The most laborious part of baking a cake involves stirring the batter to ensure the ingredients are evenly mixed and that the lumps have been smoothed out. But did you know it’s possible to skip this step entirely? Just like your blender can whip up milkshakes and pulverize frozen fruit into a creamy consistency for smoothies, it can also whirl the ingredients for your cake batter into a smooth mixture — all while saving you the muscle work of stirring it yourself.
Blending up your cake batter is as simple as it sounds. All you really have to do is plop your ingredients in the main jar, and combine everything on low speed. If you want to mix your wet ingredients together before adding the dry ones, as is common with cake recipes, you can do so easily. The only manual labor you may have to undertake is to scrape down the sides of the jar a couple times, but this involves way less arm work than stirring. And instead of dirtying a stack of bowls, you only have the one main jar to clean up afterwards.
Blend to your heart’s content
While it is super simple to whip up cake batter in your blender, there are a few things to keep in mind. In general, it’s crucial not to overmix your ingredients, because doing so can lead to a tough final product. But the blender moves significantly faster than your arm would, so it can be easy to cross this threshold. To avoid overmixing, pulse only for only a few seconds at a time. This allows you to stop and scrape down the sides in between each interval, at which point you can assess if more blending is needed. Once everything is combined, pour the batter in a pan and bake as you normally would.
It’s also important to note that this method may not work well for every type of cake. Your blender will work best with straightforward recipes, like vanilla loaf cake and chocolate gooey butter cake, although you may also be able to use it for cheesecakes, poke cakes, and upside down cakes. If you want to add mix-ins, like nuts or chocolate chips, gently stir them into your batter in the blender jar before pouring everything into your pan. When attempting something more complex, you may want to stick to more traditional methods. If you need to fold egg whites into your batter for a chiffon cake or gradually sift flour into an angel food cake, for instance, you’ll likely be better off using a mixing bowl.
