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6 Tips to Keep Chocolate Chips from Sinking to the Bottom of a Cake

September 29, 2016 By Deb Farina 7 Comments

Ever make a cake that contains chocolate chips and it’s all going ‘wonderfully’ right up until you cut into the cake after it’s baked?  There, right at the bottom of the cake sit all those beautiful chocolate chips forming a ‘puddled crust’ of chocolate.  I’m not saying that’s a bad eating experience – just that what you were going after was a nice, uniform, even distribution of chips throughout the cake.  Well – here are 6 Tips to Keep Chocolate Chips from Sinking to the Bottom of a Cake.

I just made a beautiful Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Pound Cake* – not to mention with Brown Sugar Buttercream – yum!!! – Gosh I get distracted easily.  Well, I was making a two tier cake and on the first two layers, I completely forgot to employ these tips.  And, I ended up with exactly what I described above.  So, do as I say, not as I do…

*Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Pound Cake

So, here goes.  What I’ve done to test these theories is to make my Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Pound Cake  employing each of these different tips so that you can see how these work.

Tip Number One

Remember that you’re fighting gravity here.  The viscosity (thickness) of your batter and the density of your chocolate chips play a key role to success.  These babies (chocolate chips) are heavy for their size and they don’t want to suspend in the batter – gravity wants them to fall to the bottom.  So the first thing you need to do is make sure your batter can support the weight of your chips.    Easy solution here is to add 2 Tablespoons to 1/4 cup of additional flour to the mix to thicken it up.  

Tip Number Two

Change from 4,000 count chocolate chips to 10,000 count mini chocolate chips.  4,000 count is the normal size chocolate chip that you’re buying in the grocery store – just means that there are 4,000 chips in 1 pound of chocolate chips – go ahead and count them – I’ll wait.  This is probably an obvious solution.  The mini chocolate chip is lighter than the 4,000 count which helps it suspend in the batter.

6 Tips to Keep Chocolate Chips from Sinking to the Bottom of a Cake

Tip Number Three

Moisten the chocolate chips with a bit of liquid from the recipe and then toss in 2 Tablespoons of flour before adding to your batter.  I got this one from my idol, Rose Levy Beranbaum.  Clever.

6 Tips to Keep Chocolate Chips from Sinking to the Bottom of a Cake

Please excuse my cutting of the cake in Tip #3.  Of course, I tried to cut it while it was still slightly warm and I created a mess.

Tips 1, 2 and 3

6 Tips to Keep Chocolate Chips from Sinking to the Bottom of a Cake

Tip Number Four

For small items like cupcakes, sprinkle the chips on top of the batter and let them fall through the batter during the baking process.  And, please take note, the mini chocolate chips were too light and didn’t sink very far into the batter.

6 Tips to Keep Chocolate Chips from Sinking to the Bottom of a Cake

Tip Number Five

For larger items like cakes, place half of the batter into your cake pan, cover with half of the chocolate chips, cover with the remaining cake batter and sprinkle the remaining chocolate chips on top.

Tip Number Six

If making chocolate batter, toss the chocolate chips in an additional 2 Tablespoons and up to 1/4 cup of cocoa and add to your batter.  One great tip I heard is to keep your empty can of cocoa in your pantry and use that to toss the chocolate chips in the extra cocoa.  Easy – just put the lid on and shake, shake, shake.

6 Tips to Keep Chocolate Chips from Sinking to the Bottom of a Cake

Tips 4, 5 and 6

6 Tips to Keep Chocolate Chips from Sinking to the Bottom of a Cake

And there you have it!

Buon Appetito!

6 Tips to Keep Chocolate Chips from Sinking to the Bottom of a Cake

 

 

 

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Filed Under: All Posts, Baking Tips, Cakes, Muffins Tagged With: 6 Tips to Keep Chocolate Chips from Sinking to the Bottom of a Cake, Baking Tips, Chocolate Chip Pound Cake, Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Pound Cake

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Comments

  1. Diane Farina says

    September 30, 2016 at 10:26 am

    These are some great ideas,Deb, thanks for sharing. I am sure none of us amateurs would know to try any of these methods. As soon as I find my baking pans, I will make a pound cake. Love the Zebra cake. You're so talented!!!
    Reply
    • Deb Farina says

      October 3, 2016 at 2:28 pm

      It is just so darn good. I wish I could just cut off a small sliver and have it every evening, but I'm all in, unfortunately. Appreciate your kind words.
      Reply
  2. Meghna says

    October 31, 2018 at 8:05 am

    Thank you for these great tips. Very helpful
    Reply
  3. Naomi says

    December 17, 2018 at 12:50 pm

    amazing, i didn’t need to keep looking for a solution to my problem, loved these tips, thanks for sharing!
    Reply
    • Deb Farina says

      December 18, 2018 at 12:52 am

      So glad these helped. Appreciate you taking the time to let me know!!
      Reply
  4. Royal says

    January 23, 2019 at 11:19 am

    Thank you for showing the results of each method. I have a blueberry lemon cake (2 layers cut into 4) that I always end up with a yellow layer and a blueberry layer from each cake pan. Flouring does not work, and the recipe uses cake flour which adds to the problem. I also make it when blueberries are in season and nice and big-which makes them heavier. I converted it into muffins and threw additional blueberries on top in addition to those mixed with flour in the batter. THAT worked, as you found as well. I'll be curious to try the 1/2 batter, fruit, 1/2 batter, fruit on top method. It is definitely just gravity at work, so making the pieces smaller and lighter helps. I have this problem with a Chocolate Oreo Cream bundt cake. The ring of cream (sweetened cream cheese) sinks to the bottom, but I also feel the top (when in oven) of the cake cooks and expands more than the bottom. I notice evenly leveled cream layers always swirl and look like the expansion of batter moves up around the cream and then pushes downward compressing it and spreading it to the walls. I've noticed this upside-down U pattern in cream-filled cakes are sliced on TV as well. I kept the cream from crisping on the bottom of the pan by using a layer of oreos beneath the cream layer. It avoided most of the problem, but when you cut the cake there is a thick all-cake bottom and all the cream filling is squeezed near the top. I've played with maybe freezing the cream layer as a ring for 10 minutes, then dropping it into the batter and covering it only slightly with batter. My thought is it will keep the top of the cake a little cooler and give the bottom (which will become the top) a head start on expanding and building structure..
    Reply
    • Deb Farina says

      February 3, 2019 at 12:32 pm

      Hey there. I'm curious to see how freezing the cream layer works. I'd appreciate you letting me know. To keep the cream layer from sinking to the bottom, the cake batter and the cream layer need to be the same viscosity because it is exactly as you say - gravity at work. I need to look through my recipes for a chocolate cake that was designed for just this situation. I'll share it with you once I find it - luckily I have a good idea where it is. Thanks for sharing your baking experiences with me. Love to hear about it.
      Reply

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Meet Gluten Free Farina

Hi there. I'm Deb Farina - an
Executive Pastry Chef, Food Scientist, Wife, Mother, Stepmother, Mother-in-law, Grandmother, Dog Lover, 100% Italian American, Gluten Intolerant. I'm committed to creating and testing Gluten Free recipes for Baked Goods, as well as other delicious foods, that you can easily make at home - downright ‘fabulous,’ not just good for gluten free! You can do this.

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