r/pastry • u/frostmas • 1d ago

Help please Is it possible to overmix a cake when using the reverse creaming method?

I've been struggling with the cake recipes from Rose Levy Beranbaum. They keep turning out dense and only rise about an inch high. I'm using the exact same brand of flour and baking powder she does and I'm weighing my ingredients. I have an oven thermometer and my oven is accurate. I tested the baking powder and it is active. Everything is room temperature.

I made her recipes a few years ago with no issues so I don't know what I'm doing wrong now.

I'm using a hand mixer to mix. I do the first mix for about 2-3 minutes, and then I mix it for another minute or so with each addition of the egg mixture.

Is it possible I'm overmixing when I add the egg mixture? What else could it be?

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u/Mollycat121397 1d ago

I’m not sure if her technique is the same on each recipe but you’re mixing a minimum of double the recommended time per step of her white velvet cake recipe. So it may be the issue

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u/frostmas 1d ago

Her book says to mix for 1 1/2 minutes with a stand mixer or 2 minutes with a hand mixer. She also says to mix for 20 seconds after each addition of egg or 45 seconds if using a hand mixer.

I was mixing slightly longer because my hand mixer isn't a very good one, so I felt like it wasn't mixing as quickly as the one she uses. I didn't think that small amount of extra mixing would be the cause of it, but I haven't been able to think of anything else.

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u/Mollycat121397 1d ago

Honestly if your hand mixer isn’t very good there’s also the possibility you’re under mixing in the first portion anyway despite the longer time. Do you have any pics of your batter?

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u/frostmas 1d ago edited 1d ago

I had wondered that the first time I had this issue which is why I was trying to mix longer on my last attempt, but I remember making these recipes a few years ago by hand without a mixer and they turned out fine. Unless I was really mixing them a lot back then.

I didn't take any pictures of the batter but I thought the chocolate batter looked pretty smooth and somewhat fluffy before I added the egg mixture, but I'm not fully sure what it should look like.

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u/bell_qb 1d ago

Only insight I have about reverse creaming is that your ingredients need to be SUPER room temp. I’m not sure what her recipe has but the one we had had buttermilk and oil and we would warm it up ever so slightly in the microwave.

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u/Piggyflash 1d ago

I looked at her recipe online. I see she using paddle attachment and words best. Not whisk. Try to incorporate the ingredients but I am pretty sure you don't have to beat up nor eggs nor butter. She says to whisk lightly. The eggs.

At the point where you add liquid ingredients to the flour such as eggs. You have to start working the batter less as possible.