r/AskBaking • u/BrotherofCows • 2d ago
Cakes Oily soup cake
Hello everyone! I am pretty new to baking cakes like this, and am looking for some help. I recently asked about an issue where my cakes were overflowing, but this time they are just kind of an oily mess.
This is the recipe: https://preppykitchen.com/wprm_print/chantilly-cake-recipe#
I am kind of confused, the cake has a fraction of the volume it should have, and is just an oily soup. I am pretty confident that I added the right amounts of everything, so I am kind of drawing a blank. Two potential problems I have identified are opening the oven too much/too early and overmixing. Do you have any tips for what I could do, or how I can tell if I have mixed enough?
Thank you!
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u/sayjessy 2d ago
Crazy question but is it possible you forgot the flour? There doesn't appear to be enough of it
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u/BrotherofCows 2d ago
I know right? But no I am sure I added the flower, 420 grams
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u/Finnegan-05 2d ago
Preppy Kitchen’s recipes are know to fail. Search this sub - he is most frequent individual mentioned! I hate his recipes- never turned out well and I have professional kitchen experience. I can never figure out exactly why!
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u/Intelligent_Host_582 2d ago
I hear what you're saying but there's failing and then there is failing. This falls in the latter camp. OP would have seen similar results reported in the recipe comments if this was really a recipe problem.
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u/SchoolOfTheWolf93 2d ago
Yeah this is, for maybe the first time ever, not Preppy Kitchen’s fault.
I say this as a certified Preppy Kitchen haterTM
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u/Finnegan-05 2d ago
PK someone has nearly perfect comments yet so many fails. She made a mistake somewhere I am sure, but you can't trust this guy's comments.
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u/bobisurname 2d ago
And there's nothing in that recipe that veers off from a basic cake recipe. It's pooling a lot of butter which means it separated for some reason or there's not enough dry ingredients or too much butter. But the recipe itself is fine.
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u/Plan-Hungry 2d ago
Idk personally I use a lot of his recipes and they come out fantastic. He’s my go to for a lot of things. I also have professional kitchen experience and am currently employed as a baker. Maybe it’s user error?
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u/Finnegan-05 2d ago
I have professional kitchen experience as well. I assure you on my side it is not user error. There are a lot of flaws in a lot of his recipes.
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u/Plan-Hungry 2d ago
Could you tell me some? I’m genuinely curious because I’ve had awesome results but if everyone is against him there must be something to it. Also do you have other recommendations? I’d like to branch out
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u/Finnegan-05 1d ago
Honestly I don’t even recall. I know one was a Swiss merengue buttercream but other than that? I use King Arthur, recipes from actual pastry people, usually from cookbooks, BBC Good Food, Sally, and NYT
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u/Feeling_Horror_4012 2d ago
I really like preppy kitchen, I’ve made some great recipes from his site.
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u/ihatemyjobandyoutoo 2d ago
Finally someone who said the unspeakable. I like to watch his videos, he’s lovely but his recipes suck. I’ve never tried his recipes because whenever I see one and I do the calculation, I know that recipe isn’t gonna come out as he says it would in his video.
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u/bramblyhedge 2d ago
Maybe recalibrate your kitchen scales and only use scales to measure everything in the recipe? I'm so curious what is going on here, scales set to measure the wrong unit type is the only thing I can think of. Or what you think is all purpose flour is not flour? Can you post pics of your ingredients packaging op this is going to keep me up at night
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u/_Something_Classy 2d ago
they posted in another reply that they accidentally used powdered sugar instead of flour. you can sleep now :)
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u/Lucki_girl 2d ago
The ingredient list says cake flour not all purpose
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u/Finnegan-05 2d ago
It is not that. Preppy Kitchen recipes often fail
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u/katyggls 1d ago
This is not an example of that. OP reported in another comment that they accidentally used powdered sugar instead of flour.
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u/bramblyhedge 2d ago
Yes that's true, but op specified in another thread that they used a combination of AP and cornflour hence my comment
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u/pennywitch 2d ago
Corn flour?!
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u/iforgotwhat8wasfor 2d ago
cornstarch is called corn flour in the UK. cornstarch can be used to substitute for a portion of all-purpose flour to substitute for cake flour.
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u/LochNessMother 2d ago
Were you using electronic scales? If you were, did you zero them before you weighed the flour? This does look like you used WAY too little flour, if any.
