Flavour Diary: How to prevent Burnt and Uncooked Cakes ?

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Who loves burnt or uncooked cakes.. neeh i don't. If you are new to baking a cake then you may be facing this problems and you get disappointed and decided that your will never bake again or may think this is not your cup of coffee. Nothing is impossible, it just need little experience and the way you do the things. Don't experiment the things when there is a need, experiment when you have lot of time and patience. I am not a professional baker to give professional solution but i will be sharing my way to resolve this.

Right temperature:

You might be following the recipe but have a burnt or uncooked cakes remember its all about temperature which matters while baking a cake. If the temperature is set too high, outside of the cake bakes fast and inside will be still baking. This is one of the reason why the cake is burnt and have crakes on top.

Solution: Not all ovens behave same, So next time whenever you bake a cake, bake it 10 or 20 degree centigrade less than specified in the recipe, so the cake will be cooking a little longer but it will be cooked evenly. If you have a oven thermometer than make use of it to check the temperature.

Position of the cake pan:

Placing a cake pan also place a vital role, if you keep it in the top self then heat is direct and it will cook the top layer very fast before the time and the bottom is still raw.

Solution: So what to do.. easy peasy place it in the middle of the middle rack of the oven.Make sure not to touch the walls of the oven.

If you have fan ovens then it won't matter in which rack you place it, as fan ovens distribute heat evenly.

Batter in cake pan:

If the batter is filled 3/4th or all the way up the cake pan, it takes longer time to cook completely and in that process you will end up with burnt top or flooded cake or dense cake.

Solution: Always split the batter in two pans, each 1/2 to 2/3rd way. Cakes will be baked faster and completely cooked.

You followed above and still cakes are burning ... aah. Here comes one more solution..

Make use of Aluminium foil:

Once the batter is filled 1/2 way, cover mouth of the cake pan with foil and bake it. Remove the foil in last 5 to 10 minutes. Make sure the foil shouldn't touch the batter.

If your pans are filled more than 1/2 then don't use foil to cover it, as foil will stop the cake from rising and this effect the texture of the cake and make the oven messy.

Hope next time when you bake, you would be having a lovely cake. Share your experience how your baking went. All the best Happy baking.

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