The Retro Cooking Hack You Need For Extra Spongy Cake

New is often synonymous with better, but in the world of cooking and baking, there's something to be said for time-tested advice. It may not be cutting-edge, but it has endured for good reason. Whether your grandma put her foot down about storing lemons in water to keep them fresh, swore by using starchy potato water to thicken soups or stews, or always put mayonnaise in her cakes to keep them moist, there's definitely a chain of old school kitchen advice that is passed down in every family. One of those baking tips is to use ice water in cake batter instead of milk to yield a lighter, fluffier texture.

This approach works particularly well in cakes that are light in nature, such as angel food cake or sponge cake. Using ice water in cake baking is not just an old wives' tale. The chilly temperature of the ice water actually serves the purpose of slowing the fat from melting, which helps the cake batter leaven by creating more air pockets. Keeping the butter in the batter cooler for longer ensures that everything melts and bakes evenly, preventing the cake from becoming stodgy. The result is that sought-after airy crumb.

Incorporating ice water into your cake batter could not be a simpler trick, but the proof is in the pudding, or rather, cake. If you are craving a lighter-than-air texture and would like to take it in a pain-free tropical direction on your next bake, try the hack of combining angel food cake mix with a can of crushed pineapple — you only need two ingredients for this light and airy cake. This dessert will leave you feeling like you are floating on a piña colada cloud.

Icy water and ice cubes can help in other sorts of baking as well. Adding ice cubes to your Dutch oven is a hack that can make your homemade bread crispier than ever. The immediate steam it produces will reward you with an ideal crispy, chewy crust. This same philosophy is the secret to a better pizza dough. Simply toss three to four ice cubes onto the doughy pizza crust before it hits the oven — it serves the dual purpose of weighing down the crust to prevent bubbling while providing a hit of steam for a golden brown crust with just the right bite. It may seem like a small detail, but ice is certainly nice when it comes to baking.