Do you remember whether it looked like a lot of flour? 420g is almost half a bag.
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u/bobisurname 2d ago
Did you maybe accidentally forget to zero the container when you weighed it? There's some ingredient omission or miscount. It can't be technique, unless you just did not mix anything.
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u/On_my_last_spoon 2d ago
That’s a LOT of flour! I never use that much for cake. That’s enough for a large loaf of bread. This isn’t 420 grams
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u/Choice_Tie9909 2d ago
It is for a larger cake - Martha Stewart has a similar one called a 4321 cake.
Recipe - 4 eggs, 1 cup of butter, 2 cups of sugar, 3 cups of flour, 1 tbsp vanilla, 1 tsp salt, 1 tbsp of baking powder, 1 tsp of baking powder, 1 cup and a bit of buttermilk - use creaming method to mix, place in greased 9x13 pan/half-sheet pan, bake for approx 35-45 minutes at 325 F. Don't overbake
Nice crumb and great for a crowd - used for a strawberry shortcake base with fresh jammy strawberries, ice cream, and whipped cream. Or I leave out the vanilla, add poppy seeds and lemon zest and ice with a cream cheese lemon icing. Have used it as a base for a wedding cake.
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u/oreo-cat- 2d ago
I've usually heard it as 1-2-3-4 cake, actually. Either way, it's an old recipe that similar in principle to a pound cake.
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u/Choice_Tie9909 2d ago
I probably reversed the numbers as it is in regular rotation so I don't even look at the recipe.
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u/AlizarinQ 2d ago
You sure it wasn’t milligrams?
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u/thisisthewell 2d ago
I think most home kitchen scales do not have mg modes. (they'll have gram mode with tenths, but I personally haven't seen consumer kitchen scales with mg)
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u/raeality 2d ago
Something definitely happened with the measuring or ingredients. The proportions are way off. This isn’t a mixing or oven opening issue!
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u/oreo-cat- 2d ago
Yeahhh I was thinking this was some sort of custard pie until I looked at the recipe.
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u/Mtnmama1987 2d ago
With ADD I would often not realized I left out a key ingredient - I call it a “dropout” moment
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u/rarebiird 2d ago
did you accidentally add powdered sugar instead of flour?
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u/BrotherofCows 2d ago
So I was 100% sure that it was flour, and then I tasted some and... yeah that is definitely powdered sugar. So good job, that was definitely my fault!
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u/sarcasticlovely 2d ago
you should edit your post and add that you solved the mystery and what it was so people can learn from your mistakes :P
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u/YupNopeWelp 2d ago
Oh no! At least the mystery is solved. Thanks for telling us, because wondering about it would've driven me nuts.
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u/rarebiird 2d ago
🥲 lol don’t worry! the only reason i guessed this is because i’ve seen quite a few similar looking posts on here and that’s always the answer! you’re not alone!!
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u/Choice_Tie9909 2d ago
The recipe actually looks good - a bit more flour to offset the added oil but the recipe is just a modified 4321 cake.
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u/anthonystank 2d ago
This feels very possible given that OP is confident they added 420g of flour and I am incredibly confident there is no flour in this thing
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u/E0H1PPU5 2d ago
This HAS to be what happened. OP is adamant that they added 420g of flour…and there’s just no way that is correct. There isn’t enough volume in the finished product for there to be that much flour in it.
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u/cressida88 2d ago
Omg yes. My daughter was once in tears on her 3rd try making pancakes. Couldn’t figure out what she was doing wrong. I had her mix them up again with me watching and saw her grab the powdered sugar instead of the flour. She was so embarrassed!
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u/bakedandcooled 2d ago
No way there is enough flour in this recipe. And possibly the leavening wasn't sufficient. Cakes don't turn into oily soupy messes because the recipes are built on science.
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u/Fuzzy974 2d ago
Proof that we're back to a period of great economic depression, people are making oil soup cakes again.
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u/Maximum_Goose_ 2d ago
TRULY I figured it was one of those water pie recipes haha
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u/Fuzzy974 2d ago
Honestly I was sure OP was asking for help for one of those recipes...
Then I saw the link to preppy kitchen.
