Why doesn't my cake bake right?

Question

When I bake a cake, it's really high in the middle and thinner along the edges. What causes this and how can I prevent this? Do I have to trim off the edges? I'd end up with a small cake!

Answer 1

This used to happen to me all the time. Turned out the thermostat in my oven was messed up. It was hotter than it said it was, and the edges were cooking first, and pushing the batter up in the middle. You can get a thermometer to put in the oven while it is preheating that will give the actual temp. If it's too high (ex: oven set at 300 and actual temp. is higher), then you can lower the temp. to match with the thermometer temp. These are available at hardware stores, and you can do this until you can get your oven thermostat re-calibrated. Good luck!

Answer 2

Cakes are not my strength since I prefer biscuits, breads and scones but altitude, type of oven and humidity levels can affect baking. My cookies and puddings turned out a lot better on the flat plains of the Prairies, in a new oven, in a dry house. In the mountains, there were always problems with baking consistency.

Another possibility is that you are using the wrong pan. Consult some cookbooks for more details about proper cake-baking. You may need to use more fat in the pan and dust it with white flour. Stay away from beef tallow and lard, use corn oil instead. Some margarines cause the cake to burn while baking at high temperatures. Try baking them with less moisture and fat in them and turn down the oven, then let it bake a little longer. Do not use a deep cake pan.

Answer 3

if your batter is thick enough, you can take a spoon and hollow out the middle just before you put it in the oven to bake. If the batter is thin, then wait about 5-10 minutes and do the same. This will greatly minimize the middle of the cake rising so much higher than the sides. Even professional bakers trim the "tops" off their cakes before icing. This can be done very easily using a long clean piece of thread. Icing should be done in two stages. First thin a little of your icing so that it spreads easily over the cake. This layer of icing will keep the crumbs in their place. Then you can ice your cake with regular icing without getting a bunch of crumbs mixed in.

Answer 4

No don't trim the cake! as all cakes after baking them are high in the middle!! what u have 2 do is turn the cake over, put it on top of the other then make it look good from there!!!

Answer 5

Are you putting it at the right temperature?


Maybe you're using too much baking soda/powder?


I had that happen to a cake I made recently, but it was because I used the batter for a 9 x 13 inch pan as the recipe called for, but made it in an 8 x 8 since I don't have a 9 x 13... I just thought it would be a thicker cake. lol

Answer 6

you are using the wrong kind of baking dish. there is a reason why bakers always use round pans.
the problem is square pans get hotter at the corners, and the shape of it does not allow the cake to spread out and rise evenly.
so it cooks on the outside first, that becomes rigid and does not climb up the pan. so the the cake can only rise in one place... you guessed it in the middle.
i suggest getting a round cake pan. always get aluminum. not glass, not stainless steel. glass and stainless get hotter than the oven because they are good conductors of heat. i also suggest getting a spring form. it is a 2 part cake pan that latches into a circle. just bake your cake. let it cool.
then pop the form loose. wa-lah you have a nice flat cake.
just make sure to coat the pan with peanut oil. i use peanut oil because it doesnt burn.
enjoy.
walt

Answer 7

it sounds like uneven heating in your oven make sure that your oven racks are in the middle so not to close to the bottom and not to close to the top and if your cooking the cake in a bundt pan then when you flip it over it will flatten out and be some what even (if I'm understand what your asking about high in the middle and thin on the sides) if your using layer cake pans then what you can do is go out and buy this cake pan wrap it is grey and it goes around the outside of the pan and your cake won't have what we call a belly but you can create one by using aluminum foil just tear of a pretty decent size rectangle of foil and fold it to the size of the side of the pan(layer pans only) and then wrap it around the cake pan when you bake it and what this does it creates and even heating element which will make your cakes come out even I hope this helps you out ~Good luck~Chef Abby

Answer 8

like someone else suggested tap the pan to get rid of air bubbles before baking. some types do raise more in the middle i find round pans do this more.

my mother made wedding cakes as i was growing up and always used dental floss before she took the cake out of the pan. to make the top even. that was the best thing about the cakes eating the top crusts. yummy. oh and she always greased the pans and lined the bottom and top with waxed paper so she could get flip the pans over and get em to come right out. works really good.

Answer 9

I even have in no way added baking powder to the recipe i take advantage of (my nan's) i've got certainly have been given to make 200 tarts as we talk so I even have been googling to work out if i could upload baking powder, regardless of the undeniable fact that an astounding sort of recipes do no longer ask for it it somewhat is the recipe my nan taught me from a youthful age 4oz Caster sugar 4oz Self elevating flour 4oz butter or marg 2 medium eggs beat the sugar and butter collectively, upload the eggs then fold interior the flour, at gas mark 5! google for recipes without baking powder, theres an astounding sort of them =) desire this helps xx

Answer 10

No, this happens because their is air trapped in the batter. Before you place it in the oven, bang it on the counter softly to knock the air out. I would also look at the kind of flour you're using (make sure it doesn't have a leavening already in it) and smooth the batter out after you put it in the pan.