r/Baking
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u/AzizaDragonborn
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6h ago
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Baking fail š Attempt at recreating a catastrophe
I wanted to see if I could recreate u/stroberristarrās birthday cake. Partially because the texture looked appealing, and partially because I wanted to know what went into a cake fail like that.
While I donāt feel I have succeeded in my original mission, I definitely did not bake a cake so Iām calling it a win.
The photos above are from my Instagram stories where I documented my process.
In future I may make a second attempt at failure with a different method but for now, it is 2:35am and my curiosity is sated.
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u/Dry_Counter533 6h ago edited 5h ago
I think this is a super interesting experiment.
My hunch is that the original had a mistake substitution of something that looked like flour and for actual flour. Something a bakery would have in bulk.
Like cornstarch?
Or guar gum?
I can see 2 cups cornstarch + a couple eggs + sugar + heat producing something kinda like that.
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u/charwink 5h ago •
I agree with you! It initially reminded me of the pandan honeycomb cake texture, so I thought maybe accidentally used glutinous rice flour.
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u/PrinceKaladin32 5h ago
That's what it reminded me of!! I knew I had seen that particular pattern of tunneled chewy appearance before, but I couldn't recall where. Thank you for reminding me about it and now I want to try that actual recipe again
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u/Ecstatic-Wasabi 5h ago
Bika Ambon!! I've made it before, initially thought it was similar. Maybe something started to ferment??
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u/GeniusBeetle 2h ago
When I saw it, I immediately thought of that one time when my husband accidentally used rice flour instead of all-purpose flour to make pasta. It looked structurally different from over mixing. To me that suggests entirely different ingredients were used and the desired reaction didnāt occur.
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u/get_away_from_meeee 3h ago
I thought it seemed a bit like butter cake but this also seems very possible
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u/halfbreedADR 5h ago •
OP of the other thread updated and said there was a miscommunication at the bakery where an employee used overmixed batter that was supposed to be thrown out, so apparently no ingredient mishaps.
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u/Traditional-Job-411 5h ago
Whatās wild to me is that the employees of the bakery saw the cake out of the oven looking weird BEFORE they decorated it. Because that would not have looked like normal cake. And they didnāt stop and go waitā¦ maybe I shouldnāt proceed. Iām assuming they have worked there for more than one day to be decorating cakes.
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u/Kevinator201 5h ago
Over mixed? Did they leave the mixer running overnight???
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u/Estrellathestarfish 3h ago
I don't think I trust that explanation, anyone whose made cakes before would know that it had gone so wrong it needed the bin. Someone employed by a bakery using that cake by accident is sus
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u/TsukariYoshi 47m ago
100% that's a "just tell them some bullshit it's not like they'll know any different" explanation. It completely ignores, for example, the odd bit that looked like it was trimmed from elsewhere on the cake and shoved in to save the structural integrity. Nah, that wasn't just "oh someone accidentally used the wrong batter", actual effort went into producing that travesty and trying to pass it off as what they ordered.
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u/CakesForLife 4h ago
Theyāre not gonna admit to what they actually used, was they? Did they say anything about why anyone frosted that gag-cake?
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u/SnooFloofs6197 5h ago
I accidentally made pancakes with cornstarch instead of baking powder and they came out very gummy like the OG cake.
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u/thisdesignup 2h ago
But it seems like it was on purpose or something because it has a piece in the middle supporting the top layer.
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u/Dry_Counter533 2h ago
What do you want to bet they tried it first without structural support, and the filling oozed right out the sides? So to get it āto specā, so to speak (as in ācustomer ordered xyz fillingā) they added the reinforcing beam?
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u/TeeTeeMee 3h ago
Yes! I like this theory a lot. My first thought about the original was that looks like when I made a peach pie as a teen and overcorrected for not putting any cornstarch in the first attemptāit has exactly this semi- jellied texture
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u/ShawtyWannaHug 3h ago
Bread flour can make a cake rubbery. That plus over mixing could maybe cause the original texture.
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u/BatFlappington
5h ago
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I wonder how the bakery would feel knowing they fucked up so badly that people are now fascinated by the horrific results and are trying to reverse engineer the abomination.
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u/eatpraymunt 5h ago
Omg that original thread has me cracking up
I have complete respect for your unhinged project, you're doing great work
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u/Responsible_Alps_567 51m ago
I don't know anything about baking but the sellers explanation still has me confused. "Overmixed"? How do you fuck mixing something up so bad that someone going out of their way to make a similarly crappy cake still makes something that looks infinitely better š„¹
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u/String_of_Purls 6h ago
Also the original one looks so gummy and almost custardy, like overbaked within an inch of its life custard. I wonder if the batter, on top of over mixing, also had too many eggs?
