Mary Berry has spent decades perfecting her craft and the Great British Bake Off legend has some essential baking advice for home cooks – it all comes down to choosing the best butter for cakes
It’s all about the butter(Image: Anjelika Gretskaia via Getty Images)
Mary Berry stands as one of the most prominent figures, if not the most celebrated, in the world of baking. The likelihood is you’ve used one of her recipes before – and now the beloved culinary icon has shared some essential baking guidance.
Whether you’re a beginner, reasonably experienced or bake professionally, the 90 year old kitchen maestro has issued a warning about selecting a particular variety of butter for cake making.
The previous Great British Bake Off judge brings decades of culinary expertise, beginning with her training at Le Cordon Bleu through to penning 70 cookbooks.
Whether you’re making a birthday cake from the ground up, or attempting her renowned Victoria sponge, the butter you select can dramatically affect your recipe’s outcome, she explains.
Mary revealed the secret lies in the butter’s composition, something that needs to be examined at the shop rather than halfway through your baking adventure.
She wrote for BBC Good Food: “I always aim at over 75%. The problem with lower fat spreads and butters is they have a higher water content. When it evaporates it causes layers bind together in your mix. In the UK we tend to always have high fat content so it’s not usually a problem, but it’s always worth checking your ingredients.”
The significance of premium butter determines how airy, moist and delicate the finished cake will turn out. Butter containing higher fat levels (above 75%) has reduced water content, and consequently, helps preserve those crucial air pockets, reports the Mirror.
And remember to allow it to soften.
When baking, it’s easy to overlook taking one or two items out of the fridge in advance. Butter is among those products that needs additional time to soften and become ready for use.
A handy trick for butter is to slice it into cubes directly from the fridge and place it in a bowl of lukewarm water. Allow it to sit for 10 minutes while you gather the remaining ingredients until it reaches the right consistency.
However, it’s crucial to measure out the required amount of butter beforehand, rather than softening the entire block. This is because “melting” the butter and returning the excess to the fridge can compromise its flavour for subsequent uses.
By adopting this straightforward guidance from Mary Berry, you can guarantee that your next sponge cake (or whatever cake you choose to bake) turns out as creamy and delicate as it should.
The higher the fat content, the richer, more moist and lighter the outcome will be – and if this is your first attempt at this method, it certainly won’t be your last.
