I'm hoping someone can PLEASE tell me what I did wrong, and the proper way to bake in pyrex bowls so I dont continue to have issues like this.

I just wasted a lot of time and ingrediants only to have my 4th failed attempt at baking in pyrex bowls. I tried to asking questions again this time and do a little more research. I didnt come up with many answers that I hadn't already heard or tried, but I keep reading about people having success baking this way so I figured I'd give it another go.

Im just so livid right now, so please excuse me if my writing comes across that way. I just dont have the money or time to buy all these ingrediants and start over, but now I have no choice. This has to be baked by tomorrow morning and its already too late for that. I'm going to have to run to the store first thing in the morning to start over.

Anyway, here is what happened. In another thread, the only advice I really got was to use a rose nail and to turn the tempurature down and first, then turn it up later. So, whatever. I did it.

I started with a large pyrex bowl. I dont know how large it is, but I know that I normally make a double batch of MMF in it so its large enough to melt (3) 10oz bags of mm's. So I sprayed and floured it. Filled it about halfway with batter. Set my temp at 300 and let it bake for about 45 minutes or so. Checked on it, its still nearly 100% liquid, so I turned it up to 325 at that point. Waited about 20 or 30 minutes, checked on it again, and the top is starting to get pretty dark, but the inside is liquid. I got a little nervous and turned it back down just a hair. Maybe 315 or so. I let it go for another 20 minutes or so, maybe longer. I got to check on it again and its sunken in about a good 3 inches, its so dark and crusty on the outside that its pulled away from the sides, and the inside is still totally liquid.

Now this is a mess I cannot save and I can't tell you how upset I am. For you people that have done this several times and dont have issues....PLEASE for the love of cake write an article or something, or tell me how you did this because I have tried this 4 times now and every attempt has been a disaster. Only once was I able to save a cake only because I froze it can scraped all the burnt outside off to leave a normally baked cake in the middle.

I guess for my belly cake I'm just going to bake a few 8" layers, maybe 2 8" and a 9" and carve from there? Does that sound like it would work? I was worried about it being symetrical so I didnt really want to do it that way, but honestly I just need a cake at this point. So I guess I gotta do it this way since I cant figure out for the life of me how people do this successfully.

Thanks for any help you can offer in advance. I'm sure any advice I get would at least calm me down a little. Maybe I can figure out what went wrong.

The 1 time I did it, I baked it at approx 250-275 and it took over 90 minutes. You have to bake low and slow, don't open the over to check on it for atleast 50 min. That's the only advise I have, good luck.

I am really sorry to hear about this. I really do not know what to tell you. I have baked twice using the bowls and didnt have the problems you are having. I do use a flower nail and always start my cakes at a lower temp and then about 20 minutes I turn it up to 325. I know for a fact that they take longer to bake in bowls but I do not know why they sank in the middle so much. How many servings do you need...maybe you can bake in the half ball and place on a bigger sheet cake.

Sorry this happened

I can't imagine what is causing your cakes to fail...are you sure it's a Pyrex brand? That's all I can think of.

I bake in Pyrex bowls-cups all the time, and have never had a problem. I use an enhanced box recipe; do you bake from scratch?

I don't use a flower nail, start my oven temp at 310 for about 20-30 minutes then lower it to about 290, and it does seem to take FOREVER for the cakes to bake...are you opening the oven door too early/often? I know from your past posts that you are an experienced baker, hopefully you don't take offense at these questions, I'm just grasping at straws to figure why you are having this happen.

If I were you, at this point, I'd just bake 8" rounds and shave off the edges, you can use the pieces to build up the belly center...

Good luck tomorrow!

edited for stupid spelling errors

I am thinking that the oven was to hot. Bake the cake at a lower temp. Is this a tried and true recipe that has given no problems in other pans?
Suzi

Maybe too much sugar in recipe???

LOL I wouldnt call myself an experienced baker and I absolutly take no offense. Honestly, Im a decorator. Not a baker. I wish I didnt have to bake because cooking is not something Im a natural at.

Well, Maybe I did open the open too much. I was worried about it, so I checked on it about 3 times in about the 80 minutes it was in the oven. The first time I checked on it was probably at about 20 minutes because I had to take a batch of cupcakes out really quick. I didnt think that would have caused the problem. Could it have? It didnt sink until much later though.

I am using a wasc recipe. I usually do use wasc, and this time it was the orange creamsicle flavor. Part of why Im so upset, because that particular flavor is ingrediant intensive and so now I gotta go buy more sorbet, yogurt, flavoring, oj, etc. If it was choc or vanilla I could just whip up another box real quick. Oh well.