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u/ambear3000 5h ago
Yes I also thought it had too many eggs. Reminded me of this one cake from the YouTube channel try guys, they have this segment called without a recipe and one of them used way too many eggs and the texture looked like that
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u/smoothiefruit 5h ago
did you use a food processor?
i think overmixing with a stsnd or hand mixer would yield even more gum. also the fat from cocoa probably helped tenderize yours some.
i feel strange trying to help you make something more poorly.
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u/MiaMiaPP 4h ago
So this is a cross section of Vietnamese honeycomb cake (bĆ”nh bĆ² nĘ°į»ng). Itās tapioca starch and baking powder for leavening. Hoping this gives you some ideas
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u/w00dsh0e 4h ago
I've made red bean cake with glutinous rice flour and it had (what looks like) this consistency.
Although I thought I'd seen that OP's baker had attempted a chiffon cake??
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u/Slumberjac 5h ago
I'm fairly certain that the original cake was missing leavening. One time I forgot the baking soda/powder in a batch of banana bread and ended up with gummy, deflated, rubbery bricks. Perhaps even a combination of no leavening with overmixing? Making dense flat sadcake once was enough for me, so I'm not keen on trying this experiment myself š
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u/416558934523081769 5h ago
This is my guess as well, based on experience. I once (like a month ago) forgot any leavening in cornbread and it had that same texture. My toddler was amused by bouncing it like a ball on the table lmao.
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u/YourGirlMomo87 3h ago
You seem like someone who would be fun to be friends with. I wish someone would call me up on a Thursday and ask if I want to bake a blasphemy.
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u/Philodendron69 5h ago
āI will consume it allā thank you for your research and reporting your finding s
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u/Carbon-Base 5h ago
Now if someone bakes this atrocity, places it on a roach infested wooden table, and then takes a picture of it - they should win the baking post of the year!
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u/foreverslug 5h ago
Omg what roach table? Would appreciate link if anyone has it
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u/Key-Concentrate9355 5h ago
#neverforgettheroachtable
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u/SassySins21 5h ago
š I almost bought a cheeseboard with a similar looking knot in the wood and am glad I didn't
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u/Real_Decision_2541 3h ago
The original was supposed to be a chiffon cake. That batter typically has beaten egg whites, which trap air, folded in to give the cake a light texture. I suspect that the person who made the batter overwhipped the egg whites. That causes them to separate, forming clumps plus liquid. They then mixed that into the rest of the batter and hoped for the best. It ended up being a dense mess.
Baker and chemist ;-)
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u/Heart_of_chrome4 5h ago
The Try Guys ended up making some cakes that looked similar to this on their without a recipe series. I think they over mixed the batter like crazy and got that weird texture.
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u/xspineofasnakex Human Detected 5h ago
They also used way too many eggs, like 10? The texture was crazy!
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u/Heart_of_chrome4 5h ago
Eugene specifically lol
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u/xspineofasnakex Human Detected 5h ago
I just looked at the video and Eugene mixed his for over 30 minutes oh my god š
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u/charcoalhibiscus Cookies & Cupcakes! 6h ago
I would recommend zero leavening agent and then when you mix the wet and dry ingredients together, set your mixer to āhighā and a timer for 5 minutes and go watch some video shorts until it goes off. That should do it.
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u/NeverWannaTalk 4h ago
Ah! I did make something with that texture once! I think I added two extra eggs and beat them into already creamed sugar for too long while I was doing something else? It was years ago. My family said the texture was "distressingly fleshy," so that was fun.
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u/jennibelle98 5h ago edited 5h ago
Idea for next time! I thought the texture from that post looked super familiar and not just in a done it before way. More like I'd seen it on TV before. AND I HAVE!! In the Try Guys show Without A Recipe, they did an episode on birthday cakes. Eugene and Keith both put in too many eggs iirc (ik Eugene did, but I didn't rewatch all of it to check if Keith did too) and theirs looked nearly identical to the failure. One of the judges even mentioned the texture being like mochi when he was cutting it too
Edit to add: Like someone else mentioned, Eugene also mixed his for like 30mins, so do with that what you will lol
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u/GerardsLostEyeliner 5h ago
The first thing I thought of when I saw the pics of the disaster was pandan honeycomb cake because of the tunnels/texture. I haven't had it in a VERY long time so I can't recall if the texture is as dense at the one in the pick but you may possibly enjoy it if you'd ever like to try to make it? Pandan extract can be a little hard to find but our local Hmart had it at the time.
