Crumbling Christmas cake - CakeFlix (2024)

FAQs

Crumbling Christmas cake - CakeFlix? ›

This can happen for a variety of reasons ranging from type of flour, not enough eggs/wrong size eggs, not enough liquid or fats and even storage. 'Causes of crumbly fruit cake'.

Too much sugar can also cause cakes to crumble, as too much sugar makes cakes brittle. Think of boiled sweets or sugar lollies; the sugar is really hard! If you use too much in your cake, the crystals will clump together and harden inside your cake instead of staying as small crystals throughout it.

Depending on how your cake broke, your best option might be to “glue” it back together. Think of the frosting as mortar and spread it in and around the crack to get the cake to hold. Then frost all around it to cover the mistake, chill, and voila! Nobody will know (or care) when you slice it up and serve it.

Fruit cake needs care and patience to cut into small portions, or it will crumble! A sharp serrated knife with a long blade is essential; a good SHARP bread knife is usually suitable. Ornamental knives used for the cake cutting ceremony are not sharp enough. USING A BLUNT KNIFE WILL MAKE THE CAKE CRUMBLE!

A dry cake is usually the result of one of the following pitfalls: using the wrong ingredients, making mistakes while measuring or mixing the batter, or baking the cake too long or at too high a temperature. Once you understand which common cake-baking blunders to avoid, you'll know how to bake a moist cake every time.

Applying simple syrup is a technique that can rescue overbaked, dry cakes. You can apply it while the cake is still warm from the oven or leave it to cool. Brushing: Brush the syrup onto each layer of your cake. Poking Holes: Use a fork or toothpick to poke holes in the cake, then pour the syrup over the top.

To crumb coat a cake, add a small amount of icing to the sides and top of your cake, spreading with your bench scraper or offset spatula to cover the cake evenly. You are only aiming to use a small amount of frosting here: This layer is purely intended to seal in the crumbs and create a smooth surface for frosting.

To keep your cake from getting dry or crumbly, use all the eggs called for in the package directions and use large eggs, rather than small ones. If you're not sure what size eggs you have, measure them: 3 whole large eggs equals 2/3 cup; 3 egg whites equals 1/2 cup. Also, don't leave out the oil!

Fat inhibits gluten formation, and since there's no water present in vegetable oil, there's less of a chance that you'll accidentally end up with a tough-crumbed cake.

Why is my cake crumbling when I frost it? ›

If the buttercream is too soft, it will just make a mess when you try to frost your cake. Too dry and stiff, and it will crumble and pull at the cake.

This usually happens because the baker has turned the oven up too high. The key to a moist fruit cake is making sure that you use the correct temperature and don't exceed the cooking time. It's also imperative that you measure out the ingredients correctly.

The best way to avoid sinking fruit is to toss the fruit in a couple of tablespoons of the flour (just use some from the measured amount for the recipe) to coat it lightly. Once added to the cake mixture the flour coating will thicken the batter immediately surrounding the fruit and help suspend the fruit.

Again the culprit is not enough creaming, this time sugar, eggs and butter/marg. Oven temperature too high and too much baking powder will also cause holes and an uneven grainy texture. Add eggs into creamed butter/sugar mix one at a time, cream well so the mix is smooth and incorporated.

Your eggs or milk are too cold!

This allows your batter to become a smooth emulsion of fat (from butter and egg yolk) encasing water (from egg white), all while trapping air. If one ingredient is too cold, smooth batter suddenly changes to pockets of fat floating in water…not so delicious.

Mistake: Overbeating The Eggs

Add eggs, one at a time, beating just until the yolk disappears. Overbeating the eggs may cause the batter to overflow the sides of the pan during baking or create a fragile crust that crumbles and separates from the cake as it cools.