I only need 25 servings. Im letting this cake cool and see if it maybe is more baked in the middle than I thought. It seems pretty wet, but Im hoping maybe I just hit a spot and the rest of it is ok. Once it cools and I cut it open, we'll see. I baked some extra large cupcakes for the boobs. I think I got 5 extra large cupcakes, so maybe that can fill in the sunken area. Plus, I also baked half a ball that I was going to use the round up the top of the belly, since the bowls are flat on the bottom. I may just have enough cake to accomodate for the sunken area, the question now is the cake actually baked on the inside. Its so brown and crusty on the outside though. Im hoping once I freeze it I can easily shave some of that crust off with a cheese grater.

I am determined to get this to work. I swear Ill get it. Just like my 20 failed attempts with MMF, I havent had a single bad batch in a year now. And I WILL conquer this too! haha. Oh man and I'll be throwing a little party in my head when I do. Ill be happy-dancing in my kitchen.

You know, Maybe Ill try the temp even lower next time. Maybe Ill try it at 290 or so like your suggestion, and just not check on it for like 50 or 60 minutes. I wont put anything else in there either (like cupcakes) so I wont have to open the oven at all.

Thank you for your responses, guys. I've cooled off a little bit. lol. Now just waiting for my cake to do the same so I can check it out and see if I have to get to the store early tomorrow. Thank you again!

Good luck to you, I am praying to the cake gods for you. I know how frustrating rebaking can be...been there done that
Suzi

That sounds like a pretty big, deep bowl. The Pyrex bowl that I bake in only holds 1 batch of MMF; yours is twice as big. Maybe the batter is too deep for the cake to bake properly.

The only time I've ever had a cake sink BEFORE I even opened the oven door was the orange dreamscile cake. It's been revised so many times I'm not even sure which one is that latest revision.

hello!!! so sorry you are having issues!

I didn't get to read your last post or the few after that. After reading what was in your recipe...YES, it IS too much sugar! I have tried a recipe similar to that before and it never baked. it is probably also the fact that you have a bigger bowl.

hmmm...i'm trying to think. just the OJ alone is too much sugar for that recipe...are you still adding in the sugar that is called for the WASC recipe? sorry if this sounds like a dumb question. But, I think for this recipe in this bowl it is too much sugar.

oh, yes...also, if you opened the oven door at that 20 min mark it would definitely affect your baking of the other cake. so sorry you are having issues

maybe you could just do some orange zest and orange flavoring with the WASC or white box mix ???

Nope. It's raw in the middle. Too gooey to save. The outside is like a rock and it make a *thunk* when I dropped it down on the counter. lol. Ok. Im calling it a night and Im going to start this over again tomorrow. Too bad. It tastes sooooo good too. Well, the cooked parts.

I am going to try the bowl again with your suggestions. If it works for you guys, darn it! its gonna work for me! lol

I'll try baking it at about 275 for a looooong time. Sound good? Anyone deeply opposed to that?

Another consideration is getting something around the bowl to slow down the edge baking and giving time for the middle to bake. Can you stack up bake even strips and get them around the bowl?

I just measured my bowl, it holds 8 cups of liquid, so it's a good sized "belly"!

I'm placing the blame on the oven draft , wait, wait, wait...don't open that door...step away...it's not done, it's only been in there 30 minutes...


Another thing - I have NEVER been successful with the WASC dreamsicle recipe, but in defense of the whole family of WASC cakes, I want to be successful, but they all tend to sink for me . The fact that you have used the recipe without problems in the past makes me more sure it's the opening-too-soon theory!

I start the temp higher to get the initial "rise", and then lower it.

I really hope you get it mastered.

Also, glass is an insulator not a good conductor. So how does that affect baking? metal transmits the heat relatively quickly resulting in quicker baking.

Glass will take a little longer to heat up, but will hold that temperature longer than metal. It also sounds like you were using a significantly bigger bowl.

So, I would go with a lower temperature and wait longer. or switch to a metal bowl with a flower nail. This is the same way the wondermold for all those doll cakes works.

My gut reaction is it's way too much batter in a deep round bowl. And I agree on the glass being a problem, especially that size. I've baked in the custard cups with no problem, but that's about the size of a large cupcake. Never tried my biggest pyrex bowl. I'd go with with one of the suggestions of carving layers into shape.

ooohhh....hmmm.....I have a large metal mixing bowl? I wonder if that would be better!!! I just measured it with water. It holds about 20 cups all the way to the top of it. If I were to put batter in, Id probably fill it less than half. I think this bowl is about the same size as the glass one I was using. I didnt know I could bake in those bowls. What are they normally made out of, aluminum?

Well, I wonder if that would be better....or is it possible that would make the outsides burn faster since you say it holds heat better?

