I made an awesome handbag cake last night... was great... and then i started to make the huge order i have for saturday... My mums 50th bday cake.... Which is a 3 level 3 flavour cake... I bake the first cake.... raised well above the pan and the outside was cripsy and the inside was gooey... The second one... took an hour and half to cook rather than 45 min and was really dense.... 3rd cake.... fell apart... 4th cake... crispy again....

Whats going on!!!!!!

1st 2 cakes i thought if made a normal 2 inch high cakes... one rose so high the other was like 2 lumps stacked on each other....

so i thought i would make smaller layers and stack them with buttercream in the middle... But still failure....

This is a HUGE deal!!! Its for my family... its now almost 1am on friday morning and we need the cake ready by 9am saturday morning!!!!!!

to top it off... ive had not much sleep... spent most of my day running around for my mum getting things ready and im ready to cry!!!!!

Should i try again tomorrow or do i just go and get box cakes and make them up? The recipe i use normally never had failed on me until now!!!!!

It sounds like maybe your oven temperature is going all over the place. Do you have a thermometer to check it with?

It sounds like your oven temperature could quite possibly be fluctuating on you. Do you have an oven themometer so you can check it over the course of and hour or two?

I am so sorry this has happened to you and hope all works out perfect in the end! I am confident you will be able to pull off your mom's 50th birthday to perfection!

It sounds like the element might be going out on you. That's what happened to me when mine went out.

what they said! The oven temps going wild on you will do that every time. definitely need an oven thermometer. Even the cheap ones are a big help and will give you an idea of what's going on.

Is there a possibility, if the oven's gone wanky, that you can bake the cakes at a friend or relative's house, then decorate it at yours? That might cut down on frustration and prevent another disaster.

hoping that you get everything done for it without too much more stress. 50 is a big deal, and it's great that you're doing this for her.

Thanks girls...
I dont have an oven thermometer but maybe i will have to go and get one now..... seems odd tho that the other cake last night was perfect!

last resort im going up to my mums to use her oven today.... Not what i wanted but theres no other choice really i think....

Out of the 7 cakes a made last night i can possibly use 3 of them. Not too sure i wanna use them tho.... I need 6 to make into 3 cakes.

Next time maybe i should start baking the cakes earlier!

Thats why I always bake a few days to a week before and wrap them well and freeze. You just never know when something like this is going to happen.
This gives me time to correct whatever went wrong and reduces the stress. I only bake for family events but always want to be able to provide my best and I can't do that when I am rushed or sleep deprived.
Hope that this all works out for you.

heres how the cake finally turned out....

Choc cake was great until i picked it up to decorate it and it fell apart but i managed to save it!

You did a great job saving these cakes, would have never known.

Well now im recovered from the hangover of my mums party....

Heres the pic of the cake all set up...

Mum finally cut it at about 11pm and it was soooo yum! everyone raved about it and asked if i could make them cakes!

I sooo feel for you... Your cakes turned out wonderful in the end... can I offer some other suggestions?

Here are some ways to check your oven.. to make sure nothing is going on..

1. Always have a temp. gauge inside the oven (I have 2 just in case 1 goes out.

2. Hold a feather or something VERY light outside of your oven about where your seal is ... if the feather or whatever you use moves..you know your seal is broken and the seal needs to be replaced (very inexpensive).

3. Have your oven calibrated...

And another thing.. that I just RECENTLY found out (all of my cakes fell).. A lot of people bake at 325 for larger cakes.. and even for their smaller cakes.. but sometimes the for the recipe this is too low. The recipe I used needed to be bumped up to 340. Then the falling stopped.

Just a few other things to think about

Thanks so much for those suggestions...
ive just moved into a new flat with my friend so its the 2nd time i had baked with this oven. Shes going to get her oven checked out this week.

I have learnt so much over the last few days. Im just glad in some ways im on special leave from work at the moment so theres no stress of having to go to my full time job and have done the cake at the same time.

i just wish there were some cake decorating classes i could take over here!!! I think even some of the basics would help me as this was the first big cake i have done.

Christi--what type of cake needed to be bumped to 340?

The cake that I had to bump up was a vanilla cake with a added box of pudding and sour cream. ALL of mine fell ... I had never had a cake fall in my life.. I checked the internal temp of my cake (DONE!) I had a temp. gauge in my oven (perfect) .. I checked the seal (also perfect) .. So I raised my temp. that isn't a drastic raise but it did the trick.. raised nicely and was moist..