Causes of Common Baking Mistakes

• Irregularly Shaped Cakes

If your cake ends up with an uneven shape, it may be because there is too much liquid in the mixture or too much baking powder - or simply the oven is not hot enough.

• Cracked Cakes

If your cake has cracks, it's probably because you didn't have enough liquid in your mixture, or added too much baking powder.

• Uneven-textured Cakes

If your cake has an uneven texture, the fat was either rubbed in too much or not enough.

• Tight Cakes

If your cake texture is very tight, then you may have added too much fat or your hands were too warm when kneading the flour.

• Failed Fruit Cakes 

If you notice that the fruit sinks to the bottom in the cake, it could be because the fruit or the mixture is too wet, or the oven is not hot enough.

• Hard Pastry 

If your puff pastry is too hard, it can be caused by a variety of reasons. Either you have added too much water or not enough fat, or the fat wasn't rubbed enough or over processed. Or the pastry is over-baked.

• Shrinking Pastry 

Shrinking pastry is a common mistake. This usually happens when the pastry has been over-processed or hasn't been left long enough.

• Soggy Bottoms 

Lastly, the most frustrating pastry problem - soggy bottoms. This usually happens when the oven isn't hot enough or the pastry hasn't been baked for long enough. However, it could also be caused by adding too much water to the dough.

If you want to know more about the causes of baking mistakes, please feel free to leave a reply in the below comment area, and we are more than happy to discuss further.