From Cake Fail To Cake Nail-ed it: Samsung Ovens Help The UK ‘Rise’ To The Challenge

With September being the UK’s biggest month for birthdays, and a new series of the nation’s favourite baking show returning, Becky Excell shares her smart cake-making hacks, powered by the Samsung Series 7 Bespoke AI™ Oven.

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LONDON, UK – Tuesday 6th September 2023 – Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd: While the nation’s enthusiasm to give baking a go is renewed when its favourite baking competition hits the screens – more than three quarters (77%) are incapable of baking a successful cake, admitting they don’t have what it takes to be a star baker.

With September officially the UK’s biggest birthday month, melted icing, soggy bottoms and dry sponge risk leaving our efforts looking half-baked, with over half the nation (53%) admitting to throwing cakes out because they are inedible.

And despite birthdays being 50% of the nation’s favourite occasion for cake-making, some Brits have even admitted to faking it rather than baking it, as nearly a quarter (23%) have gone as far as buying a cake and passing it off as their own.

The new research by Samsung also reveals that making a cake is a technical challenge for Brits, with the UK’s top fails including cakes not rising (33%), burning the top (20%), and having a soggy bottom (19%).

And those living in Leicester have proven to be the nation’s worst bakers, with 15% rating their baking skills as terrible.

The nation’s least-skilled baking regions:

• Leicester (15%)
• Brighton (12%)
• Edinburgh (12%)
• Birmingham (11%)
• Belfast (10%)

To help save the nation’s birthday bakes this month, Samsung has partnered with recipe creator Becky Excell, to help family and friends rise to the occasion and bake smarter this September.

Becky Excell, Best-Selling Author and Food Writer said “Us Brits love to bake. But baking a birthday cake for a loved one can be very stressful for those whose bakes don’t always turn out how they would have hoped…! Having an oven that you can trust is key, and with Samsung’s Series 7 Bespoke AI™ Oven and its wealth of smart AI features, you can be confident that the centrepiece of that birthday bash is a sure-fire success”.

“Our research says that over 55% of the nation have blamed their oven for their baking disasters. As 70% feel having smarter tech in the kitchen would help improve their baking skills, the Series 7 Bespoke AI™ Oven will give them the confidence to do just that, with food recognition and burn detection settings^[1]. With its Film Inside function^[2], Brits can also keep an eye on their cooking and even take their bakes viral and share time-lapse videos of their creations using social media”, said Gino Grossi, Head of Brand Marketing for Home Appliances for Samsung UK

To avoid birthday-bake disasters, Becky Excell shares her top tips for creating a showstopper:

1. Weigh out your ingredients using digital electronic scales: Precision is everything when it comes to baking. Add a little too much or not enough of something and you can completely alter the texture of a cake. Fortunately, digital electronic scales are very affordable these days, and you can often pick up a good one in supermarkets or online.

2. Bake smart with the right equipment: It can be so easy to get excited or anxious about how a bake is coming along, but opening the oven mid-way through to check will result in an instant change of temperature, which can lead to a cake sinking or collapsing. I know it’s tempting to sneak a peek but try not to! It can also be easy to open the oven when you’re baking a batch of cookies for instance and think they’re nowhere near done because they’re still really soft. However, remember that the heat inside the cookies will allow them to continue baking a little once out of the oven. If you leave them in until they are firmer, you will end up with hard, crumbly, overbaked cookies.

The beauty of the Series 7 Bespoke AI™ Oven is that, with its internal camera and powerful AI, you can check on your bake along its journey without having to open the oven door at all. It even has a burn detection settingwhich you can use via the SmartThings App.

3. Cool down: Allow your bakes to fully cool down before decorating them. I know you might be in a rush to finish a cake, but icing a cake whilst it’s still warm is the worst idea ever, as the icing will likely melt or slide off. More haste, less speed! Also, don’t forget to remove your bakes from their tins and allow them to fully cool on a cooling rack.

4. Use room temperature ingredients unless the recipe says otherwise: When it comes to baking, it’s always a good idea to ensure your ingredients are all at room temperature. Guaranteeing none are too hot or too cold will mean that they all combine well, forming a smoother batter and a better-textured cake. Get your butter out of the fridge well in advance of when you need it and, if you keep your eggs in the fridge, make sure they come out before they’re needed too. There are of course situations where you’ll need cold butter, such as when making pastry, but room temperature is best for cakes.

5. Don’t leave your cake batter sitting around for too long: When baking a cake, always make sure you pre-heat the oven first because you don’t want your cake batter sitting on the side for too long! Raising agents within the batter will start to activate and this will lead to your cake not rising as much when it goes into the oven.

The nation’s top baking fails:

• Cake didn’t rise (33%)
• Burnt top (20%)
• Soggy bottom (19%)
• Melted icing (15%)
• Sunken sponge (15%)
• Dry cake (15%)
• Rock hard sponge (15%)
• Cake too thin to cut in half (12%)
• Fruit sunk to the bottom (11%)
• Lumpy un-sifted flour in cake (10%)

The Samsung Series 7 Bespoke AI™ Oven is designed to make your kitchen smarter, more versatile and more interactive than ever, using intelligent AI Pro Cooking technology to optimise cooking settings and monitor your food.

The newly launched Samsung Food platform can also help bakers raise their cake-making game even further, offering a personalised, AI-powered food and recipe platform. With connected cooking, seamless Samsung Food connectivity lets users set timers, preheat ovens and send recipes’ cook settings straight to appliances, such as the Samsung Series 7 Bespoke AI™ Oven, all from their portable devices.

To learn more about the Samsung Series 7 Bespoke AI™ Oven, please visit: Samsung Launches New Series 7 Bespoke AI™ Oven – Samsung Newsroom U.K.

[1] May not work properly when cooking specific food items that are a dark colour or have a cover, which can hinder recognition.

[2] Available on Android and iOS devices. A Wi-Fi connection and a Samsung account are required.