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Please help! White dots on surface of butter cake?

27901 Views 5 Replies 5 Participants Last post by  panini
Hello, I'm a baking enthusiast who is hoping to sell my butter cake at farmers markets soon. I have never had any problem baking in my home oven, but the past few times I have practiced at a commercial kitchen I've had problems with the appearance of my butter cake. After a few hours, little white spots appear on the surface of the cupcakes. They get worse as time progresses. I have tried changing so many things but can't seem to solve the problem. I usually use organic sugar, so thought maybe it was the coarseness of the sugar not dissolving in the liquids which caused the spots so I warmed the milk and dissolved the sugar in it. Still spots appeared. I thought it may be the high heat of the commercial oven, so I baked it at a lower temperature and longer time..this made the dots worse. When I make this cake, i mix the wet and dry ingredients, then stir in melted butter. i haven't changed any ingredients or changed my mixing process, I've simply started baking at a commercial kitchen...the only thing I do differently is opening the oven during baking. The commercial oven is much stronger so usually my cupcakes start to rise toward the heat source, or the cupcakes along the edge get darker faster so I have to open their oven and turn the pans around..could this somehow cause spots?? I cannot figure this out and so cannot apply for markets anymore until I do. Please, any suggestions are appreciated!
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What do these spots taste like?

My first thought was to say be sure to sift your drys together as sometimes the leavenings form tiny crumbs/balls if exposed to moisture ie humidity.
Same with the sugar.

But what it all boils down to the taste, right?
Can you make a dozen or so...ice them then send them out for a taste test.
We are our own worst critics but if the problem is solved by a bit of smoke and mirrors IMO all is well.

As @Fablesable mentioned butter cakes start with the butter and sugar being creamed to pale and fluffy.
All I can add is to start off with the butter frozen and cut into chunks.
The heat of the machine will soften the butter and you are more likely to get a fluffy texture.
Room temp fat sort of just melts trapping the sugar and not much incorporation( dissolved sugar) takes place before it is deemed ready for the eggs .

Sorry that's all I have but maybe it will ring some bells lol.

mimi
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