Avoid A Greasy Air Fryer Cake By Steering Clear Of One Mistake

With their popularity, air fryers have proved they can do so much more than accomplish a crisp finish on traditionally deep-fried foods. But just because you can make other dishes, like cakes, doesn't mean it's still a set-and-forget recipe. While following our eight baking tips to ensure you avoid any air fryer cake mistakes is helpful, you'll also want to avoid using cooking spray to ensure the cake turns out as light and fluffy as a traditionally baked cake and your appliance remains intact. 

Avid air fryer users likely know that using aerosol cooking spray inside the cooking basket can ruin the appliance. When the cooking spray is added to the non-stick surface inside the air fryer, it damages the non-stick coating. Most cooking sprays use soy lecithin as an emulsifier and dimethyl silicone, which have low smoke points. Because these substances burn at lower temperatures, they cook onto the air fryer, causing it to become sticky while eating away at the appliance's non-stick qualities.

In addition to harming your device, cooking spray can impart a bitter flavor to your cake and leave it with a greasy crumb as the batter absorbs the oil as it cooks. While you can use oil on some foods (rather than directly spraying the basket) if absolutely necessary, cake, with its gentle texture, is not the place for it. Instead, reach for some sort of fat or an oven-safe insert when prepping your pans to ensure the cake will release when it's done.

Instead of heavily oiling your pans with a high-smoke point neutral oil or using aerosol cooking or baking sprays, try using a cake release. Wilton Cake Release is a solution of soybean oil and starch to effectively grease and flour your cake pan in one step. It's designed to easily release your cake from the pan after it has had a few minutes to cool. 

If you don't have this product or something similar, you can coat the pan with other non-pressurized fats like butter. Simply rub the stick of butter around the pan before filling the pan with cake batter. You can also use a layer of flour or parchment paper, or pick up some air fryer accessories, like silicone liners or other stick-proof inserts to ensure that getting your cake out in one piece won't be a struggle.

Additionally, check the best temperature for baking in your air fryer before preheating. Then, when you're ready to get started with your batter, avoid overfilling the cake pan for the best results.