Why You Should Brush Your Cake With Simple Syrup

Even if you bake your cake for the right amount of time and use all the correct ingredients, there's no guarantee that it will turn out perfectly moist. As Better Homes & Gardens notes, a dry cake can often be caused by something as seemingly minor as overmixing the batter or using a dark cake pan, which retains more heat. Even cakes that are perfectly moist will eventually dry out due to exposure to air. Thankfully, there's a way to prevent this from happening, and it's one that many professional bakers rely on.

According to Southern Living, brushing your cakes with simple syrup is the best way to keep cakes moist. Before decorating and assembling a cake, use a pastry brush to coat all the surfaces and edges with a light layer of syrup. The syrup should naturally seep into the crumb, adding additional moisture to make up for any that evaporated out.

Brushing on simple syrup is an easy way to ensure a moist crumb, but it will change little else about your cake. According to I Am Baker shares, you won't have to worry about simply syrup overpowering your cake's pre-existing flavors. That's because simple syrup is made up of a one-to-one ratio of two ingredients — hot water and granulated sugar. When you cool the mixture and add it to the cake, therefore, only the level of sweetness will be affected. And, since you're only brushing it onto the tops and sides, it shouldn't be that much sweeter, and you won't have to adjust the sugar level in your original recipe.

If you do want to use it to enhance the flavor of your cakes, Little Figgy suggests that you can always add an extract like vanilla, or get creative with a fruit one like banana or lemon. Just make sure you don't go overboard with the syrup because your cake can quickly go from moist to soggy.