Rubbery center in cake

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Permalink Reply by JJ Becker on September 12, 2011 at 2:10pm

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.

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Permalink Reply by Susan on September 12, 2011 at 8:03pm

But is a box mix dense enough to hold up to fondant and decorations?

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Permalink Reply by Cindy Zoesch on September 17, 2011 at 8:10pm

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!

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Permalink Reply by Cindy Zoesch on September 17, 2011 at 8:39pm

ps, I use plastic dowels and cardboard circles to support each layer

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Permalink Reply by Linda McClure on September 18, 2011 at 12:20am

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.

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Permalink Reply by Liz B. V. on September 18, 2011 at 1:16am

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.

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Permalink Reply by Susan on September 18, 2011 at 6:27pm

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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