Ok, just had another thought....I wonder why I didnt think of this earlier because I think this might be a winner...
I have a smaller pyrex bowl that would probably be ok. It might be the 8 cup size you are talking about. I didnt think it would give me the shape I needed, so that is why I decided to use the larger bowl...however now that I think about it....I could just plop a 8" round (or 9", Id have to measure) underneath it to give me the height and shape I need for the belly...that way I can use a smaller bowl which would probably be a lot less risky...but easier than trying to shave down (3) 8" rounds into a half sphere. Sound like a go? Would it still be wise to bake at a lower temp for a longer time in this size bowl?

In answer to another question, In a previous attempt about a year ago, I did try wet cut towels in place of bake strips...it worked for a bit, but they dried out pretty fast and kept falling off the bowls. I ended up taking them off in the middle of baking because I was afraid they would catch on fire. The sides of the cake were actually much better, but it took probably 2 hours to bake the cake this way...and this was in a much smaller bowl than the one I attempted tonight. If I remember correctly, I think the cake didnt turn out too great. Maybe it was dry, or crusty, or something...I remember that I considered that attempt a failure because of the way the tasted afterward.....although honestly I cant remember what exactly it was. Probably dry or something.

I bake in my stainless steel bowls. I just did this recently for a Cookie monster cake and it worked wonderfully. I didn't even use a flower nail. I baked them at 325.

stainless steel bowls are the best. Also back away from that oven door...that is why your cake is sinking.. everytime you open it.. down it is going to go.

major question here.. is your oven GAS or Electric? I have a gas oven and you can bake in large steel bowl at 300 for 90 minutes.

I would definitely find out what kind of ovens are being used by some of the others on here before baking or attempting the recipes again. I would use the advice that is for your type of oven. Some great advice on here.. but gas and electric ovens are totally different in baking heat and time. My MIL's electric oven took 2 hours to bake a 12" cake. My Gas oven 60 mins.

ok i dont have to read through all the comments so i dont know if someone suggested this or not..
first the rose nail is not enough.... start baking it normal on low temprature u can put the nail if u want but really what u should do is half way through the baking process take it out and stick metal skewers in the middle 2 inches apart. i just arrange them in a circlearound the middle of the cake. then stick it back in the oven. i still havnt figurerd out the right remperature but the metal skewers help alot

Here is what I see is the reasons why this went wrong. I am listing here what you and others posted:

1. Glass bowl - I agree a stainless bowl better is better (BTW, make sure it is stainless steel. There are aluminum bowls out there too. You want stainless.) And you used a different bowl than everybody else. It may be that while glass is not conducive to holding heat (like previous OP said), your bowl will hold less heat because it is not the same formula in the glass as Pyrex uses.

2. WASC creamsicle recipe - It is very doctored with lots of sweetly already made ingredients. You are not the first to post problems with that recipe. Too much sugar and it will sink in the middle. I will post in full disclosure that I absolutely hate that recipe. It is just chock full of ugh stuff. There are other dreamsicle recipes that are better. You could doctor it to taste creamsicle with some orange zest and extract using a vanilla cake and get the same flavor and a better cake too. And it would cost way less than adding all those sugarly loaded ingredients which is throwing off the balance of the cake and you are getting exactly what will happen. Sugar is a tenderizer and there is way too much for the structure of the cake to hold.

3. Your batter was too deep.

4. You opened the oven way too much! I know curiosity at all. But wait at least 50 minutes. This is the number one reason why cakes will fail to bake and can cause it to sink too. I'm assuming there is no window on the outside of your oven door?

I agree with the suggestion to use a stainless steel bowl. I'll add find another recipe and set the timer and walk away!

So sorry you have to make a new one and had cake failure. I got a little worried when you said the topic was cake 911. I was afraid you had to call the fire department or something. I guess we can be grateful that all it did was sink and not catch on fire!

Re: Oven window. Be sure it's not dirty--You'd be surprised how much can build up on a window inside an oven. No reflection on you, but fact.

Try this--open the oven door, spray some oven cleaner on the window, allow it to soak, with the door open. In 30 min or so wipe with a wet sponge or cloth--I do this every so often between cleanings so I can see clearly what is going on inside without opening that door.

Ill look really quick, but I just moved into this place not even two months ago and it was spotless, and honestly the only cooking Ive done in my in my big oven is cake! lol. Nothing greasy or anything like that. Since its just me and the little one, I tend to cook our meals in the toaster oven. Ill check it out though. Thanks for the advice!

BTW I think your avatar is what my son sees when Im working in the kitchen. lol. Poor little guy loves to stand right under me while I work, and I have to constantly tell him, "you have to get out of the kitchen please, mommy is working today!" One of his newest phrases is now, "Get out". lol

On the "too much sugar" thing. Since this recipe has so many ingredients that weren't meant to be ingredients, but to be eaten on their own, there could be a big variation in the amount of sugar different brands contain. So are you using the same brands you used in the past when the recipe worked for you?

I hope it works for you this time.