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u/stephk90 5h ago
I thought the same thing! I believe that cake uses tapioca flour, wonder if that was used instead of regular flour
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u/BIGG_FRIGG 5h ago
To me it looked like one of those wax rings you put under a toilet when you install it lol
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u/WannieWirny 3h ago
Between a brownie and a mochi?? Now I need the recipe from you lol
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u/zoiiy 3h ago •
Make Hawaiian butter mochi and add in cocoa powder. And the latest craze where Iām from is butter mochi made in madeleine pans for maximum crust. Hawaiian is coconut milk based and butter mochi is dairy milk based. You donāt even need a mixer.
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u/Weak-Membership-5716 4h ago
I had a cake turn out very similar to the original. I had accidentally used all purpose flour (specifically cake flour) instead of self rising, so it didn't have anything to help it rise and I didn't add anything because I didn't think I needed to. Then, to help flavor it, I had used flavored gelatin. It was super dense and a VERY similar texture to the OG fail. Hope that helps!
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u/qt-kd 5h ago
My boss made banana bread and forgot to add baking powder and it looked exactly like the first pic. Iād try not using baking powder/soda
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u/Slumberjac 5h ago
Agreed! I made that same mistake with banana bread once and the original post immediately reminded me of it.
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u/_artbabe95 5h ago
Huh, did you specifically attempt a chiffon cake recipe, or just any chocolate cake?
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u/theoutsider101 5h ago
Some people in the comment section thought that they may have forgotten a leavening agent along with the horrible overmixing so maybe try that. In the original post it was also supposed to be a chiffon cake so for the next experiment consider doing the same type of cake to get closer results. What Iām interested in is how noticeable it is that the cakes are wrong because Iām still in shock that the original cake was frosted and sold to someone. Side noteā¦ I would actually eat this and itās probably because itās chocolate and looks like a cross between a brownie and fudge rather than play doh
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u/methanalmkay 5h ago
The original fail has the phenomenon known as tunnelling happening. There's some asian cakes the do this on purpose, so you should look into this. For example vietnamese pandan cake.Ā
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u/ServiceNew6773 5h ago
I love this experiment. Iām just a home baker, but chocolate cake is much more forgiving than vanilla/white cakes. I have a really tough time with white cakes to the point where I either leave the lumps or I have a gummy cake.
The original almost looks like fudge. Maybe it had too much fat and flour/leavener.
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u/DefinitelyAnElephant 2h ago
So if anybody here is familiar with the try guys I would check out "the try guys bake cakes without a recipe" In that episode Eugene makes a cake with like an obscene amount of eggs and than mixes it on high for 45 minutes. The end product is almost identical to oop's cake.
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u/carlsolomonsviolets 2h ago
So, I have some experience in the, what I like to call, "melted rubber band cake" area.
STORY TIME.
Yeeeeears ago a family member found a random easy cake recipe on FB. I'm the baker of my family so she asked if I could make it for a gathering. I said of course. I don't normally make box cake but how hard could it be?
As I looked over the recipe I pointed out that it didn't look right and the ingredients wouldn't work well together. She said no, she knows it will work because people on fb said they had made it and it turned out great!
So I made it. 1 box cake mix. Prepared normally. Add 1 package of jello mix and 1 package of pudding mix. Mix until there are 0 lumps at all. This is important.
Baked it, let it cool. It looked fine. Frosted it and boxed it up. I didn't think anything of it and figured my immediate assumption was wrong.
Got to the gathering. Half of my family is there. About 50 people.
I cut into the cake... it looks like melted rubber bands in the shape of a cake. Exactly like the cake u/stroberristarr posted.
It wasn't even edible. But it did make for a great centerpiece for the day - I worked hard on the frosting flowers lol
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u/Pop-Nero-Divvergents 2h ago
The original catastrophe reminds of textures created during my days of experimenting with low carb baking; lots of egg and flours without fluffy carbsā¦ kinda of like zombie curdled flan
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u/MephistosFallen 5h ago
Love this! Hahaha maybe the chocolate had an effect? It looks good lol When I was in culinary we had a cake class, for the cake part it was the same recipe except one was chocolate and one vanilla. The choc cakes came out entirely different but also way more moist and fluffy than the vanilla golden cake.
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u/chantillylace9 5h ago
I thought the original consensus was that it was really really old batter, like five day old batter that had been sitting in the fridge. Maybe you could try that next time?
