Ingredients

• Before creaming your cake mixture, set out all ingredients. Wait at least 30 minutes for the ingredients to reach room temperature, especially the eggs, milk and butter. Room temperature ingredients incorporate together better than colder ingredients. When you mix in cold ingredients, you risk lumps forming in the batter, especially room temperature butter. The lumps cause the cake to bake unevenly.

Dense Cake Method

• For dense cakes, including cakes featuring nuts and heavy ingredients, place the butter or shortening in a stand mixer. Set the mixer to a low speed and gently beat the butter until it reaches a smooth consistency. Add the brown sugar and beat until the sugar is incorporated into the mixture. Add the granulated sugar and beat until the mixture is smooth. Keep mixing at a low speed, incorporating the eggs and then finally the flour and other dry ingredients. Once the mixture is smooth and fluffy, turn off the beater and fold in the heavier ingredients, such as nuts, chocolate chips or dried fruit.

Light Cake Method

• For lighter cakes, including angel food cake and cakes without dense ingredients, set the mixer to medium. Add the butter and beat until the butter is lighter in color and completely smooth. Add the sugars, one at a time and beat until smooth. Repeat the process using the eggs and then half of the flour and other dry ingredients. Add half of the liquid ingredients and beat again. Add the last of the dry ingredients, beat, add the rest of the liquid ingredients and beat again, smoothing out the mixture.

Stand Mixer vs. Hand Mixing

• Creaming is a process that gently whips the butter and other ingredients together, forming a light and fluffy mixture. Whether you mix by hand or with a stand mixer is your personal preference. It is perfectly acceptable to cream the cake mixture by hand, but it does take longer. Using a stand mixer to cream the ingredients is faster and you have the option of adjusting the speed to mix the ingredients.