Cake Decorating Community - Cakes We Bake

Hello everyone, I am new at baking as well as decorating. I had taken a course as well as one on fondant, and then I was diagnosed with cancer and had to put off everything till after treatment. So now that I finished I finally started baking and I really enjoy it!

I'm having a problem with my cakes having hard rubbery centers. As if they did not rise in that spot.

Currently I am using only the  from sratch recipe that I was taught in class. This calls for eggs to be separated and the whites whipped then folded in to the creamed egg,margarine,and flour mixture. I don't know if I'm mixing the creamed mixture to long or maybe the whites are too stiff. I'm at my wits end. I would really appreciate any and all tips you can offer. Thank you so much in advance.

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Duncan Hines cake mix off the shelf at any grocery store.  It is empirically the best cake recipe available.  If you must blend your own dry ingredients try the one egg cake recipe from the old school Betty Crocker book.
But is a box mix dense enough to hold up to fondant and decorations?
I always use a box mix and people love them.  I don't have any problems with the cake holding up with fondant and decorations.  I just made a three tier birthday cake for my daughter with 6,8, and 12 inch pans with no problems.  The pans are 3 inches deep, I have only used 2 inch deep pans before, and I did not follow the directions so the center of the two largest cakes did come out a little denser than the others.  I should have  baked them longer at a lower temperature.  Live and learn!  I will try and post a photo.  This was a buttercream cake with sanding sugar.  I made the mistake of patting the sugar on with my hand so the buttercream got lumpy.  More learning taking place!
Attachments:
ps, I use plastic dowels and cardboard circles to support each layer

On my blog I have an article about baking the perfect cake.

http://creativedesignsforcakes.blogspot.com/2010/08/cake-baking-hin...

 

Getting the cake to bake evenly through is a real challenge. I share one method in this article but I have recently started using another method. Instead of putting a wrap around my cake pans, I put my cake pan in a pan one size larger. For example, If I am baking a 10" round cake, I prepare the pan as usual, put in the cake batter and set the 10" prepared pan inside an 11" pan. I don't do anything to the outer pan. This has worked perfectly for me and it eliminates the need for the pan side wraps. The extra outer pan helps absorb the heat so the cake bakes more evenly. The cake will bake more evenly from the outer edge to the middle, and you will have less of a hump in the center of your cake.

Try putting a flower nail upside down in the center to bring the heat into the center... Should work. Personally, I bake from scratch... I wouldn't be happy if I paid for a cake and found out it came from a box, but that's just personal opinion. On the otherhand, you won't have baking problems with a mix... they're engineered to guarantee a good cake.

Thank you so much everyone for your kind replies! You've really been helpful. 

Linda McClure, I went to your article at your blogspot where you say to LOWER our ovens, and I immediately realized! and I think I found the answer. I have not been baking at the recommended temperature which is 300. When the instructor gave us the recipe and the demo, she specified at 300. My oven is off.

Thank you Cindy Zoesch, out of desperation because I had to bake a foolproof birthday cake for my daughter this weekend, I tried a doctored box mix! Well smack my head!!! Delicious!!!  Everybody loved it!!! I think I found a hit!!! Thank you so much Cindy again!

 

Again thanks all! A lot of very helpful tips and now the demo on this machine that I've been looking into myself. This site rocks! :))

 

II Becker: I'm searching for the Duncan Hines mix here, but haven't found them yet. I'm using BC as of now.

Liz BV: Thanks for the tip. I did that. but I'm pretty sure the problem was the oven temp.

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