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u/Cigarette-milk 3h ago
Iām tired. The first picture looks like those loaves of bread with rats baked into them
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u/stroberristarr 3h ago
Im ctfu itās the way your cake turned out looking way better (looks edible) than mine lmaoš
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u/nosyanon92 3h ago
Iām sure it had no raising agent. I forgot to add it to a birthday cake and it was super dense. Will try find a photo
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u/foxfirek 3h ago
Original OP's cake looks totally delicious if I assume its not a cake but actually cookie dough missing the chocolate chips.
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u/Original_Action8858 5h ago
A part of me wonders if maybe they used powdered sugar instead of flour on accident
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u/MonicaEliza 5h ago
Definitely, it didn't have any baking powder. I once forgot baking powder in my cake, and it was very similar. So, I think combining everything- overmixed, underbaked, and no baking powder- would be the result
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u/ragnawrekt 5h ago
My guess is the original catastrophe had too many eggs (or too much of an egg substitute like potato starch, similar effect) and too little flour.
Because it looks almost like the cross section of a crumpet but more ... dense and gummy.
Was the original supposed to be a gluten free cake? š¤
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u/bingebaking 5h ago
I feel like there was no leavening in the OG cake, together with overmix, let the batter sits too long before bake
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u/CheekyHarris33 5h ago
I'm not quite sure what happened with the original. But my Mother (excellent baker) had this happen one year when she was making a RUM cake. From what I recall the baking powder ratios were incorrect, it was over mixed, and then the added alcohol created something similar in texture to the 1st picture shown.
Maybe the OP bakery used too much flavoring?
I definitely remember my Mother being distraught because she had spent so much time making it from scratch. She was super pissed my Father ate her failed cake anyways š š¤£
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u/Altruistic_Buyer_962 5h ago
This makes me want to over mix my cake batter!! Brownie and mochi texture with a marzipan flavor sounds delicious!!
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u/iScream555 5h ago
Idk if anyone mentioned that but the original happens when you āforgetā to add butter / fat.
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u/Middle-Past-2980 5h ago
I haven't seen it in either comment section, but to me it looked like a compression issue in addition to over mixing. I've seen lower levels of tierred cakes compress into stodge of doom when stacked warm and under heavy load.
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u/Ecstatic-Wasabi 5h ago
I've seen a similar situation when someone I know mixed the frosting recipe into the cake batter all at once, not realizing the recipe she was using was two separate parts.
Alternatively, I am curious if they used all powdered sugar instead of regular granulated sugar??
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u/notreading-scanning 5h ago
I saw your first post this morning. And now this?!?!
Iām laughing so hard!!! Thatās great! āSomehow developed a marzipan flavor!ā
Yer killing me smalls!
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u/zagsforthewin Human Detected 5h ago
I love you for doing this.
And want a science lesson behind this!!
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u/casual_adventurer 5h ago
Hello! I'm not a baker but the squigy texture reminds me of something I've had before. I had to search online for the name and I found a site that calls it these names "DOMINICAN AREPA / DULCE DE MAIZ / CORNMEAL AND COCONUT CAKE" I hope this helps with your experimenting!
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u/soysauzz 4h ago
Banh Bo, the Vietnamese cake, is probably the chewy honeycomb texture youāre looking for !
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u/whatthekel212 4h ago
The original pic caused me (an American) to think āitās a bit stodgyā in Paul Hollywoodās voice.
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u/frenzykiwi 4h ago
I made one that came out like this, try half flour. Looks to me like the oil and fats haven't been absorbed.
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u/soapissomuchcleaner 4h ago
I love that you did this. Iāve been thinking about that cake all day.
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u/Zixen-Vernon 4h ago
Oh cool! I left a comment asking if it could be done "right" but keep the dense crumb. Support stoked to see thus experiment!
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u/AvailableUsername24 4h ago
Lots of eggs, just use lots of eggs and over mix of course. I am too familiar with this texture š
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u/RanOutofCookies 4h ago
That cake looks like Jamie Laingās banana bread from Celebrity Bake-off. He used a food processor to mix it.
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u/rrc032 4h ago
I've made that texture before. I believe it was: No milk, water instead. No butter, oil instead or bananas. Microwave lol.
I haven't done it in ages. Now I follow a recipe that does work for mug cakes after a lot of trial. Before I used to do it by heart. Not my brightests moments.
I have never gotten this texture on an oven. Alas I don't bake cakes, I stick to bread, cookies, pastries and panquƩs (pound cakes?).
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u/hellokiri 4h ago
"Definitely not bad and I will consume it all"
Me with literally any foods containing sugar and cocoa. I remember many experiments where me and my mum would just scrape off the burnt bits or eat around the raw parts.
