What The Heck Is This Nastiness?????
Decorating By mom42ws Updated 4 Sep 2008 , 6:45pm by angelicconfections
the last couple times i have tried to make a cake with my choc. cake recipe, which i always use to make cupcakes, this has happened. is it because i'm using 100% dark cocoa? it never does this when i use this recipe for cupcakes. it looks disgusting....i call it brains............
i end up having scoop off the top this crusty, brainy, yucky stuff.
ashley
Is that pictures of it cooked already or is it stilll raw? I cant tell. It looks like some sugar crystilized I dont know. That was my thought too! It looks completely raw in the picture, can you describe the texture a little better? Sorry, it's just so hard to tell what's going on.
this is shortly after it's put into the oven. it's like it begins cooking really quickly and it shrivels into the middle of the pan and is completely hard. i scooped it out of the pan and chucked it. one day i had to re-bake the cake 3 times! i have also noticed that when this has happened that the cake also sticks to the pan and won't come out. what the heck?! i am wondering if it's because i'm using a 100% dark cocoa???-hershey's. when i've used valhrona i haven't had any problems and when i make cupcakes with this same recipe it's fine. it's only when i bake a cake recently. i wonder if the hershey's brand burns sugar or something whereas the valhrona doesn't?
Are you baking in an electric oven?
Theresa 
Post your recipe - maybe something in it is glaringly only meant for cupcakes. Something is not staying "suspended"
oh, here is the recipe....
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, preferably Dutch-process
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon coarse salt
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups warm water
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
without seeing your recipe....your oven temperature may have been too hot, causing the outside of the cake to bake and form a crust too quickly. As the mixture in the center of the cake continued to cook and rise, it burst up through the top of the cake.
(pulled this from the net at some point in the past)
Also I looked at the pic are you using the center rack in the oven
Is your cake texture moist or dry and sponge like (Description below)?
I have a yellow cake recipe that does what yours did, it is also dry and sponge like. (The type you buy in the store and rehydrate with water before using to clean with) My recipe is from an old Crisco cook book my mom has.
well when i use this recipe for cupcakes it's light and fluffy and moist but when i use it for cake, lately it's been spongy and slightly dry. maybe i just need to get a different recipe for cakes. can anyone recommend a kick-a## chocolate cake?
ashley
I use a very similar recipe for chocolate cake and use to have the falling in the center, brainy mess as well. I tweaked it a bit, and haven't ha any problems since. I cut the water down to one cup. Use a wisk on your mixer. I whip my eggs until they have tripled in volume(5 min), then slowly add the sugar and whip until its very light and fluffy (similar to a butter cake). Then add the dry (minus the sugar of course) atlernating with the wet until combined. I bump my temp to 315* as apposed to 300* and they come out great. The braining will happen a bit if you bake in 3" pans, but you should get a lovely smooth surface in a 2". If this isnt how your recipe works, sorry for the long ramble... if it is I hope it helps!
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/DOUBLE-CHOCOLATE-LAYER-CAKE-101275
This is a wonderful chocolate cake recipe.. it works equally well for cakes and cupcakes. It's very moist and has a wonderful deep chocolate flavor.
Collette Peter's chocolate bourbon coconut cake is absolutely delish! Another reeeeallly good one is the darn good chocolate cake recipe on this site. My oldest granddaughter asks for the darn good choc cake all the time.
I've never seen a cake shrink away from the side of the pan quite that much, ever. Almost seems like the liquids just cooked right out of the batter. Wow! I've had shrinkage, but nothing like this.
There is a difference in how cocoa that is alkalized ("Dutched") and cocoa that is un-alkalized reacts with baking soda. Hershey's Special Dark cocoa is a blend of natural and of alkalized cocoa. I noticed the recipe says it "prefers" alkalized cocoa Could it be that because there is a difference in the amount of acidity available in your batter to react with the baking soda, you are getting too much air from the reaction and that this is causing the weird bubbles and strange texture?
edited to try to make this make sense but I'm still not sure it does 
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/DOUBLE-CHOCOLATE-LAYER-CAKE-101275
This is a wonderful chocolate cake recipe.. it works equally well for cakes and cupcakes. It's very moist and has a wonderful deep chocolate flavor.
i love this cake but i find its too fragile sometimes. any idea on how to sturdy it up some? i was thinking an extra egg?
I've never found it to be fragile.. I have carved it before.. but I chill it before I work with it.
it looks like the middle of the cake was a bit raw on top, i especially have the happen with extra moist cake mixes, I use a large flower nail for a heating core and don't have that problem anymore. i just spray the flower nail with baking spray w/flour so that it doesn't stick and it leave a very small hole in the cake as opposed to heating cores. 
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