What am I doing wrong in baking? Not moist and tasteless!?

Question

I feel like I have gone crazy. I can cook really well and now for the last week or so I have been baking. Mostly cakes. They are all coming out really blah and not moist and pretty tasteless. I am following the recipes to a tee and am getting recipes from a website where each recipe gets voted on, I am making sure that the recipes I get have at least like 50 people and at least 4 out of 5 stars or higher.

The only thing I can think of is that I am above 6,000 feet and the high altitude is playing games on my baking. Is there something I should be doing for high altitude?

Answer 1

Please don't dispair you will get the hang of it .Here are a few things that will help you.
Increase the eggs by ( one ) or use extra large eggs. Decrease sugar by three table spoons. Increase flour by three table spoons. Increase oven temp. by about 25%
If you are baking at 350* to 375* try setting the oven on 425* to 450* Talk to a friend to hear what they do . Do not use self rising flour. For cake mixes add an extra egg.
then follow the recipe on the box.
I hope this will help you with your cakes.
jim b

Answer 2

perhaps try baking a little less time to compensate for altitude. Also, try puting a small ceramic bowl of boiling water in the bottom of the oven to create some steam. The steam will also help create crispness on the top of the item (and the sides if they are exposed). Browning is also an important source of some flavour. Ultimately, you need to experiment with your ingredients to adapt them to your taste. Don't be a slave to recipes! Learn the fundamental techniques so that you can understand what you are doing, why food behaves the way it does and then you can be free to evolve your cooking style.

Answer 3

Okay, i was watching the food network the other day and they were doing one of those challenges in a place with high altitude. One of the chefs said that she uses less baking soda or leavening agent. I am not sure if it is what worked but her cookies looked good... hope that helps. Try cutting the baking soda in half and take out the cake a little earlier to test if it is done.

Answer 4

"Because air pressure decreases as the elevation increases, many foods respond differently at high altitudes — and not just baked goods, but beans, stews, fried foods, pasta, etc. There are some standard adjustments you can make, but you also have to experiment a bit to find what adjustments work best for your recipes where you are.

With less air pressure weighing them down, leavening agents tend to work too quickly at higher altitudes, so by the time the food is cooked, most of the gasses have escaped, producing a flat tire. For cakes leavened by egg whites, beat only to a soft-peak consistency to keep them from deflating as they bake. Also, decrease the amount of baking powder or soda in your recipes by 15% to 25% (one-eighth to one quarter teaspoon per teaspoon specified in the recipe) at 5,000 feet, and by 25% or more at 7,000. For both cakes and cookies, raise the oven temperature by 20° or so to set the batter before the cells formed by the leavening gas expand too much, causing the cake or cookies to fall, and slightly shorten the cooking time.

Flour tends to be drier at high elevation, so increase the amount of liquid in the recipe by 2 to 3 tablespoons for each cup called for at 5,000 feet, and by 3 to 4 tablespoons at 7,000 ft. Often you will want to decrease the amount of sugar in a recipe by 1 to 3 tablespoons for each cup of sugar called for in the recipe."

Answer 5

A trick I always use to get a moist cake is to substitute the fat with applesauce, and it gives a great texture with less fat. so if the recipe says 1 cup of shortening or butter, use one cup of applesauce.
If you go to foodnetwork.com, they should have a chart for elevation differences

Answer 6

over 6000 feet you should add a little extra water or milk....to add flavor and moistness to your cakes add some pudding mix............also lower the cooking temp 50 degrees

Answer 7

not sure but it sounds like you might be using the same website as me... http://allrecipes.com/...good times. and all i can think of is cut your time down a bit.