Rant: My cake kept sinking in the middle until I tried a cheap trick

I've been baking birthday cakes for my kids for years and every single time the middle would sink into a crater. I tried opening the oven door less, I tried different pans, I even bought a $40 oven thermometer thinking my temp was off. Nothing worked. Then my grandma visited last month and watched me make a batch of cupcakes. She said I was overmixing the batter and that was creating too many air pockets. She told me to just mix until the flour disappears and stop. I thought she was crazy but I tried it on my next layer cake. The middle stayed perfectly flat for the first time ever. Has anyone else had this problem with overmixing? I feel like every recipe says "mix until combined" but that's way less time than I thought.

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3 Comments

the_wesley2mo ago

Overmixing is probably the most overlooked mistake in baking because it feels like you're just being thorough. Recipes need to start saying "mix until just combined" and actually mean "stop earlier than you think.

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the_miles2mo ago

Wait, hold on. Are you telling me there are people out there who DON'T realize that overmixing is a problem? That's like saying you don't know why your cake turned into a hockey puck. I thought "stop when it looks like a disaster might happen" was just common knowledge. Guess I've been overestimating the general public's baked goods intuition for years.

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fiona_hunt712mo ago

Is it just me or does this apply to like everything these days? People think more effort equals better result but really you gotta know when to back off, same with relationships or even just folding laundry.

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