Five Tips To Bake The Perfect Cake

"A party without a cake is just a meeting." — Julia Child

I recently saw the movie 'Julie and Julia', a splendid visual adventure that revolved around cooking. More than the acting or the plot, what caught me off guard was the emotion attached to food. I connected to it instantly and found myself in the kitchen the very next day.

The one dish that never fails to impress my sweet-toothed family is a lovely piece of cake.

Baking for me is pure science and a lot of times I tend to mess up because I'm an art student (oop). But with practice, reading cookbooks and a lot of googling, I've garnered a few tips that'll always prevent you from a flop show.

Now put on your chef's hat and don't forget to wash your hands.

1. Get yourself a set of Measuring Instruments

One of the most obvious tips, I wouldn't be surprised if you foresaw this coming. Baking has to be marked, scaled and measured. Precise measuring is the only way to attain the perfect cake (and good luck I suppose). It is time that we buy our baking and measuring tools and stop trusting the gut with the ingredient quantities.

2. Room Temperature

It is essential to keep the ingredients at room temperature only. Not too warm and not too chilled. Butter, eggs, milk, etc. when in room temperature would work like magic on your dish. It'll help provide the ideal fluffiness and texture to your cake.

3. Cut and Fold

Cut and Fold is a method commonly used in baking. It takes place while preparing the batter. It involves cutting down the batter through the centre with your spatula and folding it from all over the top. Also known as the down-across-up-and-over motion, this activity implants the adequate amount of air into the batter and makes it fluffy.

4. Check your Ingredients beforehand

Very often, while I'm halfway into the dish it strikes me that I don't have the required ingredients (smh). As absurd as it may sound, it happens to a lot of us, and we end up substituting the missing ingredients. Substituting isn't the best way out and therefore checking ingredients before baking ranks, number four on our list.

5. Bake with Love

Mary Frances said, "When you cook with love, the food just tastes better.". Along with flour and eggs, adding a heartful of love into the cake is all that's needed.