Why Adding Too Much Sugar Is A Huge Mistake When Baking A Cake

If you consider yourself an experienced baker, you can probably admit to having made your fair share of baking mistakes over the years. Reading "teaspoons" as "tablespoons," forgetting an ingredient entirely, or leaving a tray of cookies in the oven for just a few minutes too long are inevitable parts of the learning process. But one mistake that could particularly cost you when it comes to cakes is adding too much sugar — either intentionally or by accident. 

Cakes are supposed to be sweet — that's totally understandable. But, if you load up on the sugar, and add a little extra for good measure, you could face a disastrous result when you slice into it. Sugar not only imparts a delicious taste to your baked goods, but it also impedes gluten structure in your cake. While this will keep your cake tender and soft, adding too much sugar to your recipe means your cake may fall apart and break more readily. That's bad news bears when you're trying your hand at a chocolate layer cake. Besides this, adding too much sugar to the sponge may also cause it to come out too wet due to the sugar's moisture content and give it a denser, heavier consistency. 

Even if you don't realize the big mistake you made with your cake immediately after you put it in the oven, just giving your sponge a once-over should tell you exactly what you did wrong. The first thing that you can look at is the color. Sugar encourages caramelization and browning, so if your sponge is coming out a little darker than the photos in the recipe, adding too much sugar might have been the culprit. You also might see that the leavening in the cake changes; the crumb of an over-sugared cake will be rather crumbly and puffy. This is because the sugar crystals hold onto the air when the sugar is creamed into the butter. These air pockets will give you a lighter, bouncier sponge. Moreover, the easiest tool to determine if your cake is over-sugared is to give it a taste. 

The simplest way to avoid adding too much sugar to your cake recipe is to, of course, read the recipe. Then, read the recipe again. Double-checking should eliminate any questions as to whether it was ½ cup of sugar or 1½ cups of sugar. You should also bake with a scale to ensure that your ingredients are measured as accurately as possible.