Can anyone help me? why does the bottom of my cake look like this? The bottom strip (darker colour) looks like it is not cooked but it is when you eat it & taste just fine. I usually bake my cakes at 160C & during the last 15 minutes or so, switch off the top heat & only the bottom heat is on. Please help!
Thanks.

I get this too when I make denser cakes like a pound cake. I'm not sure what the reason is. I'm horrible at the science of baking. But, at least here's a bump for you. Maybe one of our very knowledgable pastry chefs can help. They are amazing, and know everything about baking and the "whys" behind it.

This is a GUESS, but it looks like the bottom 1/2 of the oven is not the correct temperature, as in much cooler. Have no idea how you would check this. Do other cakes cook correctly? BUMP

Is this a scratch recipe? Could you post the recipe you used? It might help us ...... but I do think it has something to do w/the oven/ temperature.

it looks like an ingredient secret. To me it appears to be totally done. What ingredients are you using?

Oh this was me for a long time,I always bake from scatch.I tried all the advise i was given here but in the end realised that i was using too much baking powder.I also turn off the top heat of the oven at the end,hope this helps.Good luck.

I had this exact happen to me the other day,all the books I have says it has to do w/ either the overn temp or the leavening of the cake.

My Nana used to call that a "sad streak". I used to have that problem with a cream cheese pound cake until I got some tips on how to fix it - what recipe are you using?

Okay, this is the recipe i used. This is a pandan (pandanus leaves) cake & thats why its green.

250pms (2sticks) butter
1 cup caster sugar
2 1/2 cups SR flour
3 large eggs
1/4 pint pandanus leaf juice

Method is the usual. Thanks for all the tips so far, gals. I am going to try each n every one of it.

Mmm... would you mind posting the exact method you used? I'm inclined to think the problem is there...

this is what happens when a cake has "fallen" it could be from a lot of things.. temperature off, too much liquid, overmixing, too much leavening (hard to tell with self rising flour)

Any of Lilthorner's reasons can be right... but this happens also when you don't mix well enough. If you don't get your flour well incorporated with the egg mixture, the egg "sinks" and you get that kind of result. If it's not that, I vote for the "too much liquid" reason.

i was thinking about the undermixing too

It doesn't really look like it fell, the cake seems to have risen and baked level, it's just a more dense (?moist) almost like a layer at the bottom. I bet you are about to get help in correcting this from some of the experts here!

I agree Lilthorner... looks to me like the cake fell.

http://www.landolakes.com/tips/Faqs_print.cfm?QCategoryID=2

Thought you might like this link to LandOlakes on cake "issues"

Hazel

I have had this happen to me and MY problem was the wet to dry ratio. I didn't know this however, until I saw it on Alton Brown! LOL Changed my recipe and VOILA! No "sad streak"! Other than that I'm inclined to agree with the poster that said hers was due to the baking powder.

Beth in KY

That happens to my pound cake when I don't bake it long enough. Also when I have too much batter in the pan.

Yes, your cake has fallen - It is a leavening issue. Time to experiment with a new recipe.

If you have an oven thermometer you may want to check to be sure that your oven is reaching the temperature that you need it to. Check the top and the bottom separately.

A long time ago at one of my first baking classes, the teacher (who had been baking for +20 years) told us the most frequent reason for that strip of compact cake to happen is undermixing.

The cake cooks and rises, but it just kind of "half-rises", if that makes any sense... since part of the the egg mixture sinks, it becomes too heavy and wet to rise.

If that turns out to be the problem, the key is to mix thoroughly but slowly and in a folding motion. If you use a mixer, just use a low speed and do the stop-scrape-mix thing until you have it all incorporated. I usually leave a portion of the dry ingredients for the very end and mix it by hand.

Hope it helps!