Shelf · Dough & batter · No heat
Sifting
Shaking dry ingredients through a mesh so they land aerated and lump-free, usually all of them together.
Why it works
Flour compacts in the bag and cocoa and icing sugar clump hard enough to survive stirring — a lump of raw cocoa in a finished cake is a lump you will find with your teeth. Sifting the raising agent through WITH the flour matters just as much: a pocket of concentrated baking powder rises alone and leaves a bitter, tunnelled crumb around it.
The tell
What lands in the bowl looks like a soft drift rather than a poured heap, and nothing is left rolling in the sieve but the odd bran fleck.
No ladder here: there are two states, not three — it happens or it does not — and the third rung would have to be invented.
How it fails
Sifting and then packing it all back down with a heavy spoon. The aeration is half the point — after sifting, fold rather than stir, and stop the moment the streaks are gone.
In the app, the card opens on the recipe step that names it, with the tell drawn.
Learning is free on every plan.