Welcome to the Cake Decorators Q&A

Hi. I find my cakes that includes butter in the recipe are quite greasy. Should I be using spreadable or block butter also I have tried block butter don’t seem to get it to room temperature, should I microwave it.
Thank you

Never thought about calibrating the oven. Will give this a try.

Thanks for your replies, has been very helpful.

Carol

Hi Carol

It’s possible that if you are using spreadable butter, it is too soft before beating. In this case, start beating it from cold. Block butter should be soft, just enough to leave an imprint of the fingers and not squishy. If it is too soft at the start, the beating process and the heat generated by the beaters will make it become oily. Beat the butter and sugar together until fluffy, ensuring both are incorporated well without overbeating. Overbeating the batter at too high speed can produce an oily cake. On the other hand, butter which is not beaten through properly can melt in the batter during baking to also make for a greasy finished cake.

Personally, I would use block butter but it is up to your preference which you use. Don’t soften the butter in the microwave, just leave it out on the worktop at room temperature until as described above.

Please let me know if this helps. 🙂

Hi. Yes this has been a great help, thanks for your reply.

I have read a lot about over and under mixing but unsure of timings. I have read to mix for one minute and in another book it will tell you to mix for three minutes as an all in one method. I have tried both but always get domed cakes, they never come out without a dome even though only filling half or three quarters of the case.
Does it matter that I have to cut the tops off before icing.
Thanks

Nearly all my cakes come out with a dome. I take off just the dome and no more. Turn the cake over and use the flat underside for icing. If you’re doing cupcakes, it will depend on whether you are icing with buttercream or with fondant. If with buttercream, the dome can be useful to get a nice high decoration. If with fondant, it’s fine to take the dome off if you think the decoration will benefit from a flat top. Doming is usually caused by the baking temperature being slightly too high. If you haven’t calibrated your oven temp for a while, I would recommend getting an oven thermometer to check the internal temperature of the oven reads the same as the external.

Hope this helps. 🙂

You’re welcome! 🙂