;
there’s no need to beat until the sugar is
dissolved.
• Add whole eggs one at a time and beat
until egg is absorbed. Eggs should not be
cold as they can curdle mixtures.
• In our recipes we will use self-raising flour
wherever possible. If plain flour is called
for, it must be used to keep the balance of
ingredients correct.
• Divide the flour and the liquid into two
portions and add alternately with the liquid
on speed 1 - don’t over beat.
• If you don’t have a tin the same size as the
recipe suggests, here are some tins that
are of similar capacity:
Use 2 x 20cm sandwich tins or a 1 x 28 x
18cm lamington tin or a 1 x 20 x 7cm
deep round cake tin or 1 x standard loaf
tin or a 1 x 20cm ring tin.
• Care must be taken when using a cake tin
instead of a sandwich tin to lower the
suggested temperature by approximately
25°C and lengthen the cooking time.
• Care should also be taken when
substituting a cake tin for a ring tin, baba
tin or any tin with a funnel as some cake
mixtures that have a very high fat content
may need the heat supplied by way of the
funnel.
• Cooking times and temperature are meant
only as a guide. Light mixtures should
spring back when lightly touched and
heavy mixtures, fruit cake and the like,
should be tested with a skewer toward the
end of the suggested cooking time.
Reasons for Poor Results
Sponge Cakes Shrink
Unbalanced ingredients, overbeating of egg
whites, sudden changes of temperature or
draught when taking from the oven.
Cakes Do Not Rise
Mostly due to gross overbeating, but can also
be caused by too hot an oven during the first
part of cooking.
Cakes Sink in the Centre
Too much fat, raising agent, liquid or sugar;
too little flour; under cooking or slow
cooking.
Cakes Run Over at Edges
Too much batter for size of pan, too cool an
oven, too much sugar, over beating, too much
raising agent.
Hard Outer Crust
Too much flour, too little sugar, over mixing,
too hot an oven.
Moist, Sticky Outside
Too much sugar, over beating, under baking.
Coarse Crumbly Texture
Overbeating, low baking temperature.
Heavy, Close Texture
Too much fat or sugar, over mixing, under
baking, or too hot an oven.
Fruit Sinks
Mixture too soft, damp fruit, too little flour,
ingredients not correctly balanced, over
beating.
Helpful Hints for Better Cake
Making