Can we talk about that time I used salted butter instead of unsalted in a cake

I was making a vanilla layer cake for a friend's birthday last month and grabbed the wrong stick from the fridge... the frosting ended up tasting like a pretzel. Has anyone else ever made a swap like that and had it ruin the whole bake?

3 comments

3 Comments

stone.thomas1mo ago

You mentioned the frosting "tasted like a pretzel" so I'm wondering, did you try to balance it by adding extra sugar or did you just serve it salty? That seems like the kind of thing you'd notice pretty quick after the first bite. Did your friend say anything about it or just politely eat it?

tyler6141mo ago

Right, the "tasted like a pretzel" part is exactly it. I actually read this thing from Stella Parks, the Serious Eats baker, where she explained salted butter has way more water than unsalted, which can mess with the creaming method and make a cake denser. You can't just add sugar to fix the saltiness because that throws off the sugar ratio and the texture. Your friend was probably just being polite, eating a cake that sounds like a total bust.

the_skyler1mo ago

Oh man, salted butter strikes again! At least you accidentally invented a new flavor - "sea salt surprise cake.