Just read that most home bakers overmix their cake batter by a huge amount

I was looking up why my cakes were sometimes tough and found an article from a baking school. It said a survey found about 70% of people mix their batter for over a minute after adding flour. I always just kept going until it looked smooth, which was way longer. No wonder my last vanilla cake was so dense. Has anyone else found a good visual cue for when to actually stop mixing?

2 comments

2 Comments

lucas_jenkins13d ago

Stop as soon as you can't see dry flour streaks anymore.

christopher_kim13d ago

Lucas_jenkins has the right idea about the flour streaks. Something that really helped me was listening to the batter. The mixing sound changes from a wet slosh to a thicker, quieter swoosh when it's just combined. That's your cue to stop, even if it looks a little lumpy.