The Reverse Creaming Method for Cakes (2024)

I assume if the eggs are separated you will be whipping the whites? I add the yolks when the eggs would be added and fold in the whites at the end. Leavening agents go in the flour at the beginning. This recipe for vanilla cake outlines the reverse creaming process with separated eggs.

I couldn’t guess without seeing the recipe. Cake recipes are all about balancing the ingredients that provide structure and the ingredients that tenderize the cake. Read this blog post about balancing cake recipes for the details.

Hi Gabby, I’m not sure I understand your question. Are you asking when cream cheese would be added if doing reverse creaming? I would treat the cream cheese like butter and add it to the dry ingredients. Just be careful if you are also using butter that the butter and cream cheese have similar texture before adding them. If the butter is colder and firmer than the cream cheese you could end up with lumps. So you might want to add the butter first and then the cream cheese.

Any recipe that uses the “creaming” method can be done with reserve creaming.

I always tort my cake layers and I always use reverse creaming.

Self rising flour already has salt and baking powder added. All purpose or cake flour does not have salt or leavening in it so it’s added separately.

@Eileen Gray,
Eileen do you think that if you use SR flour the results are just as good?

I’m sorry. I don’t understand your question.

Yes, for each cup of cake flour you can use 3/4 cup of all purpose flour plus 2 tablespoon of corn starch.

I’m not sure I understand your question. The reverse creaming technique can be used for any recipe that normally begins with creaming the butter and sugar and then adding the flour (and dairy if there is any). The basic premise of this technique is that the flour is coated with fat to mitigate gluten formation before the liquid is added.

Which book are you looking for? My self published pound cake book and my book Easy Baking From Scratch are both available on Amazon.

Yes, I love doing side by side tests. The results are often surprising. If found in the original tests that the regular creamed cake had a more “greasy” taste than the reverse creamed cake.

Are you referring to how the cakes look in the photos? Regular creaming method does incorporate more air into the batter, but I find the reverse creaming creates a more consistent and smaller crumb, which I prefer for a pound cake.

I can’t say 100% since I haven’t tried every recipe. But, in my opinion, the reverse creaming method could work for any recipe that is written for the “creaming” method.

Hi Jeny, Eggs are a tough one with baking. I’ve used Bob’s Red Mill egg replacer with good results when making cookies. I haven’t tried it with this recipe, but I think it’s worth a shot. You won’t be able to make whipped whites with the egg replacer.

First, I’d like to invite you to join my private Facebook Group called Baking Sense Recipe Workshop . Anyone can join if they ask. I set up that group specifically to answer questions like this. The group is made up of bakers who like to help other bakers. It is a little hard to answer this question specifically without seeing the recipe. A first guess might be that by creaming the butter and sugar you introduced more air into the batter than normal and the batter couldn’t hold the air and the cake fell. Generally, any cake that can be successfully made using the creaming method can be made with the reverse creaming method.

Hi Dena, I whip the egg whites for my Vanilla Butter Cake Recipe. The cake is a little lighter than a pound cake. If you visit the Eggs in Cake Batter post you can read how whipping the whites not only lightens but also tenderizes the cake. If you’re interested in questions like these I definitely recommend reading through the entire Cake Batter series. I also have a private Facebook Group (anyone can join if you ask) that’s all about bakers talking about recipes and helping each other fix recipe issues.

Hi Steph. Reverse creaming makes a cake very tender, so it may settle as it comes out of the oven. I have had cakes shrink back from the pan a bit as they come out of the oven, or the hump in the middle will settle into a flat top. But I’ve never had a cake deflate down to a pancake. A couple of things – don’t grease the sides of the pan. I either use just a parchment round at the bottom of the pan or just grease and flour the bottom. The sides of the cake will stick a bit and help it rise and it will shrink back a little less when it comes out of the oven. See the photos in my White Cake post. Make sure when you add he butter and “cream” it into the flour that you give it a good 3-4 minutes. The flour and butter mix should lighten in color and texture at this point. To me, the velvety texture of a reverse creamed cake is worth the tradeoff for a small loss in height. But again, I’ve never had a cake deflate to a pancake so I can’t say what is causing that.

Hi Armywife, the “original” pound cake recipe which is simply a pound each of butter, sugar, flour and eggs, has no chemical leavening in the recipe and relies on incorporating air into the batter by creaming. So the original pound cake recipe is a great way to show how the different ways of mixing the batter can make a difference in the outcome of the cake. The recipe here is more about explaining how cake batter works. The original pound cake recipe is not my favorite recipe. If you want a better pound cake recipe, check out this post.

This recipe was tested in a 9×5″ loaf pan. That pan has an 8 cup capacity. I have a 8.5×4.5″ loaf pan that has a 6 cup capacity. I also have some mini pans, 5.75×3.25″ that have a 2 cup capacity. So, depending on what pans you have available, I would look for a pan that has a 4 cup capacity or something close. You could probably get away with the 6 cup capacity pan and just have a slightly shorter loaf. To figure out the capacity of your pans just measure water, a cup at a time, and pour it into the pan until it’s full. By the way, if you’re looking for my favorite pound cake recipe, try my Pound Cake Perfection. It’s a little lighter and softer than the original recipe.

You can use reverse creaming with any recipe that uses the traditional creaming method. So, yes, it would work for cream cheese or Sour Cream Pound Cake.

If you cream the butter and sugar first and then add the flour that is exactly the regular creaming method. This recipe will still work with the regular creaming method, I just prefer the texture with the reverse creaming. But you can do it either way. This recipe is the original pound cake recipe. I have posted my “Perfected Pound Cake” recipe in which I add a little milk (you can also use buttermilk).

I don’t see why not. But, depending on the type of cookie, you may want to get the extra air incorporated with the traditional creaming method. The main reason for using reverse creaming is to have a very tender texture. Since most cookies are very low moisture, developing too much gluten is not usually a big problem.

Great! Glad you liked the cake.

Yes.

Hi Marina. I always use the flat beater attachment for cake batter. Sorry if that’s not made clear in my directions.

Hi Sophia, I add just a little of the milk because, frankly, it’s just too hard to get the butter to mix in without a little of the milk. Still, because the butter is going in with it and there’s just a little liquid, the flour will be coated with the fat.

Well,this recipe will always get a bit of a crust because of the whipped egg whites in the batter. Some of the meringue does migrate to the top of the cake and bakes into a crust. Personally, I always trim off the brown edges so I don’t mind if it has a crust. Cake baking strips help keep the cake level.

Thank you so much, Hala!! That’s so nice of you.

I’m glad you liked the honey pound cake. It’s such a pretty color and it tastes so good.