Gluten formation in cake dough I have no experience in cooking. So I apologize in advance if this is a simple question.

The first cake of my life that I made yesterday swelled very well in the oven. It had a soft texture when eating. The only problem was the interior was a bit dense.

I've been researching what might cause this. Many people suggest that gluten formation in cake dough is not good and to prevent this, the mixture should be mixed slowly and gently after adding flour.

It is said that gluten is important to keep air bubbles in the dough. Because carbon dioxide gases are expanding during cooking and gluten needs to be strong to avoid air bubbles coming out.

There's a few things I'm curious about. Very strong gluten causes an elastic structure and this will have an undesirable texture especially during chewing in foods such as cakes.

But if we want a fluffy cake, don't we need strong gluten? If I don't have a strong gluten, won't these air bubbles go out and create a denser structure during cooking? Isn't that a contradiction?

What happens during cooking? Is there something I know wrong? Doesn't the expansion of carbon dioxide gas when heated and the presence of strong gluten to hold it make up the fluffy structure in the dough?

Here is my Carrot Cake Recipe;

2 cups (250 grams) all-purpose flour (spooned &amp; leveled)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 and 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
210 ml vegetable oil
4 eggs room temperature
2 cups granulated sugar
3 cups grated carrots


Note: Firstly I whisked together the oil, eggs and sugar until fully combined.

Thanks for your help.
Gluten development is not something you need for a cake to rise, excess gluten development in a cake leads to a tough cake, dense cakes are usually caused by a different reason. With a carrot cake my first thoughts would be:


Too much moisture: carrot and other vegetable cakes can get very wet due to the moisture in the vegetables added, an overly wet batter (not enough flour and sugar to balance it out) can lead to a dense cake. You can dry the carrot a bit before using it to reduce this, or add a tad more flour
Underbaked: one common mistake new bakers make is baking to a recipe time rather than a result, if you bake a cake for 45 minutes that doesn't necessarily mean it is done, that time is a guideline. When you bake a cake the batter dries and crystallizes, trapping the air, if you underbake it this lattice isn't completely formed and it loses the air - you see this massive oven spring and then the whole thing collapses. The skewer test method isn't very reliable, next time keep baking until the cake springs back then you press it with a finger on top. I personally use that method and back it up with temperature measurements made with an instant read thermometer. A heavier cake like a carrot cake is done when it reads over 200&deg;F (94&deg;C), lighter cakes would want a higher temperature, closer to 210&deg;F (99&deg;C)