Butter plays a very crucial role when it comes to baking a cake. Butter gives a soft and fluffy texture to the cake. It also adds moisture to the cake and enhances the flavor of your cake (this is why it’s always better to use butter than margarine – it has a far better flavor!).
If you have accidentally doubled the amount of butter in a cake recipe, it may ruin the cake and will not necessarily make the cake softer, moister, or fluffier. It will probably make the cake greasy and really shiny.
If you want to fix the problem of extra butter in your cake recipe and not take any chances, then keep reading!
Accidentally Doubled Butter In Cake Recipe
Baking a cake requires you to measure and add ingredients precisely. Any extra ingredient or more quantity of a certain ingredient will alter the taste and texture of your cake. A doubled amount of butter will make the texture of the cake shiny and greasy.
How to fix the problem
If you have not baked the cake yet but are still working with the batter, double all the other ingredients to make a double batch of cake mixture. You will end up with two cakes but you can always freeze one or give one to your neighbors.
If doubling everything sounds expensive or like too much effort, you can add a little extra flour or corn flour into the mixture. We recommend half a cup of flour for the average cake recipe. This will soak up the extra butter inside the mixture.
However, if you add extra flour to the mixture, make sure that you mix the mixture well so that there are no lumps left in it. Also, add a little extra sugar as butter tends to reduce the sweetness of a cake because of its saltiness.
You can also try adding an extra softly beaten egg white to the batter. Eggs tend to harden and dry the cake out, so this may fix the problem. Another solution to such a problem is applicable only if the cake has already been baked.
Check the amount of grease present on the surface. If the top is greasy, use kitchen paper towels or paper serviettes and place them on the cake.
Let the paper soak up all the extra butter that is present on the surface of your cake. Once all the butter has been soaked, simply remove and discard the buttery paper.
Quick Tips For Baking With Butter
Here are a few tips that might be helpful when you are baking a cake with butter in it.
- Check the temperature of the butter by bending or cracking the butter cube. If the cube bends or cracks easily, then the butter is at the right temperature to be added to the batter or creamed with the sugar.
- Do not microwave the butter as it will affect the butter’s emulsion and cause the solids and oil to separate. Instead, if you live in an area with a hot climate, simply let the butter soften itself by leaving it out of the fridge for a while. On the other hand, if the room temperature is cold, cut the butter into cubes and let them sit in a warm place until the pieces have softened a little. You can put them into the microwave on the defrost setting but be very careful as butter melts extremely fast in the microwave.
The Bottom Line
Don’t panic –adding extra butter into the cake recipe will not necessarily ruin a cake. There are ways to fix the problem. Too much of a good thing can be bad though, even when it’s something as delicious as butter.
Let us know in the comments below if we fixed your cake issue for you!