# Fluid flex cake troubleshooting



## muffildy (Aug 25, 2015)

Hello,

Ive been baking professionally for a while now, but i have some trouble with a fluid flex based cake recipe that we use.

The recipe is (scaled down):

3# sugar

2.46# cake flour

2.4 oz baking powder

1.2 oz salt

1.54# fluid flex

3.76# eggs

.8# heavy cream

.4# water

The problem is that on some days the cake does not emulsify as strongly as on other days. So one day i will have a nice thick batter and others the batter will be fairly loose. The thick batter bakes into a very light cake, while the thin batter one is more dense. The difference in cake height after baking is something like 75 or 80% of the height of the thick batter version.

I believe the cause to be the temperature of the room, but i have no scientific proof...I looked online for sources of proper room temperature and i found one book that said it should not exceed 75 degrees but im not sure if that is necessarily true for a fluid flex based cake. Note: the temperature of the bakery i work in is often hotter than that.

What other causes are there for this? Ingredients are weighed on a digital scale, i use the same mixer so the aeration is the same for the same size mix.

Thank you for the help.


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## jellly (Jan 3, 2005)

muffildy- I'm sorry I can't help. I am really just posting to say you aren't alone. I used to be in a position where we would do large batches of cake using fluid flex and would absolutely see different results. We did so many tests trying to identify the variables that were affecting the outcome. There were lots of theories, but nothing conclusive. Good luck!


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## panini (Jul 28, 2001)

Morning, flying out of town this am. saw your post. ingredient temps do reflect in the results. The ambient temp is a factor. take temp of your eggs for a couple of bakes. look for differences. This also holds true for the Fl.flx.they should be the same temp. I see the only variables are egg temp, fflx,temp. crm. milk temp should all be the same. The general kitchen temp should be the same.

Your heavy cream fat count might be changing which happens in the summer. make sure it at least 36%. make sure you don't used ultra pasteurized. all I can think of now.


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