Hi ya’ll! From time to time every baker experiences some issues when baking a cake. Below are some tips to help you solve some of the problems you may encounter. I hope that these tips help you make beautiful cakes!
Cake Bottom Crust Too Dark:
- oven too hot (lower by 25 degrees)
- use a heat shield on bottom rack (flat cookie trays work great and are cheap)
- using a lower quality cake pan (splurge for the good ones)
- over-baking (take it out when just a tad of crumb remains on toothpick)
Cake Doming:
- oven too hot (lower by 25 degrees)
- over mixed cake batter (only use speed 1-2 on mixer for no longer than 90 seconds)
- use wet strips (bake even strips) and a heating core to even out heat and baking rates
Cake Sticks to Pan:
- not enough pan grease preparation
- cake not cool enough (wait 10-15 minutes after cakes come out before removing from pan)
- cake too cool (gently warm bottom of pan over low burner flame to melt the fat and flip cake out)
This is one type of product to use in your pan preparation for an easy release!
Sinking in Middle/Falling:
- over-mixed batter (only use speed 1-2 on mixer for no longer than 90 seconds)
- under-baked (doctored cake mix recipes take longer)
- opening the oven door prematurely or too frequently (stop peaking!)
- oven temperature too low (check your actual oven temp with an oven thermometer)
- too much fat, liquid, or sugar in the recipe (don’t add more than recipe calls for)
Dry Edges:
- oven too hot (lower by 25 degrees)
- use wet (or bake even) strips
- use heating core or flower nail
- using low quality pan (did you get the good ones yet?)
- over-baking (chocolate more susceptible; take it out 3-4 minutes before you “think” it’s really ready)
Here is a picture of a heating core in action! You can find these at your at your local craft store, cake decorating supply shop, and online.
Good News! I’ve created a printable PDF version of this blog post; keep it handy when you bake; it may help you troubleshoot when things don’t go quite as expected. (It’s actually a PDF bundle of 3 that contains this troubleshooting guide, a cake servings chart, and a batter amount chart. Grab yours:
(I have full tutorials on all these topics and more in our online school 🙂
Until next time, Happy Caking!
Sharon
Sugared Productions Online School
thanks for tip
very welcome!
Hi Sharon,
Thank you so much for the wonderful information. I have been having problems with my cakes lately so the timing was perfect. I was wondering what you consider good cake pans because I use the Wilton ones and for some reason as soon as I take the cakes out of the oven they shrink, but only the top half. When I go to stack the cakes they are concave. I’ve tried turning down my oven temp because it tends to run hot and less mixing. I haven’t tried using the baking strips yet, but that was going to be my next step and after that maybe try a different pan. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!!!
hey Patricia, Do try my tips that are listed above. But if you want top notch pans, I recommend Magic Line all the way. You will be amazed at how differently they bake 🙂
Thanks Sharon…, never toooo late for these! lol
Glad it helps!
That is really thoughtful of you to share these important tips. Thank you.
THANK YOU for posting your troubleshooting guide! Definitely solves some of my problems. The biggest problem I have, though with baking, especially cupcakes, is that they get a sticky wet look on top of them (gummy look). When they come out of oven, they look perfect. It doesn’t matter the time of year, recipe I try, temperature I cook at, or how long I let them sit out or cool on a rack. I end up having to use a paper towel to try and soak up the moisture that forms on top before I frost. Sometimes even my wrappers start to pull away. Do you have any baking remedies to help avoid this? Thank you
Hi Dawn! Happy to help if I can. Can you tell me a bit more about your process for cooling etc?
Purchased a pumpkin bread box mix. I prefer it to be more dense. Any suggestions? Ingredients: The Mix, 2 large eggs, 1/2 c vegetable oil, 1 c water. Many thanks!!!
Hey Maria, I would try 1-2 more eggs and add a cup of pumpkin puree 🙂
I don’t bake or decorate cakes as I used to (old age maybe) but I still enjoy reading your emails and tips. You are the best on “Tips” and “How-To” of all decorators I’ve seen!
Elina you are so very kind, thank you!! xx
I took this to work on Friday and everyone loved it. Frosting is the best fudge I have ever had A very sweet combo. I would romecmend frosting cake while it is still warm to spread evenly, a very think frosting. Thank you for the recipe, will keep it in my favorite recipe file.
So glad you like it Nico!