Hello! I quadrupled a chocolate cake recipe yesterday and when I was leveling and torting the cake I could smell a really strong ammonia smell coming from it. I'm not sure if maybe the baking soda could be the issue. I tried the cake last night and it didn't taste weird, but now this morning it definitely has an ammonia taste to it. Has anyone had this happen or heard of this happening? Thanks for your help!

I think you are right about the ammonia. It probably has something to do with quadrupling the recipe. I have read that you really can't do that with a lot of recipes because it throws off the balance of the ingredients. Maybe some of the more experienced cake scientists can chime in here for a more detailed explanation.

I google "ammonia smell in cake" and it said it could be the baking soda. Some one also said your cat could have gotten on the counter and peed on the cake...lol. I would google it and read some of the stuff about it. Good luck.

Thank you both for responding! LOL! I don't have a cat, so I think it is definitely the baking soda. I'm going to try it again, but this time I will just cut back on the baking soda and hopefully it will still rise properly.

I doubled a chocolate box recently and it had a metallic smell to it to me. Nobody else could smell it. I thought it was just me! Thanks for the post. I'm going to check that out too.

Just wondering if you did some cleaning with amonia that the cake might have absorbed. A friend told me she baked a cake once while her husband was painting in the next room and she thought her cake absorbed the scent. Just another suggestion.