Hello fellow Cake Central users. I need some help!!!  I've been using the WASC recipe since 2012 with no issues. In May of 2016, I was in the process of baking for a wedding cake. Always baking the WASC recipe in the 325-335 degree F range (20 year old plus electric oven), only changing the flavors, for the most part, I decided to use half sour cream and half yogurt to beef up the flavor of the recipe. Always using baking strips and flower nails, I also use the quick recipe for greasing/flouring the pans, and parchment on the bottom. As I began baking and as the cakes started to rise, I notice something wasn't right. The cake started bubbling in the middle, a lot more then normal. As the rising continued, it started bubbling around the edges. Now, keep in mind that I've been using this recipe and baking the same way for 3+ years, and no matter how much batter I put in the pan, this never happened. As the cake continues to bake, it rises above the top of the pan, and may either be done enough to stay in the pan, or like yesterday, I tried adding the 3 oz of mix back to bring it to the 18.25 oz the DH mix use to be, and it was running over the edge of the pan. Has anyone had this problem and have a fix? Here's the result from yesterday. And, although they may look done, they weren't. Thanks for any help! Fran

[postimage id="5753" thumb="900"]

Are you using my *Original* WASC recipe?  As you probably know there are several versions of WASC recipes on this and other sites :( 

 It sounds to me like there is something wrong with the mixes you are using.  Now I haven't made a cake for about 3-6 months but that last one didn't give me any problems.   When you made this pictured cake did you use 1/2 yogurt and 1/2 sour cream?  I don't know if that would effect it but I don's tink so as they are basically interchangeable.  I'm not all that knowledgeable on the science of recipes:)  Somewhere in the back of my mind I'm thinking something about baking powder in the dry mix not being right.  Your comment about the batter bubbling as it started to bake has me scratching my head.  I can't say as my batter ever bubbles up. 

Sorry I'm not really any help but maybe my comments along w/your will give someone else an idea about this problem.

Could your oven being 20 years old possibly started to have problems with the heating elements? Have you bought a temperature gauge to see if your oven is off on the temperature that you set it on?

If oven temperature is correct then maybe it is the baking powder as kakeladi suggested. Hopefully, someone else here may have better suggestions as to what is going on. Good luck and I hope you figure it out!!

Strange... is it possible you put in baking soda instead of baking powder?

Good evening all.  First off, the image of the cakes I did yesterday are sitting on top of my new flat top convection oven. I just put a dish towel under the rack. I baked these at 325 degrees. The WASC recipe that I am using was given to me by my instructor in 2012 when I started taking classes with her. It doesn't indicate who it came from and I imagine she retyped it to share with her students. The recipe calls for 2 cake mixes, 2 pudding mixes, flour, sugar, salt, sour cream, water, egg whites, desired flavorings, and applesauce instead of oil, which is the way I've been making it since 2012. I use the Duncan Hines Classic Yellow cake mix and the jello brand puddings. I've had no problem with this recipe until May of this year. I was in the middle of starting a wedding cake, spent 2 days trying to get the cakes to bake properly, and ultimately, traveled to my daughters house 30 minutes or so away to bake through a day of pouring rain. My first attempt at trying the 50/50 yogurt/sour cream in the first batch, and what I ultimately discovered was my oven overheating by about 25 degrees. I have done just a few cakes since May, somehow managing to get usable cake. I had wondered about the missing baking powder, simply because of adding the extra flour and sugar to the mix, but I'm not quite the mad scientist. I had a temperature gauge I was using, but I don't know how accurate it was, but then I wasn't aware that the oven was suppose to be dropping 25 to 50 degrees before the heat came back on and then raise above the desired temp. DAH. At least that's what my husband seems to think it was suppose to do. However, like I mentioned above I now have a convection oven. I tried a little experiment today with a 1 box test. Now, the box says I have the option to use applesauce and gave me the measurement for the water. The 3 eggs were the same. So since I have always used the applesauce, I figured, what the heck. I try it. Greased the pans, parchment paper on the bottom, flower nail, and bake even strips. Same way I've always done it. The pans were only filled about 1/3. Baked at 300 degrees. They rose to the top edge of the pan and stopped. About 35 to 37 minutes. Of course, that was just a box of cake and not the full blown WASC, so it will definitely take longer then 37 minutes.

