Big cracks on the cake and hard crust.
Hi Lorelie, I love your advice and teachings all the way. Please help me with what causes big cracks, hard crust and dense cake, usually on a chocolate cake. Does the tray in the oven have to be in the middle or further away from the bottom red - hot wires. Another question. Do you have a good fruit cake recipe, for a wedding? Regards Jules Hi Julie, It sounds like your oven is too hot. The cake will form a crust and then as it rises it will crack. Try a lower setting for your oven temperature. Also try my chocolate cake recipe. I don't have a fruit cake recipe as of yet on this site. I never use one. Bu I will bet that if I ask my Facebook cake decorating friends they will be able to help you with that.
Let's see if they do and if not I will add one to the site. I have to do some research first.
Thanks for great questions. Come back soon:-)
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Oven Temperatures
by Jules
(Harare)
Hi
Please help me with oven temperature......
Each time I bake a cake that calls for 180 degrees Celsius and 25-30 minutes for it to be ready it takes 1 hour 30 minutes for the cakes to be done.
Although I put the cake tin in the center of the oven it does not change anything.
Should I increase the temperature???? Will the cake not burn out ?????????????
PLEASE HELP...........
Hi 180 degrees Celsius is equal to 356 Fahrenheit according to the conversion help I got online. 350 is the usual temperature for baking most cakes. You will have to experiment a little bit with your oven. First get an oven thermometer and make sure that your oven is true to the temp. Then possibly add less batter to your pans. I have the opposite issue with my oven and have to bake at a lower temperature.
And also keep in mind that even though the instructions say to bake 25-30 minutes, that can vary. If your cakes are coming out tasty and not too dry then I would not worry about the length of baking time it takes to bake them. In general use a recipe as a guide and tweak the directions to suit your situation. Hope that helps with your oven temperatures question.
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White butter cake crusts
When I make a white butter cake, I notice that the crust is coarse but the rest of the cake is quite moist.
Do professional bakers trim off side and top crusts?
Am I overcooking the layers? (32 minutes for 8" layers at 350 degrees in aluminum tins)
Hi Jodie, Great question about cakes crusting. Luckily you can salvage the crusty cakes by trimming as you suggested. I have had my share of crusted cakes. LOL and most bakers experience this, sometimes in a professional setting, especially if you have to share an oven with another chef.
You can try a couple of things to alleviate this.
You could be overcooking the cakes. Even though it says to bake at 350 try 325 or 335 instead. These are the temperatures that I use with my cakes. (gas oven)
Make sure you don't over beat the egg whites before incorporating them into the batter, they should be stiff but not dry.
It is also possible that the sugar content is slightly high, try deleting a tablespoon of it the next time you bake your white butter cakes.
Good luck with your white butter cakes :-)
Thanks for stopping by!
have you tried my butter cakes?
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Dry cakes
I am baking in a gas oven and I use the proper temp and time according to the recipe, but my cakes tend to be a little dry.
What can I do to make them moist?
Hi
First off I would try baking the cakes at slightly lower temperature. My oven is a gas oven too and I bake most of my cakes at 325 to 335 degrees depending on the batter. Next make sure you test them at regular intervals and remove them if necessary before the time is up.
You could try adding pudding mix to the batter. I personally have not done this but I have read it on the cake forums.
Try adding slightly more oil or liquid or an extra egg to the batter.
Do what a lot of bakeries do, make a simple syrup and brush the layers with it to re moisten the cakes. You can add flavoring in the form of extracts or liquors to the syrup to add an extra dimension to the cakes.
Here are two suggesstions on the site already. My Lemon syrup., or Robins comment at the bottom of this wedding cake preservative question. She talks about the pudding and has a recipe for simple syrup for you.
Thank you for visiting and asking a great question. Good luck with the dry cakes dilemma.
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