Know that too much baking soda or baking powder in cakes will not just lead to a metallic and bitter taste, but it can also make a big mess in the oven as it will rise beyond expectations.
The cake will be bitter as heating baking soda forms sodium carbonate which results in this bitter taste. By the addition of an edible weak acid such as tartaric acid will convert baking soda into baking powder. The role of tartaric acid is to make the cake fluffy.
Baking powder, because it includes the acid and the base, will have a neutral taste and most often, recipes that call for baking powder will also use a neutral tasting ingredient, like milk. For example, my cake roll recipes use baking powder because there aren't many acidic ingredients in the recipe.
Too much baking powder can cause the batter to be bitter tasting. It can also cause the batter to rise rapidly and then collapse. (i.e. The air bubbles in the batter grow too large and break causing the batter to fall.)
The ratio of wet to dry ingredients determines a cake's moisture level. If there's simply too much flour and not enough butter, a cake will taste dry. On the other hand, if there's too much milk and not enough flour, a cake will taste too wet. Finding the right balance between wet and dry ingredients is key.
As for the taste, fresh eggs, butter, and high-quality ingredients produce a tastier cake than the artificial flavor and texture you get from store-bought or packaged cakes. That's what gives homemade cakes a homey and delicious taste that is incomparable. Baking cakes from scratch can be a fun experiment.
If you've ever debated on how much baking powder to use in a cake recipe, start with this rule of thumb to avoid adding too much baking powder to your cakes: Baking powder to flour ratio: add 5 mL to 6.25 mL (1 teaspoon to 1+¼ teaspoon) baking powder for every 125 grams (1 cup or 250 mL) of all-purpose flour.
Leavening Agents
Since we're talking about cake and not yeast bread, we'll focus on chemical leavening. The reaction of baking soda or baking powder with the liquids in the batter releases carbon dioxide, which forms air bubbles to help your cakes be light and airy.
Adverse Effects
Side effects of baking powder overdose include thirst, abdominal pain, nausea, severe vomiting, and diarrhea. If a person overdoses on baking powder, seek medical help right away. Baking powder is high in sodium, with more than 10% of the daily value in one teaspoon.
If you use baking powder instead of baking soda, add a total of three times the amount of baking powder than the recipe recommends for baking soda to “fix” the mistake. However, keep in mind that adding too much baking powder can cause the baked goods to taste bitter. The batter can also rise too quickly and then fall.
Many recipes need both kinds of reactions to achieve the intended overall balance of flavor and texture, which is why you'll often see both baking soda and baking powder in a recipe. Even though the ingredients are both adding air during the baking process, they're complements, not substitutes.
Baking powder, in particular, is one of those ingredients you can easily run out of without noticing, but when it comes to baking, it does a very particular job, and can be difficult to replace. Most baked goods need a leavening agent to make them rise, and if you leave it out, your cake or your cookies will fall flat.
Baking powder is mixed with the flour. When water is added to this flour to make dough, baking powder undergoes a chemical reaction during which carbon dioxide gas is produced. This carbon dioxide gas gets trapped into the dough and bubbles out which causes the cake to rise making it soft and spongy.
The yeast in the recipe reacts with the baking powder to release carbon dioxide. This carbon dioxide is necessary for the cake to rise and give it that fluffy texture.
Baking soda as we talked about reacts immediately to acidic elements and gives immediate leavening effect. The baking powder keeps reacting with the heat to give a leavening boost while the baked goods are in the oven. A combination of both these leavening agents gives the best leavening for most cake recipes.
Because of baking soda's bitter taste, it must be paired with a sweeter tasting acidic compound. Baking soda is most commonly used in cookie and muffin recipes. Baking powder, however, already contains an acid and a base and has a more neutral taste, which works great when baking cakes and bread.
Creaming Butter & Sugar. Whisking butter and sugar together is one essential tip to make the cake spongy, fluffy and moist. Whisk butter and sugar for a long until the mixture becomes pale yellow and fluffy because of the incorporation of air. The process is known as creaming.
Using Baking Powder
For even distribution throughout the batter, baking powder should be sifted with the flour or other dry ingredients. For most cakes, about 5% baking powder to the weight of the flour produces an optimum result.
Professional bakers know that once batches are increased, the leavening agents are decreased. When doubling up cake recipes like our Carrot Cake, leave the baking powder amounts as they are.
Adding in too much baking powder could cause your dessert to rise too fast and fall apart.
Do professional bakers use box cake mix? You might be surprised to learn that many of the top bakeries use boxed cake mixes. They have definitely learned how to elevate boxed cake mix, for sure!
American cakes have more sugar in the cake batter formula than European cakes . This is enhance by the common use of bleached cake flour which can tolerate high sugar and more liquid in the cake batter..