help please, how do you........

Poolfield2 · « **on:** July 17, 2008, 23:12 »

I have a recipe that works in a tray bake tin but I want to make it deeper in 2 loaf tins. First attempt looks like a volcano, it all cracked and split. I'm sure it will taste ok but I wanted to sell it at a fete so it needs to look better. Do I need to make the oven cooler for longer or hotter for a shorter time :? :?

compostqueen · « **Reply #1 on:** July 17, 2008, 23:14 »

dunno, I made a spice cake today and despite levelling it off and banging the tin on the worktop a few times it still came up all over the place with a cracked top :?

You could slice the top off and cover it with a frosting

Poolfield2 · « **Reply #2 on:** July 17, 2008, 23:15 »

I'm definitely going for the butter cream topping, hides a multitude of sins

Swee'pea · « **Reply #3 on:** July 17, 2008, 23:16 »

I was taught at school ( many moons ago now :roll: ) to always put the cake mix into the tin with a gradual dip into the centre so that when it rose in the oven it levelled upto the sides

NB: my cakes come out and would kill cats at 500 paces if thrown

make bl**dy great frisbees according to my OH

compostqueen · « **Reply #4 on:** July 17, 2008, 23:19 »

I often overcook things as I get distracted :oops:

Trillium · « **Reply #5 on:** July 18, 2008, 03:01 »

Because of the way most home ovens are set, it's impossible to not get the centre hump on baked goods. But by using a lower heat for a longer time, the hump is less noticeable.

Only way to not have the cooking hump is to buy a professional bake oven, which can set you back several thousand pounds. Justifiable only if you bake like a fiend.

jennyb · « **Reply #6 on:** July 18, 2008, 07:12 »

i had this issue with my cherry cake recently and set the oven to the normal oven setting not the fan oven temperature - so about 20 degrees C too high, there for the tin got too hot it went very brown on the edges, the top set and then when the middle started to rise and cook it eprupted out the top of the cake leaving it cracked.

i'm going to try again at a lower temperature for the fan oven

Moosey · « **Reply #7 on:** July 18, 2008, 14:19 »

I like the raised up hump/cracked bit on a cake it aways makes it feel nice and homemadey to me!

catarama · « **Reply #8 on:** July 18, 2008, 18:03 »

Quote

MooseFinder Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2008 1:19 pm Post subject:

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I like the raised up hump/cracked bit on a cake it aways makes it feel nice and homemadey to me!

I must admit, that's exactly what I was thinking because mine always come out that way too

Poolfield2 · « **Reply #9 on:** July 19, 2008, 00:18 »

So good to find that I'm not alone with my alien cakes. I have to say that by the time I had the buttercream on it looked better and had no trouble selling it at the fete. I had made 2 at the same time so I tested that one out on a friend and we agreed that it was better tasting than it looked.

I'll try a lower temperature next time

Hey Moosefinder, Stockport is where I was born and lived for 18 years.

Moosey · « **Reply #10 on:** July 21, 2008, 15:20 »

Hey Poolfield!!

I can bet you it hasnt changed all that much! Where abouts were you from?

Poolfield2 · « **Reply #11 on:** July 22, 2008, 23:41 »

My parents still live in Davenport where I was born. I can't cope with the centre of Stockport now I can't work out where I am or what it used to look like.

compostqueen · « **Reply #12 on:** July 23, 2008, 08:53 »

Cake time here this week as it's lotty open day on Saturday so gonna start practicing today. Wish me luck

My main oven has totally conked so baking in one of those small combi oven microwave things. It's great but a tad on the small size so can only get round tins in it and one at a time. What a faff :roll:

jennyb · « **Reply #13 on:** July 23, 2008, 14:59 »

what you baking compost queen?

i did the the last of the test runs for the show - cheese and olive scone bake, don't think it was a great success and i'm not convinced its cooked properly.....

help please, how do you........

Trillium