Tips to bake your cake

How many times have you been disappointed when the cake you baked failed to rise and was hard as a rock? But baking a cake is not rocket science and making your cake fluffy needs just a little bit of patience. Says Mukti Bosco, director of a patisserie, “All you need to do is avoid the shortcuts and follow instructions to the T. You’ll have the perfect cake.” So here are a few tips to help your cake rise.

• Ensure that the baking powder you are using is fresh. In older stock the potency reduces, making the cake fall.
• Another reason is the uneven heating of the oven. This causes the cake to cook from the sides while it remains gooey on the inside.
• Avoid constantly opening the oven door to check the cake.
• Once the cake has been baked, switch off the power supply and let it stand in the oven for a few minutes.
• Remember not to demould the cake when it is hot.
• The thumb rule “poke a cake to check if it is done’ does not work for every cake. For cakes like vanilla sponge cake even shaking the mould will make it fall. But cakes like mud cake and banana-walnut cakes are more steardy.