Things bakers know: Never fold cake batter in this type of bowl
Shorter is better — here's why.
By now, you’re probably familiar with the famous “fold in the cheese” scene from the show Schitt’s Creek (and if you’re not, you should be). Folding may seem like an intimidating technique at first — recipes are often full of dire warnings about doing this step carefully — but if you keep in mind a few fundamentals, there’s no need to fear. Usually, bakers are preoccupied with using a delicate touch and the correct motions. But one more unexpected yet crucial factor for folding success? The type of bowl you’re using.
But first: what even is folding?
When working with a batter, folding refers to gently combining a soft, airy mixture — like whipped cream or whipped egg whites — with a heavier, denser mixture, like melted chocolate or cake batter. The goal is to keep as much air in the mixture as possible as you mix the two, ensuring the finished product stays light and fluffy. If you’ve just expended lots of effort getting your whipped mixture to stiff peaks, you don’t want to undo all of your hard work by immediately deflating those air bubbles with vigorous mixing.
Folding is key to the delicate, airy texture in a cloud-like mousse, towering soufflé cheesecake, billowy angel food cake, and especially a classic chiffon cake. If you rush or overwork this step, you could end up with either streaky, undermixed cakes or leaden, sunken ones.
The traditional method used for folding is to use a flexible spatula to cut down through the middle of the batter, scrape along the bottom and side of the bowl, then gently fold the mixture up and over itself into the center of the bowl (hence: folding!). You can also fold with a whisk instead of a spatula — its multiple wires offer more points of contact to “grab” more of the whipped mixture and pull it into the denser mixture, which can make folding go faster.
It’s not just tools: The bowl you use matters too
But while many bakers focus on (and argue about) which tool to use for folding, the bowl you use matters, too, and is often overlooked. Maybe, fearing more dirty dishes, you’re tempted to do the folding step in the same stand mixer bowl you used to prepare your batter. But stop right there: A tall, narrow stand mixer bowl is actually too deep for effective folding! A wide, shallow bowl is a much better vessel for this task.
A wider bowl allows you to fold the mixtures together more effectively and with fewer strokes, translating to more air left in the batter: The taller, more narrow stand mixer bowl requires you to work the batter too much to completely combine the mixture, further deflating it. The wider shape of a shallow bowl also means less of the batter will get piled up on top of itself, so its own weight won’t deflate the mixture either.
We recommend mixing your denser mixture in a shallow bowl (or transferring it to one after mixing it in the stand mixer), then adding your whipped mixture to it to fold them together, as outlined in our Olive Oil Chiffon Cake recipe. (Adding your lighter mixture on top, rather than the other way around, ensures it retains the most air possible. If you add the heavier, denser mixture onto the whipped mixture, it will deflate before you even start folding.)
Even if your recipe doesn’t direct you to do so, use this trick for better folding every time. As for choosing what type of bowl to reach for, King Arthur’s Recipe Development and Test Kitchen Manager Sarah Jampel instructs, “As long as the bowl is wider than it is tall, it should work well!” Try the bowls in this Complete Lightweight Mixing Bowl Set, particularly the larger 4- and 5-quart options. Your folding is guaranteed to turn out better (and go more smoothly than the amateur chefs on Schitt’s Creek).
Cover photo by Patrick Marinello; food styling by Yekaterina Boytsova.
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