Add a leavening agent to the flour. Most cakes will call for a leavening agent like baking powder or baking soda. These create the bubbles you need for the cake to rise.
Leavening Agents
Breads, cakes, cookies, and nearly all baked goods require a leavening agent. These are the key ingredients that make a cake rise. There are two types of leavening agents, chemical (baking soda and baking powder) and biological (yeast).
Q: Why do cakes not rise? A: No or insufficient raising agent, mixture too stiff, mixture overbeaten or air knocked out, or insufficient whisking (whisked sponge).
Baking soda and baking powder are common baking ingredients. They are both leavening agents, meaning they help baked goods to rise.
In a word, no. Because baking soda needs an acid with which to react and baking powder already contains it, they can't be used in place of each other, at least not without making other adjustments to the recipe.
Baking soda reacts to the acid in a recipe, while baking powder reacts to liquid and heat. Baking soda changes the texture of baked goods by causing a batter or dough to spread, while baking powder produces light, fluffy texture.
Cake Is Heavy or Dense
Possible reasons your cake is heavy/dense: Too little baking powder. Too many eggs. Batter is overmixed.
As Joy of Baking explains, a surplus of baking powder will turn your treat's flavor bitter. And that's not even the worst part. Adding in too much baking powder could cause your dessert to rise too fast and fall apart.
In order to bake cake evenly, you have to insulate its edges. Preventing the temperature of batter at the edge from increasing quickly allows the cake to rise longer before it sets. A cake whose edges rise at nearly the same rate as its center will remain flat across the top — no dome, perfect for stacking and icing.
If a recipe includes a lot of acid such as lemon juice and buttermilk and isn't lifted with enough baking powder, the cake will taste dense. In that case, you may need the addition of baking soda which will react with the acid and create a fluffier crumb.
Eggs as a leavening agent
A similar phenomenon happens with whole eggs when they are added to baking recipes. Because eggs are so moisture rich, pockets of steam form as the body of the egg heats and expands. This increased volume - from the steam - means its up-up-and-away for items like cream puff pastries!
Structure: Eggs are a significant structure provider in baking, giving a cake firmness, lightness and stability. Aeration: Eggs can be whisked up or beaten into a cake mixture to incorporate air into the mix, helping you achieve that perfect rise.
Baking soda and baking powder are both leaveners made from a chemical called sodium bicarbonate. When sodium bicarbonate is combined with an acid, it produces a gas (carbon dioxide, C02, the same gas we exhale when we're breathing) that lifts cakes, cookies or other baked goodies while they're in the oven.
Cakes typically bake between 325 to 450 degrees F (see chart with Tip #9). Most convection ovens require lowering the temperature by 25 to 50 degrees F, as well as turning off the fan.
Soak the cake.
Pastry chefs often soak cakes in a simple syrup made of equal parts granulated sugar and water after the cakes come out of the oven. This step can add sweetness and moisten the cake. In addition to simple syrup, you can also use coconut milk, evaporated milk, or flavored liqueur.
Many recipes need both kinds of reactions to achieve the intended overall balance of flavor and texture, which is why you'll often see both baking soda and baking powder in a recipe. Even though the ingredients are both adding air during the baking process, they're complements, not substitutes.
Basically, the reason for both is because sometimes you need more leavening than you have acid available in the recipe. It's all about balance. Another reason to use both baking powder and baking soda is because they affect both browning and flavor.
For example, if you have 3 teaspoons of baking soda, it can replace 2 teaspoons of cream of tartar.
Baking Soda
It's used to chemically leaven doughs and batters when it is mixed with an acid. Combining baking soda with an acid produces a chemical reaction that releases carbon dioxide gas which causes the food to expand and become fluffy.
That's why baking powder is added in wheat dough because it is a combination of baking soda and tartaric acid. Therefore, we can say that baking soda makes cakes and pastries to be light and fluffy.