Hello...wow..a bad week..Seems like the 2nd time I am writing with a problem...maybe I should just pack it in...

This is my 3rd time making these cakes tonight...and this is what is happening..Anyone seens this b4. I used the baking strips and it is a box cake, I baked at 325...not sure what went wrong.

I thought it was my oven....I THOUGHT I got it fixed a month ago...I paid $400 now...IT IS BACK!!! ( they didnt' know what it was)...

So, Please if anyone has seen this problem...any suggestions I WOULD SOOOOOOOOO APPRECIATE!!!
Thank you so much, Nicole

opps...here is the other one...Plus, I have a wedding cake next week...NOw I am really FREAKING OUT!!!
Thanks Nicole

Holy Cow! I have no idea. BUMP!

I realize I can cut off the top...BUT HOLY SIDES eh?...crazy!! I don't know...I don't think I should try to hide that with icing...would be horrible!

Wow...that's weird. How did you manage to get ridges down in the pans??? Did you doctor your mix at all??? It looks like too much leavener...baking soda or baking powder??? Is it a convection oven??

What kind of mix and did you "doctor" it with anything? Maybe overbeating or underbeating or humidty? Are you in high altitude?

It is just a cake mix...I didnt' change it at all...The first time I used an extra egg...This time I didn't...Yes, it is convection?....Do you think that is it?..Thank you for responding...

Have you checked your oven wrack to see if it was even? My bottom wrack has a support accros it and it seems like sometimes the pan teeters on the support. I had that happen with an egg shaped pan once. It looked like it starting baking and then because of that support, it caused the cake to shift. I hope this is making sense.

I bet it's the convection part. Maybe the air isn't circulating properly.

Sorry...so many posts...hehe..I should of explained myself better b4..

IT is a Betty Crocker..Super MOist white cake mix.

I live in Canada...hehe...So not humid...It has been snowing all day!
( I wish it was humid here!!)

Did you happen to look while it was baking? It looks to me like maybe the round cake rose REALLY high, above the rim of the pan, after it had set enough not to just spill over, but early enough that it was still expanding.

I had that happen one time, when I overfilled my pans, but it wasn't that extreme.

It looks like maybe you overmixed, which would have put a lot of extra air in the cake, especially if you mixed at a high speed. (or even medium on a KA). The air pockets would expand quickly, which would result in a really high cake. Unfortunately, the cake batter structure can't support that much height, so when this happens, you can then see the cake fall later in baking. (Which is what may have happened with the loaf.)

I'm not sure if it could also be a too hot or a too cool oven. Do you have an oven thermometer? I use a convection oven and bake even strips, and haven't had this problem. (I do know, though, that my oven automatically adjusts the temperature cooler than the set temperature, to compensate for the effects of convection, so when I set it to 325, it is really more like 295.)

RP

Ok Ok...I can't run the "quote" thingy properly...Anyways I would try again, follow the mix exactly, place the rack one step bellow the middle of the oven and make sure you follow the mixing times perfectly on the box mix, and don't use the bake even strips, you shouldn't have to with a normal box mix. SOOOO weird though, does the cake fell hollow or light?? The reason I ask is because there is only so much cake mix in a box, and if it's that tall I would think your cake is FULL of tunels...?

Here is my thought, you are possibly mixing it to much and putting to much batter in the pans. I just went to the betty crocker site and they have a lot of problem solving topics. The web site is just bettycrocker.com good luck You could also shave the side as well.

I was doing some searches on baking in covection oven. Some say use convential oven for cakes, that convection doesn't work well and messes with the way a cake rises. If you do use convection, don't overcrowd the oven. Make sure there is room for the air to circulate. It also says to turn the oven down 25 degrees, which you did. One place said to turn the fan off when you put the cakes in and take them out and not to open the door until it's done. Baking911, Sara Phillips says not to bake cakes in convection oven, that it works well for cookies and bread, but not cakes.

could it have something to do with the eggs at all?

maybe try with some eggs of a different brand or from a different store?

gee..... please post what solves this!

My thoughts were that it was the covection over and to check the temp in your oven with a thermometer. Also, are you soaking the Magic Strips in water and barely wringing them out before putting them around the pan? I don't have a convection oven but from the way they are suppose to cook, I cann't imagine that it would be easy to get a level cake with something that cooks so fast.

I have a convection oven and I put my temp on 335, when the oven has preheated, I put the cake in the middle part and bake for 3 minutes, I then turn the oven off for 12 minutes, I then turn it back on and finish cooking, on a quarter sheet it might take 10 to 15 minutes more. This was baked in a 2 inch pan. The cake should not "crown". I do have a commercial oven, but it really should not matter. I leave the fan on.

This usually happens when I over cook it or even when I under cook it. Mostly over cooking is the problem. It has happened a few times but if it is under cooked it will pucker because it is not done all the way and if I over cook it it shrink up.