Now, in doing some investigation after I posted the above help request, I discovered that the cake manufacturers, a few years back, and this I was aware of, reduced the amount of mix in their boxes from 18.25 to what I think was 16.25 oz. Still I had no problems when they did that. But since, and I think it must have been around May when they reduced it again to 15.25 oz, they added a lot more leavening agent. And it may even have been sooner, because although it wasn't until May that I started having the baking problems, I was dealing with air pockets/blowouts in my fondant. Finding out about the added leavening to make the product look like more in the package, told me exactly why I was having that problem. It's causing a lot of air pockets in the cake. The weight of the fondant is forcing it out.

I haven't looked at any other WASC recipes except for the Chocolate version, since what I had was working well up until May, but probably longer now that I have a few more facts. I plan on trying the Scratch version of the WASC recipe; however, the one I have doesn't have any additional pudding. Don't know if that's an oversight, or if it's just not needed in that recipe. I also have another scratch recipe to try. But I think baking in the convection oven at 300 degrees is probably the way to go. We'll see tomorrow. Thanks for all the comments.

The recipe you are using is NOT the *original* one I posted years ago and is available all over the internet.  It is a recipe another decorator adopted from my recipe to use for her wedding cake bakery.  

If you read some of the threads where I have posted comments regarding the reduced pkgs of mix (including the original recipe post on this site) you will see I have used them w/o problems.  I did not add extra mix from anotheer pkg or change the recipe at all.  I does seem to me it is a problem with your oven.  Also check the experiation date on the mixes.......it might be old product. 

Do keep us updated on your sluthing:)  Others might be having the same or similar problem, afraid to speak up or post about it.  You could be helping someone out :)

Kakaladi...Thank you for your response.  I left a comment in the forum to someone who had commented about the changes in the mix. I know that my old oven was over heating. I have a new convection oven which ultimately resulted in a cake reacting similarly, baking at the same 325 degrees F, the same mix, brands, and ingredients that I had been using and baking with since 2012. Image posted. I have since been baking at 300 degrees successfully. However, I started baking in my new oven, a straight up DH cake mix, with the only exception of using the applesauce instead of the oil, and according to the directions for same on the box. I baked perfectly at 300. I made another recipe "Vanilla Bean Cake Recipe", that baked well and flat at 300. It appeared to be done using my tester. After it cooled, I tried it. It was very light, so much that it appeared to melt in the mouth, but also seemed like it need a little more cooking. I would not use it for a customer cake.

Bake around 2013 - 2014, when Duncan Hines changed their recipe to 16.5 oz., I was aware of this, but had absolutely no problems. I was unaware that they had changed it to 15.25 oz. back in or before January of 2016. But once I read a post from some from January 1, 2016, I understood why I have been having problems that started well before my oven started acting up. My cakes were baking fine, but once iced and fondant was applied, they looked good, but shortly thereafter, say and hour or so, huge bubbles started appearing in the fondant. I knew something was wrong, because this was new to my decorating. With all the other things that have been occurring and I had not changed a thing, I knew, at least, for the most part, it was the mix. Then recently, I notice the weight change. I had not noticed it before because, to answer your over comment about the expiration dates, I always check them when I pick up the boxes. I bring them home and write the dates in pen so that I can see them better. However, they don't stay around long enough to expire.

I recently got a couple of recipes that are substitutes for the Betty Crocker cake mixes you can make yourself. I made up a batch yesterday and plan to try it out tomorrow. Just got an order for a baby reveal cake due the end of December, so I need to find something that works.

By the way, the picture I posted is the WASC recipe I've been using, maybe not yours, but it had been working for me. However, I know that I need to try it again at the 300 degree temp to see how it does, which I will probably do, not this next week, but soon.

Thanks for your response. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving...Fran