I just pulled a 10 inch cake out of the oven and noticed the cake is cracked all the way up the side. The only thing I can think of is that the flower nail I used for the heating core caused this when I pushed it back into the middle before placing the cake in the oven to bake.
Any ideas??
Because the temp on the recipe wasn't working for me. So I fixed it. 
I'm a "until it looks right" cook. I rarely follow recipes ... I used them as a guideline. "Bake at 350 for 30 minutes" is a suggestion and a guideline, not a hard-fast rule.
When a cake is too dry, or cracks, or has hard edges, then it's been exposed to too much heat ... either via a too-high temp or baking too long. When I reduced the oven temp, the cakes came out MUCH better.
(True story: years and years ago, my dad commented that he liked my cookies because they were soft and asked how I did it. I said, "I dont' bake them as long." My mom said, "Well the recipe says to bake them 10 minutes so I do." I said (long before Dr. Phil said it, by the way!), "So how's that working for ya?" 
)
If you browse the threads on here, you'll find this a common piece of advice .... lower the oven temp.
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