I have tried baking cakes at 180 degrees .. its a square pan .. often times the top of the cake cracks .. I try not to open up the oven for the first half an hour .. when the cake starts looking like its nearly done , after 30 minutes , i check it with the skewer and realize that it still needs a good 20 minutes to get done from the inside but the cake cracks on the top indicating that its getting over done !
i have tried reducing the temperature but then it takes so much time in the oven …
I place the cake in the middle of the oven .. what am i doing wrong?
u r baking it for a longer time... when i see the cake is slightly wet i turn off the over and leave the cake inside for few more mins ....it works this way
Apple ,the cake starts cracking15 minutes after I put it in the preheated oven ... its still very much uncooked from inside ... Like I can literally see the batter in liqiuid form on the skewer , so its not really about over cooking it ...
This is what i dont understand , what am I doing wrong ?
hmmm then several things may cause...
oven temp is too hot? for how many mins u prehat the oven?
or may be u r over mixing the batter.... can you describe how do you do it?
yeah sure .. I preheat oven at 180 degrees for about 15-20 minutes ...
meanwhile I prepare the mixture , I beat it with electric beater for about 5-8 minutes ... dye the mixture in various bits if I am making a colorful cake , for that I just use a spoon not the mixer ...
Then pour it in the cake tin and into the oven ... I try not to open the oven for about 30 minutes ... initially I used to open it as soon as I could see the cake cracking on the top , roughly about 15 -20 minutes and when i would check it would still be liquidy inside ... But then I stopped opening the oven before 30 minutes so the temp doesnt derail .. but that hasnt helped either ...
then there is something wrong with the ratio ...
can you write the whole recipe? may be u r adding too much baking soda..it can cause the cake rise too quickly ...
no , its the betty crocker cake mix ... I just have to add water , oil and eggs ... and yes I do mix them in using the electric mixer .. it says on the box to beat it for about 5 -8 minutes in the mixer and then bake it in the oven for 40 minutes ...
have you tried turning the oven down? to say 150 instead of 180? try that - sounds like it's too hot. Also, if after 30mins the cake starts cracking from the top, I would put the cake in for 20mins, allow the top bit at least to bake, then take it out, put foil over the top and put it back in for another 15-20 mins to allow the inside to bake. Try that too....
avoid mixing using electric beater… beat egg and oil using mixture .. then gradually add the flour mix and start folding the mixture with a spatuala.. .. too much mixing causes excessive air to get trapped in the batter and during the baking process air will excape leaving behind the cracks..i am not good in explaining cb lekin aise try ker k dekho
hmmm … thanks so much guys .. I think i will try all of these tips next time i bake the cake .. will mix the oil and eggs first and fold the batter in like apple said … and then will reduce the oven temp to 150 .. maybe my oven is a bit too hot …
I want to ask though , is it ok to cover the cake with foil ? I have heard that foil paper can have a negative impact on the oven
As apple B said just mix with a fork, there is too much air in the batter which causes it rise quickly and then literally the gas burst the very light cooked part of the top
Make your own mix next time, when have 5mins I will tell you ratios. I don't weigh mine, i use the cup ratio..
2 1/2 cups S R Flour ( Can exchange 1 cup of the flour with cocoa powder/coconut/oats)
2 Medium sized eggs
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons Baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Method
Use the same cup, no need to wash between ingredients
Melt 1 cup butter, add sugar and whisk with balloon whisk or even a fork
Add the flour and mix, add salt, baking powder, eggs and milk, and whisk
Now the secret is in the consistency, if it lumpy then add a tad more milk until it is in pourable state
Line the tins with greaseproof paper and butter , pour in the batter and place in a preheated oven at 150 ya around gas mark 7 and literally leave for 15 minutes, try and put both tins on one shelf (behind and front) if not swap over the tins (as in goes up and the other goes down on the shelves)
after 25 minutes, use the cocktail stick trick and like appleb says, if it looks almost clean leave the tins in the oven and switch off the gas!
I remember from my home ec lessons at school that a cracked cake top was due to having too much batter for the size of tin being used. So maybe try cooking the cake in a bigger tin.
Thanks so much Brit, I did indeed change the pan into a bigger one and there is plenty space for the cake to rise .. but the crack top still happens .. I think I may have overheated oven .. will try to reduce it and see if that works well ..
Foil has no effect on the oven - where did you hear that?! It just reflects the heat back from the tin so that the top part of the cake does not bake as much, so the middle and bottom can therefore bake more evenly. I’ve seen it in recipe books and have tried it myself loads of times, it works really well.
lekin aise try ker k dekho
I will try out the recipe soon inshallah …