Steps in cake preparation and the mixing methods

25 min

Let's begin

Two students follow the same recipe with the same ingredients. One cake comes out tall, golden and even; the other is flat, pale and stuck to the tin. The difference is in the steps: whether the oven was hot when the cake went in, whether the tin was lined, whether the fat and sugar were creamed long enough, and whether the oven door was opened too early. Good cake making is a sequence of small, careful steps, and each one has a reason.

Definition

Creaming: beating fat and sugar together until pale and fluffy, which traps tiny air bubbles that expand in the oven.

Folding in: gently mixing flour or whisked egg into a mixture with a large metal spoon in a figure-of-eight movement, so that air is not knocked out.

Dropping consistency: a mixture soft enough to drop off a spoon when the spoon is tapped on the side of the bowl.

Preheating: switching the oven on in advance, usually 15 to 20 minutes, so it is at the right temperature when the cake goes in.

The steps of making a cake

Read the whole recipe; collect and weigh all ingredients; let butter and eggs come to room temperature.
Preheat the oven, with the shelf in the middle.
Prepare the tins: grease and line them (Figure 2), so the cake does not stick.
Mix by the method the recipe uses (table below).
Fill the tin about half to two-thirds full, level the top, and tap the tin to remove large air pockets.
Bake at the stated temperature. Do not open the oven door for the first two-thirds of the baking time: cold air makes a rising cake sink.
Test that it is cooked: well risen and golden; springs back when pressed lightly in the centre; a skewer pushed into the middle comes out clean; the cake shrinks slightly from the sides of the tin.
Cool in the tin for about 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely before icing.

The mixing methods

Method	Steps	Signs of success
Rubbing in	sift flour and raising agent; rub the fat in with the fingertips; stir in sugar and fruit; mix in beaten egg and milk	looks like fine breadcrumbs before liquid is added; a stiff mixture for rock cakes
Creaming	beat soft fat and sugar together; beat in the egg a little at a time; fold in the sifted flour with a metal spoon; add milk if needed	fat and sugar pale and fluffy; a soft dropping consistency: the mixture drops off a spoon when it is tapped
Whisking	whisk eggs and sugar until very thick; fold in sifted flour gently in a figure-of-eight	the ribbon stage: the whisk leaves a trail on the surface for a few seconds
Melting or oil	melt fat, sugar and syrup gently (do not boil), or whisk oil, sugar and eggs; stir into the dry ingredients	a smooth, runny batter; no streaks of flour
All-in-one	put soft margarine and all the other ingredients in the bowl with a little extra baking powder; beat for 2–3 minutes	smooth and evenly coloured; quick but slightly less light

Good Food: the magazine's food editor makes a Victoria sponge step by step. Notice how the tins are prepared, what the finished batter looks like, and how she checks that the cakes are cooked before turning them out to cool.

Baking without an oven

Many homes in Rwanda have no oven. A cake can be baked in a heavy saucepan (sufuria) with a tight lid: put a layer of clean sand or a wire rack in the bottom, stand the lined cake tin on it, cover, and set the pan on a low charcoal fire, with a few hot coals on the lid so the top cooks too. Test it as for an oven-baked cake. Use the charcoal outdoors or in a well-ventilated kitchen: burning charcoal gives off carbon monoxide.

Worked example

Worked example 1: a strip to line the side. A round tin is 20 cm across and 7 cm deep. How long and how wide should the side strip be?

The circumference: $C = \pi d = \pi \times 20 \approx 62.8\,\mathrm{cm}$
Add 2 cm to overlap: length $\approx 64.8$ , so cut about 65 cm.
Width: depth 7 cm + 2 cm above the rim + 2 cm to fold onto the base $= 11$ cm.

Worked example

Worked example 2: planning backwards. A cake must be cooled and iced by 16:00. Icing takes 30 minutes, cooling 1 hour, baking 45 minutes, mixing 20 minutes, lining the tin 10 minutes, and the oven needs 15 minutes to heat. When must each step start?

Icing starts at $16 : 00 - 30$ min $= 15 : 30$ .
Cooling starts at 14:30, so the cake comes out of the oven at 14:30.
Baking starts at $14 : 30 - 45$ min $= 13 : 45$ .
Mixing runs from 13:25 to 13:45; lining the tin from 13:15 to 13:25.
Switch the oven on at 13:30, so it is hot at 13:45.

Warning

Oven safety. Use thick, dry oven gloves: a damp cloth conducts heat straight to the hand. Stand to one side when opening the oven door to let hot air escape; keep children away from the open door. Turn pan handles inward, and set hot tins down on a rack or board, never straight onto a plastic surface. For a burn, cool it under cool running water for 20 minutes.

Tip

Exam tip. When asked to describe a method, name it, give the steps in order, and say what the mixture should look like at each stage, e.g. "cream until pale and fluffy", "whisk to the ribbon stage".

✦

Practice

Why is the oven preheated before the cake goes in?
List three tests that show a cake is cooked.
What is meant by dropping consistency, and by the ribbon stage?
Why is flour folded in with a metal spoon rather than beaten in?
A tin is 23 cm across. How long should the side lining strip be, including a 2 cm overlap?
Write the creaming method for a Victoria sandwich in order.
A student's creamed mixture curdled (looked lumpy and separated) when she added cold eggs all at once. Explain why, and how to prevent and rescue it.

Show answersHide answers

So the cake starts baking at the right temperature at once: the raising agent and air expand while the structure sets. In a cold oven the gas escapes before the cake sets, and the cake is heavy.
Well risen and golden; springs back when pressed lightly; a skewer comes out clean; shrinks slightly from the sides of the tin (any three).
Dropping consistency: the mixture drops off a spoon when the spoon is tapped. Ribbon stage: whisked eggs and sugar are thick enough for the whisk to leave a trail on the surface for a few seconds.
Folding mixes gently without knocking out the air that was creamed or whisked in; beating would make the cake heavy and, with flour, develop gluten and toughness.
$\pi \times 23 \approx 72.3$ cm; plus 2 cm, about 74 cm.
Grease and line two tins; preheat the oven; cream the soft fat and sugar until pale and fluffy; beat in the egg a little at a time; fold in the sifted self-raising flour; add a little milk to a dropping consistency; divide between the tins, level, and bake; test; cool.
Cold eggs added all at once chilled the fat and added too much liquid at once, so the fat could not hold it and the mixture separated. Prevent: use eggs at room temperature and add them a little at a time, beating well. Rescue: beat in a spoonful of the weighed flour with each addition of egg.

Sources and credits

Lesson text, Figure 2, table, worked examples and practice: written by Ganzaa.
Burn first aid: European Resuscitation Council Guidelines 2025: First Aid, Djärv T. et al., with the ERC Guidelines 2021: First aid. Summarised in Ganzaa's own words.
Photo: Creaming butter - step 1, pfctdayelise, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.5.
Video: Fluffy Victoria Sponge Cake .. from Good Food, Good Food, embedded from YouTube.

1The steps of making a cake

2The mixing methods

3Baking without an oven

The steps of making a cake

The mixing methods

Baking without an oven