How To Fix a Dry Cake: Top Tips From Pastry Chefs

We've all had our fair share of culinary fails, chefs included — but, a dry cake doesn't have to be one of them. Understanding the science behind baking and why a cake fails in the first place can not only help prevent you from baking a dry cake, but it can also provide the solutions to fix a dry cake as well.

From simple syrups and milk soaks to using a scale to weigh your ingredients and using dark baking pans, here are the best tips from pastry chefs for how to bake a moist cake, why your cake may have turned out dry, and how to moisten a dry cake that's already baked.

The Science of Baking a Moist Cake

When it comes to selecting a cake recipe to bake, Paola Velez, executive pastry chef of Maydan and La Bodega Bakery in Washington, DC, and co-founder of Bakers Against Racism, always recommends keeping the following three ingredients in mind: the type of fat, liquid, and binder being used. "Some may add additional moisture and can impact the characteristics of your cake, including its shelf life, consistency and texture," she says.

Fats, liquids, and binders

Cake recipes that call for the use of solid fats such as butter yield cakes that are both light and fluffy. "What's great about butter is its water content," says Jürgen David, director of pastry research and development at the Institute of Culinary Education in New York City.

"Butter lends itself very nicely to being whipped up," he explains. "Creaming, which is the process of beating butter and sugar together, results in a cake batter that's fluffy and aerated batter." In comparison, cakes that use oils, like this spiced orange olive oil cake, often result in chewier and softer slices as little air gets trapped in the mixture.

Velez explains that liquids like coffee, juice, milk, and yogurt; and binders like eggs, bananas, and chia seeds, can all affect the cake batter's consistency. Too much, and you can end up baking a dense cake. Too little, and you'll end up back in the kitchen wondering what to do with a dry cake.

Eggs do double duty in cake batters, adding both liquid and binding to the batter, creating an emulsion of fat and water that not only forms a stable structure in the batter but results in a cake that's airy and light.

Why Is My Cake Dry? And How Do I Prevent Baking a Dry Cake?

When prepping your cake batter, here are a few things to keep in mind to ensure you don't end up scrambling to figure out how to moisten a dry cake once it comes out of the oven.

Use a kitchen scale

Measuring ingredients incorrectly is usually one of the main reasons you may end up baking a dry cake. Not all flours weigh the same) — a cup of all-purpose flour, for example, weighs more than a cup of cake flour. "You should always, always, always use a scale when baking," emphasizes David as it can provide the most accurate measurement, preventing you from ending up with a dry cake by adding too much flour. You may also want to aerate your flour with a whisk before measuring it out — especially if it's been sitting in the pantry for a while — so it's fluffy and not compacted when being measured and mixed.

Stick to well-tested recipes

If you're a new baker, sticking to simple, well-tested recipes can help ensure a moist cake because tested recipes have the proper ratio of ingredients essential to successful baking. It's also important to keep in mind that while minor baking substitutions are okay, skipping or swapping main ingredients is not recommended as that can affect the cake's final moisture content.

Use the proper baking pan

The right baking pan can make all the difference in helping prevent a dry cake. "It all has to do with the conduction of heat," explains David. "For example, glass and silicone molds do not conduct heat well and are not recommended for baking cakes." Instead, he suggests non-stick pans and dark pans for better heat conduction.

Check your oven temperature

Every oven performs differently, so the only way to know if yours is at the recommended baking temperature is to use an oven thermometer. The type of oven you bake with makes a difference, too. For example, convection ovens work differently than conventional ones, so knowing which one you have will make you a better baker. "Convectional ovens bake your cake faster on the outside," David explains. "This is great because then your cake doesn't have too much of a chance to dry out."

Conventional ovens, on the other hand, tend to have hot spots where they bake hotter on one shelf compared to the other. To combat this, he recommends using an oven thermometer to not only help correctly determine your oven's internal temperature but also to prevent putting a cake in an oven that's just too hot.

Know your baking time

Your cake's baking time may vary from what's listed on the recipe for several reasons, including your oven's temperature, the type of oven used, and what pan it's being baked in. Baking at higher altitudes can also affect the bake time. Monitor your cake by checking to see if it's golden brown and firm. You can also insert a toothpick into the center — if it comes out clean, remove your cake from the oven.

"You also want to unmold your cake after a minute — giving the structure a chance to set — so there's no carry-over cooking that occurs once it comes out," David says.

5 Ways to Moisten a Dry Cake That's Already Baked

You can sometimes end up with a dry cake despite following the directions to a tee. But don't give up just yet! Here are five tips for how to moisten a dry cake once it's already been baked.

1. Brush with simple syrup glaze

Velez recommends adding a simple syrup glaze to your cake layers if they end up coming out too dry. Made by cooking together equal parts water and sugar, it's a traditional workaround that pastry chefs commonly use. Besides helping moisten a dry cake, glazes like this fresh lavender simple syrup recipe are also an excellent way of adding extra aromatic flavors to your already baked goods.

2. Soak your cake in milk

Soaking your cake in milk is one of the best ways to moisten a dry cake. While you can simply brush on a few tablespoons of milk to the top of your dry cake, for a truly indulgent finish, follow recipes like this tres leches cake — it makes use of whole milk, condensed milk, and evaporated milk for a truly moist end result.

3. Fill the cake with mousse or jam

Another option for dry cakes is to fill them with a mixture that's either high in fat or high in moisture. "Jam or a mousse are the perfect option for this," says Velez. You can also try this custard cake filling recipe or this whipped cream filling instead.

4. Frost the cake

Once you've filled the layers between your cake with mousse, jam, or even pastry cream, it's time to frost the cake. Both Velez and David suggest frosting as a way to help lock in the extra moisture. "Give your cake some time to absorb all that goodness," Velez says. "A few hours should be enough to do the trick."

5. Stick it in the fridge

If you're baking a high-ratio cake, i.e., a cake with a high-sugar and high-fat content, David suggests sticking it in the fridge. "Most refrigerators that people have contain a lot of moisture," he explains. "Your dry cake can absorb it over a couple of days and turn nice and moist."

What To Do With Dry Cake: A Last Resort

And, if the dry cake is truly unsalvageable, Velez recommends re-purposing it into toasty cake crumbs. "I always say old cake or bad cake can be repurposed into toasty cake crumb that you can use in ice cream sundaes," she says. Simply crumble the dry cake into bite-sized pieces and bake on a sheet tray at 350 degrees until golden brown — approximately 15 to 20 minutes. Coat the crumbs in chocolate and freeze for best results.

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