I've made the WASC before many times without issues. The last time I did, I noted the center seemed ... gummy. Baked, but gummy. (That's the first time I've noticed that.)

Now I'm starting on tiers for a wedding cake ... and everything's coming out of the oven with the gummy center! It seems very heavy, and since I can't tell if it's baked through or not, I don't dare use it. I'm about to simply go back to straight white cake with a little doctoring.

What could be happening? Any advice? The cakes are baking at 335 degrees, and past their usual allotted time!

Have you checked to see if your oven temp is off? It could be they still need to bake a little longer.

I have to bake mine almost an hour and a half because our oven temp is lower... maybe it's your oven temp.

I usually bake at 350 and the timing depends on the size of the cake. If it is a really large cake I may reduce to 325 to prevent over baking the outside. Have you tried using a inverted flower nail in the center?

I bake all WASC cakes at 325 degrees. My 12 x 18 sheet cake stays in the oven for up to 45 minutes, 11 x 15 (35-40 minutes). I bake all of them at least 35 minutes, then add 5 minutes until i feel like it's done.

I started having similar problems with my cakes and then I bought an oven thermometer and found out my oven temp was actually 25º less than what I had set it for. Now I set my temp according to the thermometer instead of what I set on the dial. I also started using flower nails in my batter and since then, everything is better.

Hmmm. I was using an inverted flower nail (three in a 14-incher, actually), had the oven at 335. I'm going to up the temp a tiny bit and keep it in a little more. I'm just baffled by why this started today, of all days.

Murphy's Law, I guess. Thanks for the advice.