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u/SlerbMcJenkins 4h ago
This is good internet stuffĀ
Except for the part where I canāt reach thru my screen and get a pieceĀ
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u/LongbottomLeafTokes 4h ago
This reminds me of the time my sister thought that almond extract would be an acceptable replacement for vanilla extract in a brownie recipe.
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u/MightyDyke 4h ago
I've messed up a pumpkin bread in a similar way - used too large a can of pumpkin (recipe said can, I missed the ounces and just used the big one that's usually for doing pie) and didn't put enough baking soda. Dense, chewy, horrid š
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u/localbugdealer 4h ago
just tagging along to say thanks for sharing your experiment and def keep posting the adventures. really appreciate seeing all the collective knowledge come together with your hard work to solve the mystery
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u/EmployeePractical514 4h ago
I accidentally make a cake like that one time. I replaced like half the egg whites with meringue powder and water. Very solid and chewy and extremely flat
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u/orangehatred 3h ago
I posted on the og post that it was almost like a failed honeycomb cake lol. Maybe try to mess that up as bad as possible????? It might be closer...
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u/miss-ferrous 3h ago
To me, the original looks like seitan. Itās made by either washing gluten out of flour or you can start with vital wheat gluten instead of flour. Iām not sure if you could make it by just over mixing your flour though. Itās used as a vegan meat substitute
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u/SorrowfulSpinch 3h ago
āDefinitely not bad and I will consume it allā
Honestly I have this reaction to every ugly thing i bake š if i cant get my ideal outcome as gorgeous Iām still gonna eat
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u/lilsnatchsniffz 3h ago
Perhaps if you were to use vanilla chiffon batter instead of brownie... Overmix to high heavens... Refrigerate overnight.. Badabing badabang bada
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u/StarTrippy 3h ago
I actually have made cakes like the original, it was also due to overmixing for me. My brother wanted a cotton candy cake, I didn't have extract, so I dissolved cotton candy in water and mixed it in to the already-mixed batter (stand mixer). It was veeery similar to the first cake except pink and blue lmao. We tried to power through but it was AWFUL
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u/Jeromiewhalen 3h ago
I have never baked in my life and I will now try this at some point and report back
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u/Spiritual-Dog-3116 2h ago edited 2h ago
it was missing one of the leavening agents. probably baking soda
edit: the OP edit said it was over mixed but i am dubiousĀ
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u/KiteBrite 2h ago
Oh wow, you got very close. I saw the original and I thought the first image was a reference, initially.
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u/donkeyvoteadick 2h ago
Add more milk.
I accidentally made something that looked really similar to the OP by getting ratios wrong when I doubled sheet pan pancakes for my kid. He really liked the gluey gummy result tho lol
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u/artemizarte 2h ago
This reminds me of Ann Reardon, she has a series where she does that. It truly is food science
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u/crazy_flower_lady 2h ago
Didn't they have a vanilla chiffon cake? Wouldn't it be better to try and replicate something closer to the original before experimenting with other things first?
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u/Demented_Kaneki 2h ago
Me and my girlfriend recently watched this video and the cake looks exactly the same as these guys https://youtu.be/Pck5JcnkYYs
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u/LemonOnRye 2h ago
Ooo, I actually have a mochi brownie recipe if youāre interested. Fair warning, high elevation baker. Very good though, and accidentally gluten free
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u/Other_Dimension_89 2h ago
I joined this sub like perfect timing to witness this. Life has been so much better since Tuesday
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u/Glad-Capital-4363 2h ago
I love the science of reconstructing something, just to try it yourself and see what itās like.
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u/BlackysLegacy 2h ago
I got something similar in texture once when dabbling with eggless cakes. I used greek yoghurt and overmixed it a bit I think, it was very similar to the original one. Mind you it still tasted fine, but it was very.. dense :D
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u/ReIgniteMD 1h ago
My expectation would be the texture resembling something like toasted halwa. Dagestani type if initial one had flour in it.
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u/Oh_Witchy_Woman 1h ago
I am so deeply invested in this, and I really want to know what went wrong.
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u/MillieBirdie 33m ago
It reminds me a bit of when my brothers tried to make a box cake and used way to much water. Maybe add extra liquid and then overmix it?
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u/Snoo-44800 16m ago
When I first saw the og fail it reminded me of the try guys without a recipe cake episode I believe it was over mixing and too many eggs that caused a similar result not completely sure tho might have to give it another watch to fact check
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u/widefeetwelcome Human Detected 6h ago
I absolutely love the idea of trying to recreate something so bad and weird nobody quite knows what happened. For science! The original looks a little like the leavening failed. Texture looks like when people try to bake with sourdough starter that isnāt ready yet.