My $30 digital scale died right when I needed to weigh flour for a birthday cake

I was making a fancy layer cake for my friend's party yesterday, and the batter had to be perfect. The scale screen just went blank as I poured the flour. I had to guess the amounts, and the cake came out flat as a pancake. It looked so sad on the plate. Anyone else have a kitchen gadget fail them at the worst possible moment?

3 comments

3 Comments

sandragonzalez1mo ago

My old scale did the same thing mid cookie dough. I keep a set of measuring cups in the flour bin now as a backup. It's not as good, but you can fluff the flour with a spoon and scoop it level. That method got me through until my new scale arrived. The backup cups have saved me more than once.

joseph5291mo ago

You saying you keep cups in the flour bin is actually so smart. I used to be a scale only person and thought cups were useless. But my scale died once while I was making bread, and I had to guess. Having a backup right there in the bin would have saved that whole mess. I mean, it's not perfect, but it's way better than just giving up. I might copy that idea.

sullivan.abby1mo ago

Fluff the flour with a spoon and scoop it level" - see, that's the trick not everyone knows. I see people just dunking the cup in and packing it in there tight, getting way more flour than they wanted. But I got a question for you though. When you fluff it and scoop it level, do you find the results are close enough for things like cookies and biscuits? Or do you notice a real difference compared to your scale? I've been thinking about trying it more often myself but I'm worried it'll throw off the really finicky recipes where a couple grams matters.