How do I know for sure if a cake is ruined? I've made this recipe at least 3 times now, but tonight for some reason the cake domed and cracked. Toothpick test said it was done but after cooling 5 min, I took it out of the pan and discovered there was a part in the middle that was still liquid. 
This happened to BOTH cakes. Put them back in the oven for 6 min, don't know if it was too late to try that (once you take a cake out and remove it from the pan, is that it - it's over?)
Wrapped them in saran wrap to steam, just checked on them, they each definitely look collapsed near the center.
A) can they be salvaged and
B) What the *** went wrong?
Here are the details:
* 9" magic line pans, greased lightly (I think) w/50/50/50 cake release, parchment circle on the bottom
* baking strips and flower nails used too
* baked at 300 for 33 min. Cake usually takes 35 min but toothpick test indicated they were done (obviously I didn't happen to stick the toothpicks into the one little spot where the batter was still a puddle.)
>>What's different? Well I have to admit, I'm in a new house so the oven is different from past. Also this is the first time I've used the magic line pans, formerly used a nonstick 9" pan set, heavy gauge but didn't like that the sides weren't straight.
Help!! I use callebaut chocolate and plugra butter, this stuff ain't cheap! 
Hmmmm, I don't know, but I feel your pain! I just baked Toba's chocolate cake in a 10x3in pan and it took almost 90 mins to cook all the way through! That middle was a puddle forever (and yes, I used a flower nail as a heat conductor!!!), and now it's sunk in the middle - but it always does with this recipe! Luckily it's for my daughter's birthday, so I shall level and eat the scraps hahahahaha!
You may want to test your oven thermometer. SOme folks just buy a seperate oven thermometer and use it instead of the one on the oven. My own oven runs 'hot' - there is no way 300 in my oven is really 300!
It's not uncommon for ovens to be wildly inaccurate!
Good luck!
You poor thing. If this cake is for a customer, I'd start all over ... expensive or not. Check with the toothpick in several locations before removing from the oven.
Experiment with the underbaked one ... try putting it back in the oven; I always wondered if a cake can be popped back in after discovering it's not quite baked enough. I have not done it before. Let your family enjoy the ruined one.
If the middle never does set, or if you just don't want to bother trying to bake it longer; save the outer edges that are good and used them for cake balls or cake for the family.
Sorry for your inconvenience. I hope you're not crunched for time.
I think you have to start over unless you can scoop out the middle and fill it with berries 
.
I do have a question though, why did you bake it at 300? 350 is the normal setting for a 9' pan and I've heard of 325 for large pans but 300 seems awfully low and 33 minutes seems very short at such a low temp.
I have had this trouble when I cooked at a too low temp. First cakes came out great and then i thought, they looked a little brown, I'll turn it down a little. So the next ones looked beautiful.....rose wonderfully and had a light color to them. Test picks came out clean. However once I leveled them, wholly raw centers batman!
So lesson learned, always bake at the called for temp and make sure your oven temp is right!
Stpehanie
I had a cake recently that seemed to be taking forever to get finished baking. When it finally seemed ready - I had already lowered the oven temp. a bit and rested a small piece of foil on the top (because the top almost looked like it was ready to burn) - the toothpick test said it was ready and I took it out. After it cooled for about 10-15 minutes and I removed it from the pan I noticed that the bottom center was not as done as I would have liked. So I torted it VERY CAREFULLY, put it on a cookie sheet, inside up and put it back in the oven on 300. Basically it toasted the inside.
I wasn't too concerned because I was filling it with raspberry jam the day before needed and figured that would soften up anything 'crusty'. It worked for me.
[quote=[quote:b98bcef985]"keepontryin"]I think you have to start over unless you can scoop out the middle and fill it with berries .
I do have a question though, why did you bake it at 300? 350 is the normal setting for a 9' pan and I've heard of 325 for large pans but 300 seems awfully low and 33 minutes seems very short at such a low temp[/quote:b98bcef985]
I agree. When I bake at 325 it takes a REALLY long time to do even 9" cakes. Were there instructions with the pan that indicated you needed to use a 300 degree oven? If not, the lowest setting I would suggest is 325 and add at least 25% to the baking time.
