Wednesday
Apr152009
All Dried Out: Can Cake Make a Comeback?
Wednesday, April 15, 2009 
Recently, a baker we know confessed that one of her least favorite cake descriptors is "moist". Why? "It just sounds gross" she says. Seems she's not alone--when we asked around, many seemed to share her disdain for the word.
Is it simply semantics? Because when pressed, nobody confessed to preferring dry cake to...well, not dry cake.
Which leads us to believe that as bad as the word moist may be, it's nowhere near as bad as eating dry cake.
And that brings us to the point: the cursed dry cake. It happens to the best of us--we accidentally forget to cover a cake (or cover it carelessly) and that fine crumb becomes a hardened, crisp enemy. But is it really the end? Or can that cake be brought back to life?
We're set on finding out.
And so, in an effort of furthering Cake Science, we've purchased a batch of cupcakes which we are currently letting dry out, with a mind to test out some re-moistening procedures to see if it truly might be possible to bring them back to life.
Will it work? Is it possible for cake to make a comeback, or is just better to let it rest in peace?
We'll find out soon enough.
If you've got any suggestions for bringing dead cake back to life, let us know!
tagged cakespy mischief
cakespy mischief
Reader Comments (31)
Soak it with liquer? Well, after a few bites you won't be able to tell the difference between dry and m_ist anyway, hi hi hi ;-)
At my work we use our cakes odds and ends to make our "bread pudding"- they're soaked in so much custard you'd never know.
;-) Make cakeballs!
Ditto. Make Cakeballs!
i agree-- there are so many gross-ish adjectives in the world and moist for cake is gross-ish!!
yes, soaking with simple syrup or flavoured liquers can do the trick! but sometimes a dead cake corpse is a dead cake corpse. you gotta toss it.
depends on how dry you let it get...if it's only slightly dry, you can definitely give it a light dabbing of simple syrup/liqueur...
if it's very dry, but not so dry it could kill someone if tossed at their head, I'd go w/the "bread pudding" option (made a lovely bread pudding out of gingerbread cake & creme anglaise once) OR you could simply make "cake crumb" out of it (but you'd have to make sure you got rid of the icing)...
if it's so dry it's hard and potentially lethal (see above), chuck it! (not at someone's head, pls) ;)
There are so many things to make with leftover cake--and who ever has that? A too-dry cake gives you a chance to try your hand at them: trifles, bourbon balls, or the Danish dessert, Danish Veiled Country Lass/Bondepige med Slor(made with dry cake crumbs, applesauce, whipped cream and jam) come immediately to mind.
don t know of any suggestions to give, but that would be interesting :)
I think dry cake (especially if it is vanilla with powdered sugar buttercream) is a great excuse to bring out a bowl and to just pour milk all over it. I love that!
What a cool experiment! Whenever I have chocolate cake that is a little dry, I mix it through vanilla ice cream and it is delicious!
I can't wait to see the results!
I agree with the cake crumb suggestions. I know a pastry chef who uses them as an ingredient for the filling in cinnamon rolls.
I guess you cna play around with syrups and liquors but I'm not exactly sure. Can't wait to see the result of this great experiment.
I vote for mixing it in ice cream as well... or better yet, make fresh ice cream and mix in the dried dehydrated cake in the process so it'll soak up more "moisture"....
Thinking about dry cake makes me so thirsty...
I for one LOVE moist cake. I revere it. To me it's a delicious masterpiece.
If you don't want to re-make the dried cake into something else, try this trick my mom taught me:
Lightly soak a paper towel (best the use the ones that are courser not the fluffy soft ones) in water and wrap it around the cake. Pop it in the microwave and the cake will soak up the moisture from the paper towel. Of course you must then eat it immediately!
to the person who said make cake balls....uh..no. dry cake balls are just as unpleasant as cripsy cakes. I say fry it lol. Soak it in liquor! Maybe a syrup? It can be done! I BELIEVE IN YOU CAKESPY!
on the apprentice they had a cupcake challange where the men made TERRIBLE cupcakes... they soaked them in something.. i think it was simple syrup....it didnt make them taste better but they got more...moist lol.
I'll be honest: I often purposefully don't cover cake overnight. Morning-after cake (icing a little hard, cake a little dry) is almost better then fresh cake! It's not something I would serve to a guest, because I know many people don't enjoy it, but to me, there's no better breakfast!
I overbaked some cupcakes once and they were dry. I put them in a tightly sealed tupperware and the next day they were moist. Go figure.
my brother & i love to eat cake that has been left out uncovered... we break it into chunks, and pour milk over it. no matter what flavor cake, it is delicious!!!
All of the men in my family would be drooling over your dried cake. Slice it, put it in a bowl, pour milk over the top and they are happy little boys.
Hope it'll make a comeback!!
By the way, the emails still won't load for me - you know what I'm talking about.
Bakers hate the word moist because it's, like, the holy grail of cakedom. Or more specifically, they hate the word "dry" because all too often it's the go-to descriptor for anything besides a box mix cake. And for the record, there is a middle ground between dry and moist. I call it "cakey," which is horribly vague, but I suppose it's a soft, but not fudgy cake, with a light feathery texture. Maybe like an angel food or chiffon cake? I think of chocolate as being more moist, and lighter cakes as, uh, cakey. I'm not good with words today.
Bringing cake back from the dead. Hmmmmm. Well, if anyone can do it, you can. However, this does make me ponder a conversation that some of my former co-workers seemed particularly interested in a few years ago. Especially the men. Vampires vs. Zombies and the reanimation of the dead. Are there some gastronomic rules for the gateau?
some sort of pudding? adding in a cream egg mixture to dry cake pieces and baking it???