Rant: My aunt swore blind baking soda would fix a dry cake, but it backfired hard

So my aunt, who's been baking since the 80s, told me to toss in an extra teaspoon of baking soda if my cake batter looked too dry. I tried it on a vanilla sponge last weekend, figured she knows her stuff. The cake came out with this weird metallic taste and a crumbly texture, totally ruined 3 hours of work. She's saying I must have used old soda, but I think adding extra leavener like that is just a bad fix. Anyone else had a family member give them baking advice that seemed solid but totally bombed?

2 comments

2 Comments

davis.casey1mo ago

My buddy tried buttermilk in a chocolate cake and ended up with soup.

river1901mo ago

i read somewhere that buttermilk works way better in cakes if you let it sit with the baking soda for a few minutes before adding it to the rest of the batter. something about it needs time to react or the cake just turns into a puddle. maybe his buddy just dumped it in all at once and that was the problem.