Hope this helps.
Beth in KY
LOL I love keepontryin's suggestion to scoop out the middle and fill it with berries 
. Actually I was thinking of cutting out the center and making a bundt-style cake. Or, I just saw in the new pics in the gallery: a donut cake!
HOWEVER in the middle of the night I kind of answered part of my own question: since this was all happening at 1am last night, and I cool the cakes in plastic wrap and then freeze, I got up around 4am to pop them in the freezer. I was delirious with exhaustion and I DROPPED one of the cakes!! AUGH! At least it was wrapped in saran and also in a ziploc, so I can still eat it (umm..if it isn't raw inside).
So yep, a family cake it is. 
I will run out and get an oven thermometer today before rebaking - I SO do not want this to happen again. Also the recipe indeed calls for the cake to be baked at 275-300, it's Scott Wooley Clark's fudge brownie cake, and it says allow for 35-60 minutes. First time I baked it I didn't even check on it till 45 mins and it was overdone! (And cupcakes only take 25 min at 300). Just the nature of the recipe I guess. You steam it in the wrap after baking, but I didn't want to assume that steaming it would cook the puddle part (and I'm sure I am correct considering that it totally collapsed in that spot.)
Wish me luck, I'll need it, although I am sure your army of great suggestions will help! If cake #2 doesn't work out I'm going to buy a box of mix 
. This cake is for a baby shower for a friend, but I am sure you all know, even for friends you want your cakes to be perfect!
Holy cow! I just put the thermometer in my "300 degree" oven and guess what: it's 325!!!
Funny, I hadn't thought to check before baking this cake because I've cooked other things in this oven w/o incident.
Now I know better than to use a 47-year old oven (it's an antique, we're renting a house) without checking the temp first. Thanks again for everyone's suggestions and support. "You oven is probably too hot" was definitely right-on.
Maybe your toothpick isn't getting all the way through the cake part that isn't done- I use a piece of spagetti. (A trick inherited from my grandma- who actually used the same piece of spagetti over and over and over and over-kept it in her drawer with her kitchen utensils. I assume it periodicaly got replaced though)
And sorry, this is off the topic, but I've heard that wrapping the cake in plastic wrap before it is cooled is really bad. Locks in the moisture, yeah, but it locks in the moisture and with it being so warm still all sorts of lovely little bacteria have a hay day. Just a FYI.
Thanks for the spaghetti trick - I will definitely try it, I do NOT want a repeat performance of last night. The cakes are baking right now; the oven is set to 225, yes people, my oven runs a full 75 degrees hotter than indicated. No wonder last night was a disaster.
I did read the thread about wrapping the cake before it's cooled. I think there are different schools of thought on this topic: the purely scientific (and probably correct), safest method, and the "well I've never had a problem" outlook which is by no means a guarantee of safety (after all I've eaten at SoupPlantation 100 times and never had a problem; yet it is a fact that 20 people were sickened by e. coli there just a few months ago) but, I suppose, a measured risk. I think I'll go reread that thread and its sources to get more info about how serious the risk really is.
Also the recipe indeed calls for the cake to be baked at 275-300, it's Scott Wooley Clark's fudge brownie cake, and it says allow for 35-60 minutes.
I am shocked at this variation of degrees and baking times.
I was reading through this thread because I just baked a cake that had the top crack. (looks like it rose too high then cracked?)Then I came to the name of cake you made and this is the same cake I am making. I have never tried this recipe before and thought cooking at 300 was pretty low too but now I am worried about the center not being done! 
I better go get a thermometer as well. Don't cakes normally crack because the temp is too high? Thanks for this thread!
You're welcome! People think that 300 sounds nuts but it works every time (well, as long as your oven is functioning properly LOL).
For the record I DID rebake the cake and it came out PERFECT the second time. I forgot to use my bake-even strips but I DID use a flower nail, and the center cooked just fine.
Good luck!
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