A bread machine does not only have to bake bread. Use it for mixing and baking your homemade cakes. Cakes are the same as quick breads, as they use baking soda or baking powder for leavening instead of yeast. Depending on your machine, use either the quick bread or the bake-only setting. The quick bread setting skips the rising step needed for yeast breads, and the bake-only setting will require that you mix the ingredients together before adding them to the machine. Whichever you choose, the bread machine will let you bake your cake without your oven.
Make a Cake With Quick Bread or Cake Cycle
Combine the boxed cake mix, eggs and oil in the kneading bucket of the bread machine.
Plug in the bread machine and press the "Quick Bread" or "Cake" button and the "Light Crust" setting. This setting mixes and bakes the ingredients and differs from bake-only functions.
Push the "Start" button to begin mixing.
Press "Pause" when the bread maker finishes mixing the ingredients.
Open the lid of the bread maker and stir the ingredients more with a rubber spatula if it does not resemble a smooth cake batter.
Pull the kneading paddle out of the pan with kitchen tongs.
Close the lid and restart the machine.
Allow the bread machine to complete the baking cycle. Insert a skewer into the center of the cake and remove it from the machine if the skewer comes out from the cake clean.
Cool the cake in the baking pan for 10 minutes before turning upside down on a cooling rack.
Make Cake with a Bake-Only Function
Mix the cake mix, eggs and oil by hand with a hand mixer, stand mixer or a spoon until smooth.
Remove the kneading paddle from the bread bucket and pour the cake batter in.
Lower the bread bucket into the bread machine and set it for the "Bake-Only" cycle and the "Light Crust" setting.
Wait for the baking cycle to complete. The machine will beep. Test the cake by inserting a long skewer into the middle. Remove the bread bucket from the bread machine when the tested skewer comes out without crumbs.
Place the bread bucket on a cooling rack for 10 minutes for the cake to cool inside the pan. Turn the bread bucket upside down over the cake cooling rack and remove to unmold the cake. Let the cake finish cooling on the cake rack until completely cooled before serving or decorating.
References
- "The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook"; Beth Hensperger; 2000