Hi Everyone,
Im new to this forum and very excited to chat and share baking experiences and tips with you all!

I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions or experiences on how to make their cakes more “moist”
I have read a lot about people suggesting oil in their cake batters, but then dont the cakes turn out more dense?
I have always used butter which creates a whipped effect and produces more air for rising, but sometimes the cakes are not as moist as I would like them to be, even though I make sure to pull out of the oven as soon as I insert a toothpick and I see some crumbs.

I have also heard about replacing half the butter with oil, adding some mayo, yogurt, or sour cream to the batter but not sure how much and whether this “addition” would impact the chemical reaction in the recipe?

Any insights would help!    Thanks

Hi, Ssara!

I’m not a fan of oil cakes, myself, but many people prefer them.  They do have a “super-moist” feel about them—to me, it’s spongy and sticky.  But of all the chocolate cakes I’ve made, two people picked the German Chocolate “cake part,” which is an oil cake, to be their favorite of all, so oil cakes are a definite way to go.

Another possibility is to syrup your butter cakes.  Again, I’m not a fan, but many are, and, if the weight of the sugar in the syrup is equal to the weight of the sugar in the cake, it will moisten, but not sweeten, the cake.  Several of Rose’s recipes call for syrups—the lemon poppyseed bundt cake from RHC comes immediately to mind—but you can syrup any butter cake.  You can also flavor the syrup with liquers and such if you want to.

In cakes that have more fiber, like Rose’s Cordon Rose Banana Cake, you can add additional “weighty” ingredients like sour cream—she gives a starting point but, in the footnote, says you can use up to (I think it’s 4x as much) for extra moistness, becuase the fiber in the bananas can support it.

Of rose’s cakes, I’ve found the Golden Luxury Butter Cake to be the moistest and fluffiest.  It uses white chocolate for part of the sugar (and fat), as well as all egg yolks.  It’s my favorite yellow cake.  I think that buttermilk is supposed to produce a very moist cake, so you might want to try the TCB buttermilk country cake and see if you like it.  It also uses all yolks, but you can sub 2 eggs for 4 yolks if you prefer (I like all yolks, myself)—Rose does this when she uses this cake as the base for the RHC spice cake.

Using mayo would be rather akin to using oil, I would think.

On the whole, though, I’d think (1) oil cakes or (2) syruping would be your best bet. 

Something interesting about oil:  Rose has two banana cakes: The TCB Cordon Rose Banana Cake and the RHC Banana Refrigerator Cake.  These cakes are identical, except that Cordon Rose is all butter and Banana Refrigerator Cake uses all oil.  Later, Rose modified the Cordon Rose by suggesting bakers substitute 2T of oil for 2T of butter, to make the cake moister.  I personally love the original, but this gives you an idea for the same cake made 3 ways—at 3 levels of “moistness.”  I personally love the original Cordon Rose with the maximum sour cream!!!

I hope some of that is helpful!!!

—ak

with mine it is either oil or simple syrup… OR I use Torani ,  Italian Syrup that comes in may flavors.. that way you don’t need to make the simple syrup..

If a cake calls for butter,  I use half oil and half butter.  Or I wrap the cake in foil as soon as it comes out of the oven… it holds the moisture inside.

Hi Sara- if you make any additions, they need to be carefully substituted for existing ingredients or your cake will likely fall- i.e., if you decide to try oil, it needs to be subbed for butter, remembering that butter is only 81% fat.

Try a chiffon cake- it’s oil based but doesn’t need syrup and in my experience is a real crowd pleaser- there’s the chocolate chiffon (Ger choc cake base) in Rose’s Heavenly Cakes, also in that book are the orange, lemon (check Rose’s blog for flavor details) and coffee.  You can also check The Cake Bible for traditional chiffon.  Where compatible flavor-wise, you can use nut oils (that still taste like nuts, like the one from Tourangelle) for the best flavor.

Thanks all for your responses!

I have heard of the syruping method, which sounds intersting… and the chiffon is a good one too!

But I had recently heard about the foil as soon as the cake comes out of the oven too… which I have tried and its not bad

Prettycake: when you use half oil, half butter…do you melt the butter and measure it the same way as you would oil?  And Julie, how would I overcome the subbing oil for butter even though butter is only 81% fat and remaining water mositure?  You’re absolutely correct that the ingredients need to be substituted accordingly and I dont want a cake failure !!

Hi sara,

Yes I melt the butter to go w/ the oil. My substituting has not failed me yet.  Not once.  As long as I am not making very drastic substitutions like replace oil w/ more water,  then it should fine.  I do not worry about fat content.  I aim for flavor and texture.  Fat and calories are the least of my worries.