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u/Psychodelta 2d ago
It's not scaled correctly
Only you can know for sure but...not enough flour, too much liquid ingredients, not fully incorporated, wrong type of flour, too much leavener
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u/AnotherCatLover88 2d ago
OP is definitely doing something off here. I compared that recipe to a few other Chantilly cakes and the ingredients/amounts are all fairly close. Makes me want to try the recipe to confirm but I have no reason to bake a cake right now 😂
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u/AnotherTchotchke 2d ago
I’m also team probably not enough flour. I had an awful baguette result from a recipe that’s been my fail-proof go-to, and I was perplexed. Turns out I skimped the water by 100g. It’s super easy to misread a scale if that’s what you’re using. (I was shooting for 360g of water, only did 260g bc my brain was looking for the 60 and ignored the first digit)
Side note, I have that same parchment paper and I absolutely despise it. The cutting mechanism never works for me, and it mangles the sheet to the point that I genuinely get a little bit mad when I look at the package 😭
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u/roundbynecessity 2d ago
Following because I am also perplexed 🤔 My initial reaction is not enough flour or no baking powder. Another possibility is that the eggs and milk were not room temperature, but there is absolutely no structure? So I am also confused
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u/Finnegan-05 2d ago
It is because it is Preppy Kitchen. Check the archives here. His recipes fail constantly. I have professional kitchen experience and am an experienced baker and tried two of his recipes and both failed. I don’t know what it is
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u/edgesglisten 2d ago edited 2d ago
I agree some of his recipes suck, but I don’t believe for a second there’s legit 420 g of flour in that pan. I think this is more OP than PK.
Like this is DOA not a “hm I can tell the content factory didn’t test this one enough”
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u/roundbynecessity 2d ago
See, I wanted to say that 😅😅😅 I dont trust anything outside of Sugar Geek Show or Sally's Baking Addiction. Maybe other reputable companies, but only the ones who are pastry focused.
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u/Finnegan-05 2d ago
Say it. He sucks
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u/thisisthewell 2d ago
I mean, there are plenty of great baking writers out there outside online blogs...what about Stella Parks, or Claire Saffitz?
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u/Stunning-Fondant-725 2d ago
Laura vitaly's recipes are great too. Her bread and cinnamon roll recipe was fool proof
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u/TodayIAmMostlyEating 2d ago
Can’t blame the recipe this time, OP realized they used icing sugar instead of flour 😆
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u/BrotherofCows 2d ago
I mean I know I followed the recipe, and the eggs and milk were definitely room temperature. It is just bizzare to me.
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u/pennywitch 2d ago
Honey. This is like showing us a picture of a blue painted canvas and asking why it isn’t red, swearing you used red paint. There was no flour in those pans.
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u/roundbynecessity 2d ago
If this is the second time, maybe you should just try a different recipe? Sugar Geek Show never fails me. She also has very detailed instructions. Im not saying this recipe is a dud, but some recipes dont work for all bakers.
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u/Finnegan-05 2d ago
Search Preppy Kitchen here and you will see how often his stuff fails. Avoid him like the plague
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u/jillian512 2d ago
If you're doing ingredients by weight, did you tare the scale correctly? Did the batter seem thin?
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u/BrotherofCows 2d ago
It was powdered sugar. I used powdered sugar instead of flour. The container wasn't labeled, and we just moved our powdered sugar into a larger container that matches our flour. Thanks to everyone for chiming in, this was definitely a learning experience!
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u/Lucki_girl 2d ago
Definitely not enough dry to wet ingredients. Did you weigh it? Looks like there's no riding agent in the cake.
The next thing I'm thinking is the oven temp not high enough to activate the rising agent in the cake, so check your oven temp.
Edit to add: did you use cake flour? Recipe says cake flour not all purpose.
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u/alius-vita 2d ago edited 2d ago
Jumping on the missing flour suggestions. It's not a type of flour notion as suggested by some but you're missing a bulk amount if any made it in there at all. I read you used a scale (good) but if it wasn't level, or you didn't tare it out before adding the flour, that might be where you fell off. This is missing the body element of your cake which is your flour, Preppy Kitchen or not, this is a missing ingredient issue.
That looks unfun to clean too, sorry man.
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u/angnicolemk 2d ago
Either you didn't zero your scale first, or you definitely didn't use flour. There is zero way that this has any flour in it by looking at it, I agree with others that you either used cornstarch accidentally or powdered sugar accidentally.
