I have to make a cake each month to take to bingo. Most of the other
ladies bring a HUGE cake, and mine always looks short and thin. I have
asked some of them how they get their cake to rise so much. One lady
said she uses milk instead of water. The other lady adds baking soda
or baking powder, she can't remember which. We all start out with the
same cake mixes, they are given to us. What am I doing wrong? Any
tips for a bigger cake?

> wrote in message
ups.com...
> I have to make a cake each month to take to bingo. Most of the other
> ladies bring a HUGE cake, and mine always looks short and thin. I have
> asked some of them how they get their cake to rise so much. One lady
> said she uses milk instead of water. The other lady adds baking soda
> or baking powder, she can't remember which. We all start out with the
> same cake mixes, they are given to us. What am I doing wrong? Any
> tips for a bigger cake?
>

Are the bigger cakes better, or just bigger? Are you required to use the
cake mixes, or could you donate them to the poor and make a decent cake from
scratch?

On Thu, 10 Feb 2005 wrote:

> I have to make a cake each month to take to bingo. Most of the other
> ladies bring a HUGE cake, and mine always looks short and thin. I have
> asked some of them how they get their cake to rise so much. One lady
> said she uses milk instead of water. The other lady adds baking soda
> or baking powder, she can't remember which. We all start out with the
> same cake mixes, they are given to us. What am I doing wrong? Any
> tips for a bigger cake?

I usually just avoid cake mixes. They are made to be simple but not really
great. You could try adding baking powder to the cake mix before adding
the wet ingredients but if you add too much it will not taste good. I can
only guess but maybe 1/2 a teaspoon or less.

Another trick is to use a sieve on the cake mix. This will add air to the
mix.

Also, I make my cakes light and fluffy by using whipped egg whites. Adding
air to the egg whites basically.

Finally, the finished product can be made to look bigger by adding more
filling. I'll bake three or four cakes then stack them. The more filling
I place between the layers the bigger the cake will be.

Darrell

P.S. if you a stacking many layers you might need to level the cakes. If
you bake them in really thick pans they will tend to dome less and need
less leveling.

--
Send e-mail to: darrell dot grainger at utoronto dot ca

wrote:
SNIP
> We all start out with the same cake mixes,
> they are given to us. What am I doing wrong?
>Any tips for a bigger cake?

Try whipping the oil, eggs, and liquids for several minutes. The object is
to get a LOT of fine bubbles in that mixture before adding it to the dry
ingredients. Baking powder and baking soda need existing bubbles to work
well.

Raj V

A cake mix need to be modified if you want to make bigger cakes, likely
you may have to slightly reduce the liquid so that the batter will be
stable. Another thing is the addition of more eggs to strengthen the
batter .
It really depends on the type of the cake mix you are using and the
options you apply to modify it to fit yourr requirements.
One of the common cake mixes used by the homebakers is a complete cake
mix where the eggs and milk are already in it.You just had to add
water and mix, as directed ,pour into the prepared pan and bake.
Unfortunately that kind of cake mix if baked on bigger pands tends to
shrink a lot resulting in thinne looking cakes.
In addition the cake is tender that would not be suited for extensive
decoration.
Now if I had to convert that particular cake say a white layer cake
stable enought to suited to be decorated for a wedding cake I add some
eggs and vegetable oil and reduce the water lightly to accomodate the
liquids added.
Yes indeed the cake crumb become creamy coloured but its very stable
and attractive to decorate.
The cake batter made with add water only looks thick but when you add
fresh eggs and oil the batter is become slightly thinner.
If I make a thick slab cakes with such modified cake mix I pour enough
batter ( nearly three quarters to the pan depth, sometimes even 4/5 of
the pan depth just to attain a satisifactory cake volume.
That depends on the cake performance and you really need to do a trial
bake to ascertain its optimum baking performance.
Roy

On Fri, 11 Feb 2005, Vox Humana wrote:

> Rather than trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, I think the OP
> would be better off finding a cake recipe that made the cake she wants. I
> am curious about why a "big" cake is desirable. Does it taste better or
> keep longer? Is there a contest for the cake that traveled the longest
> distance and the cake that is biggest? Enquiring minds want to know.

This is a good question. Why is a "big" cake desirable?

I think the answer is presentation and texture. If I give someone a dense
cake one inch cubed or I give them the same weight but less dense and
three inch cubed they might feel like they received more cake. The reality
is that they received more air in the same cake.

Additionally, some people like light, airy cakes. I know that given the
choice between a dense, rich chocolate cake or a lemon chiffon cake with a
berry compote filling and whipped cream frosting, I'd go for the chiffon
cake.

Bottom line, maybe the person really wants a less dense cake and they just
didn't ask well.

Then again, maybe it is an macho thing. My cake is bigger than your cake
therefore I'm better than you. 8^)

--
Send e-mail to: darrell dot grainger at utoronto dot ca

""."" > wrote in message
...
> On Fri, 11 Feb 2005, Vox Humana wrote:
>
> > Rather than trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, I think the
OP
> > would be better off finding a cake recipe that made the cake she wants.
I
> > am curious about why a "big" cake is desirable. Does it taste better or
> > keep longer? Is there a contest for the cake that traveled the longest
> > distance and the cake that is biggest? Enquiring minds want to know.
>
> This is a good question. Why is a "big" cake desirable?
>
> I think the answer is presentation and texture. If I give someone a dense
> cake one inch cubed or I give them the same weight but less dense and
> three inch cubed they might feel like they received more cake. The reality
> is that they received more air in the same cake.
>
> Additionally, some people like light, airy cakes. I know that given the
> choice between a dense, rich chocolate cake or a lemon chiffon cake with a
> berry compote filling and whipped cream frosting, I'd go for the chiffon
> cake.
>
> Bottom line, maybe the person really wants a less dense cake and they just
> didn't ask well.
>
> Then again, maybe it is an macho thing. My cake is bigger than your cake
> therefore I'm better than you. 8^)

I don't think we could really answer the original question without knowing
why the cake needs to be bigger.

The preparation of cakes from prepared mixes is different from using
the scratch recipes.
Bakers can use the creaming, blending and all in method but the
creaming methods seems to provide better cake volume than the blending
method while the latter results in more uniform crumb structure.
Indeed in the creaming process the longer beating time encourage the
cake to have better volume But it must not be forgotten that excessive
beating is detrimental to cake quality..
Meanwhile the all in method is best suited if you had an emulsifier at
hand; or you will end up with a cake that has texture reminiscent of a
muffins. Holes and muffins.
Now with regards to cake mixes they are usually mixed by all in method
but as you tweak out the recipe such as adding more eggs the system of
mixing is more nearer to the blending methods as the liquids are added
in two or three portions for even absorption in the batter.
>"Baking powder and soda do not
>make a single new bubble; they only enlarge bubbles that are already
there."
>She advocates beating "butter and sugar for 7-8 minutes" for "mile
high"
>cakes. I just know that since I started increasing the creaming time
of
>butter/oils and sugar and eggs, my cakes have had a wonderful rise
instead
>of the leaden, brownie-consistency concoctions I used to make.
Yes that is true that was the result of the basic research in cake
baking done in the 1940's, baking powder does not create another
bubble but just enlarge the existing ones. But the mixing of butter and
sugar for 8 minutes does not give the same volume as mixing shortening
and sugar for the same time. Butter has an inferior creaming properties
if compared to all purpose shortening. It was used for the purpose of
getting the best taste in cakes.
But be remineded that you really had to try also alternative cake
mixing methods to make a comparative experiments among them and see
what really produces the best cakes according to your personal
observatons..
Roy