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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 absorbed. Eggs should not be cold as
they can curdle mixtures.
In the enclosed recipes use self raising flour wherever possible. If plain flour is called
for, it must be used to keep the balance of the 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 a 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 25ºC 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 with a very high fat content may need the
heat supplied by way of the funnel.
Cooking times and temperatures 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 towards the end of the suggested cooking time. If the skewer
is clean when removed, the cake is cooked.
Symptom
Possible cause
Sponge cake shrink
Unbalanced ingredients, over beating of egg whites, sudden changes of
temperature or draught when taking from the oven.
Cakes do not rise
Mostly due to gross over beating, 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 the 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
Over beating, 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.
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Successful cake making