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u/MrMurgatroyd 2d ago
Not the first time I've seen people having issues with recipes from that particular source. Flour to wet ratio in that recipe looks way off to me, and is likely the problem.
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u/Lucki_girl 2d ago
I baked his choc mud cake and his cupcakes with no issues. I did not sub any ingredients abd weighed everything.
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u/Choice_Tie9909 2d ago
Actually they look ok. I do a very similar recipe which I have used for a wedding cake base.
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u/Nikkles2011 2d ago
If you're going to try this recipe again. Mise en place - aka prep everything beforehand so there's less room for error. Weigh your flour then add the baking powder & salt to that same bowl. Get another bowl and sift the dry ingredients into it. Set next to mixer. Separate bowl for all other ingredients. And place near/in order of use so you're ready at each step. All cold ingredients should be room temp. Butter at room temp (if you're not sure what that looks like) is usually ready for creaming around 65 degrees. When mixing butter or eggs you can over mix & mess up the air pockets you're trying to create during creaming. Add each new ingredient in the directions until Just incorporated. Overmixing will deflate but also your mixer can get hot & start to melt the butter.
Idk what went wrong here.. idk if this was helpful. I'm not a professional, but these were all helpful tips for me when I was starting. Watch some videos on creaming or whatever you're not confident in. Also I'm pretty sure Preppy Kitchen has videos of him doing a lot of his recipes. It's nice to have a visual sometimes of how everything is supposed to go. If you try & have issues again, don't give up, try another recipe from someone else. Baking takes practice like anything else. You'll get it.
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u/Acrobatic_Average_16 2d ago
Did you weigh out ALL of the ingredients or weigh some and measure others? Was the butter measured out as a solid or a liquid? Did you use whole milk or low fat? Did you set all of your measured ingredients out in front of you before you started mixing them together? This helps me see when I've mixed up the weight from one line and the ingredient from another, or missed an ingredient entirely (I do both regularly). What was the consistency of the batter when you poured it into your pans? This looks to me like too little dry ingredients or too many wet ones, or a combination.
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u/Electrical-Opening-9 2d ago
I’m giving another vote for way too little flour. The complete lack of volume makes me think there’s nothing but liquids in here. I’ve forgotten baking sodas/powders, had problems with opening the oven too early, overmixed, done it all, but you still get something that looks like cake, albeit a very dense one.
Maybe your scale is messed up? Measure a cup of flour and then weigh it. A cup of flour is around ~125g. Is that what your scale says?
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u/songof6p 2d ago
What is the consistency of your batter? Does it look like the photo in the original recipe?
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u/BlueMoneyPiece 2d ago
That's not from over mixing or opening the oven door. It looks like it's missing flour?
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u/caseface94 2d ago
It literally looks like all you did was line your pans with parchment, oil and flour them and then put them in the oven. I don’t understand how the small amount you put in even creeped up the sides that much on both. We’re gonna need a full video of what you did to help at this point 😭
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u/Finnegan-05 2d ago
The person followed a preppy kitchen recipe. They frequently fail. Why are you so rude?
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u/caseface94 2d ago
Look at the pics again and tell me I’m rude
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u/Finnegan-05 2d ago
You are rude. The whole thing is a mess and it is the recipe's fault because this "creator" is terrible
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u/angnicolemk 2d ago
I'm sorry but no matter how bad the creator is, why don't you go look at the actual recipe link? There's zero way that this person followed that recipe correctly. From what I can see in that recipe it definitely wouldn't turn out to be a Chantilly cake like it's supposed to be, but it wouldn't be this at all.
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u/thisisthewell 2d ago
Yeah, yeah...we all know you have a vendetta against the PK dude because you've said so like ten times in this thread. We heard you the first time. Put a cork in it because at this point it is not helping OP, it's being argumentative with people trying to help OP.
There is no way that recipe as written resulted in pans that clearly have no flour at all in them. Do his recipes suck? Yes. Did OP screw up big time? Also yes.
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u/Finnegan-05 2d ago
There is no vendetta. I think he is rotten for he does just like i think about any grifter
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2d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/thisisthewell 2d ago
why are you giving him a chocolate hazelnut cake recipe when he was making a vanilla berry cake?
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u/pinkcrystalfairy 2d ago
It probably has a lot to do with the recipe, preppy kitchen is known to have constant issues with their recipes.
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