Hello everyone!

I'm feeling a bit stressed, lately my cakes haven't been baking wonderfully as they used to. I've been getting this ring around the middle of my cake while baking. Does that mean there was too much air in the batter or I mixed it too much?  To get rid of the ring, I decided to cut off the top to see how far the ring went. I cut off about half an inch and it was fine, but as I was lifting it to wrap it in sarann wrap, I made a slight crack in the center! It's not fully broken in half.  It's a 12" cake that I'm not torting, I made another 12" cake to stack on top of it. But my question is, will it be safe to stack? There will be an 8" tier going on top.  Or do I bake a new one to be safe?

Your advice is always appreciated!

Can anyone offer some advice?

AI can't say why you're getting the ring I'm unsure why that's happening. Are you doweling your cake for support? I think the cake should be fine, especially if you dowel the tier above it. Hope things work out ok.

Thanks for the help Kazita! Yes, I will be doweling the cake for support. This 12" cake is going to be the base of the 2 tier cake. I think I will try to dowel around where the crack is and perhaps use this layers as the top layer of the two 12" cakes I baked.

AYou are gonna put the cracked cake on the uncracked cake? Now its just me but I would put the cracked layer on the bottom, I just feel that it would be more stable on the bottom rather than the middle of the cake.

It definately should be just fine, especially since you are putting another layer on top - do use the cracked layers on the bottom of the 2 layers w/the top/cracked side down on the board.   I have done thise many times.  For a bit more support you can fill the crack w/icing also. 

Re the ring around the cake:  w/o seeing a picture to be sure, I supect there is a bit too much liquid in the recipe. 

Thanks for the advice Kazita and kakeladi! I will put the cracked layer on the bottom, that actually makes more sense now cause the cake base will support it more.