Why does adding lemon juice before baking cause a thick layer of dense cake to form?
I am trying to adapt a recipe for lemon cake. I want to add actual lemon juice to the batter and omit the lemon zest. The recipe I have goes as follows:
- 250g butter
- 250g sugar, half and half powdered and granular
- 4 separated eggs
- 250g flour
- baking powder for 250g flour
- zest of 2 1/2 lemons
I experimented with several ratios of lemon juice to the other ingredients. However, each time I tried it, when I took the cake out of the oven and looked at the cross section there was a dense, slightly darker layer at the bottom which disrupts the otherwise fluffy nature of the cake.
How can I get rid of this layer, while still adding lemon juice to the cake?
Best Answer
The original recipe is leavened with baking powder, which these days is a mixture of baking soda, an acid, and a special acid which activates at high temperatures.
Lemon juice is strongly acidic, and will react with all the baking soda in the baking powder. This means you won't get as strong a leavening effect during baking. (Some people also feel that the un-reacted acid from the baking powder results in a metallic taste.)
To compensate for this, you can try adding baking soda (in addition to the baking powder) to the recipe; I've heard 1/2 tsp baking soda to 1 tbsp lemon juice, but I don't have any direct experience with that. I don't know what this will do to the overall leavening or taste of the cake.
It is unusual to see lemon cake recipes which use much lemon juice in the batter. Drizzling lemony syrup in afterwards is more common. You might want to try that instead.
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Quick Answer about "Why does adding lemon juice before baking cause a thick layer of dense cake to form?"
Lemon juice is strongly acidic, and will react with all the baking soda in the baking powder.What happens when you put lemon juice in cake batter?
If you add lemon juice to recipes that contain milk it can cause the batter to curdle. If you have a mesh strainer, I'd suggest you sift the flour to lighten up the texture a bit. That said, lemon juice is not the way to flavor a cake.How does lemon juice affect baking?
Anytime that you're making a baked good using either baking soda or baking powder, add just a dash of lemon juice to the batter. You want about one to one-and-a-half teaspoons. The lemon juice works to super-activate the baking soda or baking powder and creates a little extra loftiness in your baking!Why is my lemon cake so dense?
If a recipe includes a lot of acid such as lemon juice and buttermilk and isn't lifted with enough baking powder, the cake will taste dense. In that case, you may need the addition of baking soda which will react with the acid and create a fluffier crumb.What causes a cake to be dense and heavy?
A cake that is overly dense typically has too much liquid, too much sugar or too little leavening (not excess flour, as is commonly thought).The Science Behind Pound Cake - Kitchen Conundrums with Thomas Joseph
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Answer 2
Most of the lemon sponge recipes I’ve used do say use just the zest in the batter then add the juice in a syrup when you take the cake out of the oven. However, Delia does have a lemon sponge recipe where she suggests 1 tablespoon of lemon juice in the batter and 1.5 teaspoons of baking powder. If the eggs are separated I’m assuming you have to beat the whites to a soft peak to add lightness? But any recipe that uses acid and bicarbonate of soda( in baking powder) will fizz and needs to go into the hot oven ASAP so the extra lift can be produced in the batter before the fizzing stops. You’ll see this in any Soda bread recipe. I hope this helps
Answer 3
Ina Garten has an amazing lemon loaf cake recipe that calls for lemon juice. I've made it several times and loved it and have never had an issue. It does bake for an hour at 350 F.
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