Short, Cracked Cakes...help!
Baking By paws4thoughthandmade Updated 21 Aug 2020 , 4:27pm by -K8memphis
Hey, all....
I love the way my scratch low-sugar chocolate cake comes out, so I decided to riff on it to make its vanilla counterpart. Here's what I used:
2 1/2 c flour
1/4 c sugar
36 packets of NatraTaste sweetener (like Equal)
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 egg + 1/2 c Egg Beaters (liquid substitute)
3/4 c oil
1 T lemon juice + 2 T light mayonnaise + enough fat-free milk to equal 1 c "buttermilk"
2 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 c hot water
I mixed all my dry, added my wet (except water), whisked by hand just until everything was blended, then stirred in the hot water. I used 2 8-in round pans in regular metal, not dark. I set my oven to 340°--which according to my thermometer gives me 350° on the dot-- and baked for 30 mins, until toothpick came out clean.
The cakes did not get as much rise as I'd hoped, and they also domed a bit and cracked. So I came here to troubleshoot.
1) Did I use too much/not enough of one of my leaveners? If so, how do i get the correct proportion based on my other ingredients?
2) Was my pan size too small for this batter to expand properly?
3) If I need to go up to 9" rounds, the only ones I have are dark gray metal (Wilton Indulgence series). How do I adjust my temp, time, and rack position for that?
4) Speaking of, did I use the wrong rack position (see photo)? I was aiming for literal center of my conventional gas oven.
Is there something besides these, that I might have done to cause the problem?
I'll be covering this cake with frosting, so nothing will show--but I really want to rescue this recipe for successful future use 
I don’t bake scratch so my suggestion may be totally off base but I say 1) not enough batter for 2 pans but more than enough for one 9” ....probably enough for one 10”. Also I bake at lower temps— 300 for 20 minutes the turn up to 325 for about an equal time .
see without the cocoa and most of the sugar it's a whole different animal -- that's why it doesn't work -- that's why sugar substitutes are filled with maltodextrin and things like that to provide bulk -- i would suggest looking up recipes already designed to be low sugar and sugar free -- also using fruit to enhance things is important -- especially applesauce -- but with vanilla cake there is pretty much no place to hide kwim?
especially applesauce for a plain vanilla cake i mean -- it'll blend and hide better than dates or something -- and on that note -- try some maple sugar, date sugar and coconut sugar -- the maple is super expensive but incredible!
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