The Secret Ingredient Bakers Use To Keep Cooked Cakes Moist
There are a few things that differentiate perfectly executed bakery-style cakes from their baked-at-home counterparts. Aesthetics is certainly a big one, but it's important not to overlook moisture. No one wants a cake with a dry, crumbly texture that requires a drink just to choke down.
Luckily, there are plenty of tips and tricks available online that will help you avoid an undesirably dry cake, including one by TikTok user @shellskitchen. In a video, the creator showed how she keeps her cakes perfectly moist by filling a bottle with oat milk and drizzling small amounts of it atop each cake layer as a cake soak.
She doesn't share the exact amount needed, which is understandable since that'll depend on the size and thickness of your cake layers. However, keep in mind that the goal is to soak the cake, not fully saturate it — if you're too heavy-handed, your treat might go from moist to mushy. For example, Milk Bar's famous birthday cake recipe requires a mere ½ cup of milk for a cake that serves 15-20 people.
Notably, milk soaks happen after a cake has been cooked, so it can help incorporate some extra moisture if you've overbaked your cake slightly, or made a measurement error that resulted in a final product that wasn't quite as tender as you envisioned.
The benefits of an oat milk cake soak
The oat milk soak seems like an incredibly simple trick, but it received nearly 80,000 likes from TikTok users and over 5,300 people bookmarked the tip, presumably to reference the next time they whip up a cake that needs a little help in the moisture department.
@shellskitchen Get this question with every video! 10/10 would recommend ☺️ don't use regular milk as it can go rancid quick #cakedecorating #caketok #baking #bakersoftiktok #caketips #oatmilk
Soaking your cake layers with some type of liquid is a relatively common practice, and there are many different options that bakers use. However, as the creator notes in the clip, the particular secret ingredient shared in the TikTok video has a few advantages.
Simple syrup is another popular cake soak, but in order to use it, you first have to actually make a batch of simple syrup, so it requires more effort than just pouring store-bought oat milk into a dispenser. Plus, simple syrup adds extra sweetness to your cake, which may not always be desired. And, while oat milk is relatively neutral-tasting, you could always infuse it with aromatic ingredients like cinnamon sticks or vanilla bean pods for a subtle flavor boost.
Additionally, the creator claims in the video's caption that oat milk doesn't go rancid as quickly as regular milk, making it a better choice for cakes that might be sitting out at room temperature for a while. As long as you have this non-dairy milk in your fridge, you'll never deal with dry cake again.