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??

what do you mean when you pushed it "back" into the middle before you baked it?

When I greased the pan, I put the flower nails in the middle of the pan. When I filled the pan with cake mix, the mix moved the nails to the sides of the pan. I pushed the nails back to the middle of the pan after adding the cake mix.

I don't think a flower nail or heating core is necessary for a 10" cake. I don't even use them on my 12" cake, I just bake them @ 325F with the rack in the center of the oven. It takes a little longer though.

oh, I see what you mean now. I'm not sure how that would cause cracking in a cake, though.

If I recall correctly, cracks in a cake indicates overbaking or the temp is too high. If the recipe says to bake at 350, then bake at 325.

I'm still new to this. Why do you bake at a lower temp than recommended in the recipe?

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.