The inside of my cake is fine, but my crusts are hard. Any idea why this is happening? On the first one, I baked the exact amount of time on the second I baked it a little less.

BTW its a yellow cake (scratch)

Hight heat. Also, Baker's Joy does it, if you used that.

I hate hard crusts also. To avoid them:

1. Line your pans with parchment paper.
2. Use baking strips.
3. small cakes bake at 350, cakes bigger than 10" bake at 325.
4. If you are going to bake for more than 45 minutes, open the oven fast at 45 minutes and cover your cake with foil to avoid burning.

If this happens again, to salvage the cake, you can try trimming the hard part. Make certain you have a pastry brush handy as this generates a log of crumbs. OR If the hard part does not go too deep, you can brush it with a simple syrup to soften it. HTH

definately the parchment helps tremendousley. also bake big cakes at 325. you cant always depend on baking times. always keep a nose and eye on the cakes. as soon as you smell it check it.

I really think the bake even strips work well to prevent this.

I agree. I think it baked at to high of a heat for a little bit to long.

However, if this happens again you can fix it by letting it cool but not completely. Wrap it tightly in foil and let it sit. The steam/heat will soften the edges back up. I've done this before and it worked like a charm.