By charmaine

Re: cracked cakes
12 Oct 2008 20:34

I've just made the Dundee Cake and the top has domed and cracked - anyone know why that happens? I'm just learning to do cake decorating and would love to know the secret of baking a cake thats fairly flat on the top! Thanks.

Replies

By cake eater

Re: cracked cakes
12 Oct 2008 21:39

yes! these are from www. baking911.cakes/problems

Overmixing
Oven temperature too hot.
Not using magi-cake strips which prevent the edges from baking and setting faster than the middle
Too much flour or too little liquid
Pan placed too high in oven. Before preheating the oven, adjust oven shelf to the middle.
cakes "-)

By Anwen Williams

Re: cracked cakes
12 Oct 2008 21:40

Hi, I also made a sponge cake today and it cracked, I have lost count as to how many sponge cakes I have made and this is the first time that it has cracked, I am very interested to hear why? Sorry I could not answer your question charmaine, I hope someone else can. xx

By Anwen Williams

Re: cracked cakes
12 Oct 2008 21:41

Sorry, cake eater and I must have submitted the same time, thank you. x

By bakingbabe

Re: cracked cakes
12 Oct 2008 22:17

Your oven could be to hot. A good idea is to buy an oven thermomiter. It's quite surprizing how some ovens show a difference in temperature and are not always accurate. My oven is 20c hotter than it says it is. If i want 180c i have to put it on 160c. They are not expensive i think mine cost me £4.50. You can get them from all good cook shops, hard ware shops and John Lewis even sell them. Good Luck

By Rita

Re: cracked cakes
12 Oct 2008 22:24

I cook my fruit cakes on a very low temperature for a very long time. Mostly between 110 and 120 deg C.

When I am in a bit of a hurry and cook my cakes on a higher temperature, they do crack but the moment they come out of the oven and still in their tin, I put a board on top of the tin and turn the cake upside down but not removing the tin. I leave this for about 15 mins and when I turn the cake back, the top is quite flat. I leave the cake to cool in the tin and by the time the cake cools, the cracks disappear.

Besides cooking the cake on low heat, I also smooth the batter in the tin with the back of my very wet fingers before putting in the oven. This creates a very very thin pool of water which helps with the humidity of the cake. the water is absorbed into the cake and keeps the surface quite moist for a while thus preventing rising and cracking.

Of course, insulating the outsides of the tin with wet newspapers delays the cooking of the edges so that the middle almost cooks at the same time as the edges and therefore cannot rise or crack.

Good luck with your cake decorating venture.

By charmaine

Re: cracked cakes
13 Oct 2008 09:33

Thanks everyone - thats really useful. I'll give your tips a try and hope for the best!!

By Impi

Re: cracked cakes
13 Oct 2008 09:33

Rita is the tops when it comes to cake making etc, I agree totally about putting a board on the tin and turning it upside down, I also use the cake upside down to decorate as the bottom is always totally flat and even and you can get a really good level top to decorate. : )

By susie

Re: cracked cakes
13 Oct 2008 11:06

I smooth the top of my cakes with the back of a spoon before baking drawing the mixture from the centre to the sides leaving a slight dip in the middle allowing the cake to rise in the middle but stay level.
Sue X