Cake turned very dense, nothing like I though it would be. Could I have some help?

I'm not sure what went wrong, it looked just like the photo and was almost too soft to move after making. I put it in the fridge as I made it in the morning and was serving at night, the cake was very dense. I was pretty much like a dryer brownie at that point, could I have some help?

Yougivemecancer
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Richard Sax’s Chocolate Cloud Cake
Recipe question for: Richard Sax’s Chocolate Cloud Cake

6 Comments

Lori T.
Lori T. January 12, 2020
It does sound as if you over-baked your cloud cake. It's related to a souffle, except it doesn't have any flour to help provide stability. Instead, it's all relying on the protein in those egg whites. And there is only so much an egg white can do, and a certain amount of time it can do it. An egg white is nothing but protein, and the protein chains contract when exposed to heat. All that butter will help avoid it to an extent- but eventually even the butter has to give up the fight. That leaves you with a very tight chain of protein, which has squeezed out pretty much all the moisture it had. Your refrigerator is also a relatively dry environment as well, so whatever was left in the cake could well have escaped in the chilling time. So will the air trapped by the egg whites- just as all soft meringues gradually loose their loft. Once that happened to your cake, all you had left was the tough and dry egg white structure. With this sort of cake, you want to remove it from the oven as soon as there is barely wobble. It will continue to cook for a bit after you remove it from the oven, and set up properly. If you bake it until it sits still, well- it's overbaked, and whatever moisture is left is going to evaporate in the cooling process. It's never going to be quite as light and airy as it is the first day, at room temperature. It will be denser after it chills in the refrigerator, and continues to lose both moisture and air. However, it shouldn't end up a dry brownie texture. In this case, you could probably rescue the remnants by turning them into a sort of trifle, if you wanted. It should taste fine, especially after you get some moisture into it. Better luck next time!
 
Jennifer W.
Jennifer W. January 12, 2020
Thats so disappointing! I wonder if it was a combination of deflated eggwhites and over baking? Was it cold when you served it? I feel like it should be served room temp for best texture... Let us know if you figured it out because the recipe looks amazing.
 
Yougivemecancer
Yougivemecancer February 5, 2020
Maybe it was the egg whites, but I'm still unsure about overbaking because like I said it was still very wobbly after I removed it. If I make this again I'll try room temp.
 
Yougivemecancer
Yougivemecancer February 5, 2020
However apparently it was a mistake to assume this cake would be very light, as one of the replies I got in the review section stated that as it collapsed it should be quite dense.
 
Yougivemecancer
Yougivemecancer January 12, 2020
Now that I think about it, did I overcook it? I did the maximum amount of time to be on the safe side.
 
Emmie
Emmie January 13, 2020
That's probably it. When baking anything, especially delicate things like this cake, always check it a few minutes before the minimum baking time, in case your oven runs hot, then give it more time if it needs it. With a souffle-like cake, you want to catch it *just* when it's ready--in this case, when "the top is puffed and cracked and the center is no longer wobbly." It's better to check on it a little early than too late!
 
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