Orange Juice Disaster

[daphne1220]

I am making a cake which calls for orange juice. After I creamed the butter and sugar I added the orange juice and got a clumpy mess. Anyone have any ideas?

 

[Norcalbaker59]

The order of mixing is very important.

In a butter cake recipe you cream the butter and sugar. Then beat in the eggs one at a time. You have to create emulsion. The liquid ingredients are then added alternately with the dry ingredients. So the orange juice should’ve been mixed in with the other liquids and then added alternately with the dry ingredients.


This is an article that explains several mixing methods based on the type of cake.
https://blog.kingarthurflour.com/2017/04/28/cake-mixing-methods/

Nearly all the recipes out there have the wrong instructions on creamy butter and sugar. But link below will explain the correct way to cream butter and sugar.

https://www.seriouseats.com/2015/12/cookie-science-creaming-butter-sugar.html

 

[Becky]

Welcome to the forum!

Agreed that it's crucial to cream the (cold) butter and sugar together thoroughly first. Out of interest, do you have a link for the recipe?

 

[daphne1220]

The order of mixing is very important.

In a butter cake recipe you cream the butter and sugar. Then beat in the eggs one at a time. You have to create emulsion. The liquid ingredients are then added alternately with the dry ingredients. So the orange juice should’ve been mixed in with the other liquids and then added alternately with the dry ingredients.


This is an article that explains several mixing methods based on the type of cake.
https://blog.kingarthurflour.com/2017/04/28/cake-mixing-methods/

Nearly all the recipes out there have the wrong instructions on creamy butter and sugar. But link below will explain the correct way to cream butter and sugar.

https://www.seriouseats.com/2015/12/cookie-science-creaming-butter-sugar.html

I did cream the butter and sugar first. It was the first time I was using this recipe so I decided to follow it as written and added the orange juice next. Instead of throwing the clumpy mess away I heated it over a very low flame. I beat the eggs separately and then tempered them before combining with the butter/sugar/orange juice. I'm happy to say the cake came out great. However, if I make it again, I will add the eggs before the orange juice.