INACCURATE OVEN TEMPERATURES ACCOUNT FOR A MAJORITY OF BAKING PROBLEMS.

If your cakes show indications of under-baking, try raising the oven setting about 25 degrees F.
If the problem appears to be over-baking, lower the oven setting about 25 degrees F.
If you continue to have difficulty, HAVE YOUR OVEN CHECKED FOR ACCURACY. Call your local gas or electrical company, or a range service person. Or, you can test it yourself with an oven thermometer. Simply set the oven regulator and place the thermometer inside the oven for about 20-30 minutes. Then check the thermometer to see if it registers the same as the oven regulator setting. If it isn’t exactly right, have the oven professionally adjusted.Specific baking problems and probable causes are listed below. Problems associated with inaccurate oven temperatures are indicated by an asterisk (*).

 

CAKE DID NOT RISE

• Pans too large

• Oven temp. too low – underbaked

• Under-beating batter

• Added too much liquid

• Batter sat too long before baking

 

CAKE FELL OR DIPPED/WAS SOGGY, COMPACT OR HEAVY

• Oven running too cool – underbaking

• Cake removed from oven before completely baked

• Too much liquid

• Extra ingredients added to the batter

• Excessive over-beating

• Used too much batter per pan

• Didn’t use cool water/cold eggs

 

BATTER RAN OVER SIDES OF PAN

• Oven temperature too low

• Pans too small /too much batter per pan

• Batter unevenly divided between pans. Fill pan about ½ full but not more than 1” deep

• Too much liquid

• Oven racks not level

• Pans not placed in center of oven

 

CAKE STICKS TO PAN/DIFFICULT TO DEPAN

• Pans not greased heavily enough

• Cooled improper length of time (if cake is still hot and tender, it will break easily. If too cold, the shortening begins to harden and can “glue” the cake to the pan)

• Cake not loosened with knife of spatula before removal.

 

CAKE WET/MOIST/WEEPS WHEN STORED

• Underbaking

• Not completely cooled before frosted or stored

• Frosting a frozen cake

• Freezing a frosted cake

• Stored in too warm/humid area

 

SHEET CAKES SPLIT/CRACKED

• Not enough batter in pan (use about ¾” to 1” of batter per pan)

• Stored at too warm a temperature, store at 40 degrees F in warm, humid months

 

CAKE SPLIT, HUMPED/PEAKED TOO MUCH, SHRUNK, HARD, HOLES AND TUNNELS, DRY, CRUMBLY

• All of these problems can indicate overbaking which results from too hot an oven or too long a bake time.

• Holes and tunnels can also be caused by:

• Failure to scrape bottom/sides of bowl when mixing batter

• Excessively lumpy mix (blend dry mix at low speed to break up lumps before adding liquids)

 

CUSTARD-LIKE STREAK ACROSS CAKE

• Streak across bottom of cake – too much liquid

• Streak under top crust of cake – underbaked

• Extra ingredients added to the batter

• Excessive over-beating

• Failure to scrape or improperly scraping bottom/sides of the bowl

 

LAYERS UNEVEN

• Oven racks not level

• Pans not centered in oven

• Too much liquid

• Under-mixing

• Oven temperature too high

 

UNEVEN BROWNING

• Oven not preheated

• Used dark, dented or warped pans

• Oven racks not level

 

CAKE DIFFICULT TO FROST

• Cake not removed from pan properly (see CAKE STICKS TO PAN/DIFFICULT TO REMOVE)

• Cake cooled in wrong position – cakes should cool right-side-up on a cooling rack

• Cake not completely cool before frosting

• Excess crumbs not brushed away

• Frosting not of a good spreading consistency

• Try using a crumb coat before frosting

 

CAKE BROKE/CRUMBLED WHEN ASSEMBLING

• Cake stored in too warm/humid area

• Cake not supported with rack when depanning or turning over

• Cake not stacked with adequate supports