Baking a cake can be a fun and rewarding experience, but it can also be difficult if you don’t know what you’re doing. To tell if your cake is made by baking, you can use a few different methods, the most reliable of which are sight and temperature. But what are the signs of overcooked cake? How to tell if your cake is overcooked?
A perfectly baked cake is delightful. It is soft, moist, and has the ideal crumb. A cake that has been overbaked can be dry and tough. And there are several easy ways to check if the cake is perfectly cooked or overcooked. Let’s get straight to ways to check.
How to Tell If Your Cake Is Overbaked?
If you see these signs on the cake, it means the cake is overcooked:
1) The Top Of The Cake is Too Much Brown
Cakes other than chocolate ones can be quickly checked for doneness by peeking into the oven to see if the top has been browned.
The top and center of the cake are lighter in color than the rest, but the edges are a darker shade of golden brown. The level of browning depends largely on how much sugar is present in the cake; the darker the cake becomes after baking, the more sugar it contains.
The cake is overbaked if it’s too brown and has an unpleasant aroma. If so, it’s definitely overdone.
2) The Cake Has Bad Smell
One of the most reliable indicators is a bad smell from the cake, which suggests it has been overbaked.
But if you smell the delicious aroma of baking cake, you’ll know that it’s almost ready. But don’t take it out until the toothpick test says it’s done. A cake that doesn’t produce any aroma while baking probably needs more time in the oven.
3) The Cake Is Too Hard
The texture of the cake can be felt to determine its doneness. To see if the cake is still fresh, simply press the middle with a few fingers. If you press on it and it feels hard, it is overcooked.
If it springs back, then the cake is made by baking. If you notice that your fingerprints remain on the cake, it requires a little more time in the oven. Repeat the test after five minutes.
4) It Will Be Dry
It’s usually easy to tell if a cake has been overbaked. There will be a lot of dryness and crumbliness in the cake after it has been cut. If it’s overcooked, the flavor on the outside will be close to burnt, beyond what would be described as caramelized. If you cook it for too long, the crumb inside will turn brown as well.
5) It Will Have a Big Space In The Pan
An small edge gap will appear around the edge of a perfectly baked cake when it pulls away slightly from the pan’s sides. On the other hand, an overcooked cake will have pulled away from the pan, even more, leaving a larger separation between the pan and the cake.
6) A Burnt Taste
If the outer edge is overcooked, it will have a flavor that borders on burnt, beyond the point of being considered caramelized. In extreme cases of overcooking, the interior crumb will begin to brown.
What Can You Do With An Overbaked Cake?
You can save an overbaked cake by brushing it with hot water straight from the kettle and letting it run down the sides after you pull it from the oven. Then, put some foil over the cake and let it cool. As a result, the cake’s crust will become more tender, and the cake’s moisture content will increase.
When slicing a cake into layers to add the filling, if you discover that the cake layers are dry, it is a good idea to apply sugar syrup to the cake layers.
If your cake is slightly burnt around the edges, you will need to remove the burnt crusts. This may result in a significantly smaller cake, but at least it will still be edible. Likewise, if you are using ganache or buttercream to decorate your cake, you may need a smaller cake board.
Bottom Line
These were all about how to tell if your cake is overbaked. Do not toss out a cake just because you overcooked it. To use it, make a breakfast bowl of berries and yogurt: Use it in a trifle by chopping it up and layering it atop yogurt and berries, or serve it as is over yogurt and berries. You could also make birthday cake truffles out of the leftovers.
Thank you for reading!