How Many Times Can I Bake A Cake Today????

Baking By vgereis Updated 18 Sep 2011 , 12:04am by vgereis

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vgereis Posted 17 Sep 2011 , 10:26pm
post #1 of 6

Ugh... as the title says... I've tried baking this cake 3 times already... just to give an idea... it's the hershey's perfect chocolate cake... I want to make a beer mug cake... so was going to stack 2 or 3 6 inch cakes on top of each other, torted and iced... and then cover in fondant... I was almost laughing at how simple it was going to be compared to the last couple of cakes where I had a bunch of figures to make etc etc... (I'm still pretty new to this btw and self-taught)... anyway... made up the batch of cake.... and. as I only have one 6" pan.... I poured enough batter in to come up just under half way up the tin. The cake took slightly longer than it said in the recipe... but all went well... (at least I think so... unless the inside is bad?)... wrapped.. and in freezer... yey!

Prepped the pan again... poured rest of batter in... it also came up to just about half way... back in the oven.... set timer... and about half way through, i peered through the glass.... and the cake's still at same level! icon_confused.gif huh??? gave it a little more time... still nothing... so I thought... crap.. must be due to me using the batter that had been sitting there (is that ok to do btw?? never seemed to be a problem when making cupcakes for example.. but perhaps cake is different?)

took tin out of the oven... trashed the batter... cleaned pan.... made a new "half batch" of batter.... came out of the oven and I thought.. yey... all done... turned it out onto the wire rack.. and there's this massive hole at the bottom... and inside... batter that's not quite cooked!! (even though the top had almost crusted over!) icon_cry.gificon_cry.gificon_cry.gif

Cleaned the pan... started over... just took the cake out of the oven... and so far it's ok... but that's what I said about the previous one! icon_sad.gif If you could all just say a teeny prayer that it turns out ok?? It's midnight.. and I really want to get this done with! icon_redface.gif Serves me right for thinking this was going to be "easy"...

Anyone have any ideas what went wrong??? Btw.. with the last batch... when I noticed it was getting a tiny bit dry on top... i turned the oven down a bit... and then kept the cake in longer... sooooo hope it turned out ok! sigh...

Anyway... thanks for listening.. and any tips that can be given would be great!!

Vicky

ps - have "reply notifications" been disabled on CC?? I never seem to get any anymore!

5 replies
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BlakesCakes Posted 17 Sep 2011 , 11:30pm
post #2 of 6

Sounds like you need to get an oven thermometer and see if your oven isn't keeping a proper temp.

Also, how about the age of your baking powder? It's usually only at full strength for about 6 months after opening. I mark the date I open it on the top with a marker and throw it out at the 6 month mark rather than take a chance on having to throw away an entire recipe.

Rae

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vgereis Posted 17 Sep 2011 , 11:39pm
post #3 of 6

Hi Rae!

Thanks for your reply! The baking powder is just opened. Here in Paris they tend to sell it in little envelopes... so I made sure to open a new one just in case! As for oven... yeah I think perhaps i should get an oven thermometer.. but what drives me crazy is... why would the first be fine.. and the next two fail so miserable??? grrrr!!

Anyway... thanks for your tips! I always enjoy reading your responses to people... very informative! icon_surprised.gif)

Best,

Vicky

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traci_doodle Posted 17 Sep 2011 , 11:52pm
post #4 of 6

I wish I knew how to help, but I don't. icon_sad.gif I just wanted to say I feel your pain! I was making an "easy" cake today and everything kept going wrong! And I am also all for having multiples of cake pans. icon_smile.gif

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BlakesCakes Posted 17 Sep 2011 , 11:56pm
post #5 of 6

Ovens can be funny when they go out. A heating element will work to a point and then go off and then seem to work again the next time you turn on the oven.

If the envelope of baking powder is something that is re-packaged by the seller from a larger quantity, I guess you never know when it's true expiration date might be.....and if the envelope is waxed paper or glassine, whether or not it's been totally airtight/water tight???

It's a tough call when diagnosing things like this.

Well, I sure hope things turn out better for you!

Bonne chance!
Rae

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vgereis Posted 18 Sep 2011 , 12:04am
post #6 of 6

Thanks guys!!! So the next "layer" turned out ok.. at least I hope so! No gaping big oozing holes... so that's gotta be a good thing right?lol!! Anyway... I admit defeat for the night and won't be working on it anymore... figure some sleep may get me up in a better state to deal with things if anything else goes wrong? We'll see! hehe!!

Night night and thanks for the tips and sympathy! hehe!


ps - traci-doodle... I'd love to be able to have multiple cake pans.. but I'm still just starting out on this journey... not really a business as yet... and still definitely learning... (as you can see from my pics! lol)... as it is.. hubby thinks I have soooo much equipment... and don't even know where I'd put more tins! lol! Maybe one day soon! icon_surprised.gif)

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