I have been baking cakes for a couple years now, but I have always made box cakes/WASC variations and am very familiar with their baking times. I have been experimenting with scratch cakes, but now my timing seems to be off. I was wondering if anyone knows of a chart of generalized baking times for scratch cakes? I know Wilton has a chart, but I always assumed it was for boxed cakes. Does this work for scratch cakes too? My very first scratch cake, I thought it was done, but when I was leveling it off, I realized it was not done in the middle and I had to throw it out. Very disappointing! For any of you who are experienced scratch bakers, your tips and suggestions are welcome! Thanks!!!

Did you test it before you pulled it out? I usually go by temp... 190-200 degrees in the center and they are done, but the tooth pick method works just fine too. Toothpick should come out with very few crumbs on it. Scratch cakes do perform different than the mix cakes and times will be different for different recipes depending on the moisture content among other things.

I scratch bake and every recipe and oven is different. At home I bake at 320 degrees but in the shop, I bake at 275. Try baking at a lower temp but for a bit longer (It should make the middle bake better)

Yes... I bake at 325 for a little longer too. It helps the sides not bake up too fast. Also always on the middle rack. I am a legal homebaker so I just have my dinky home oven.