In order to bake cake evenly, you have to insulate its edges. Preventing the temperature of batter at the edge from increasing quickly allows the cake to rise longer before it sets. A cake whose edges rise at nearly the same rate as its center will remain flat across the top — no dome, perfect for stacking and icing.
An oven that is too hot can also cause uneven baking. Test the oven temperature when preheating the oven by using an oven thermometer and adjust as necessary. Opening the oven door during baking causes uneven heat distribution and abrupt temperature fluctuations which can also cause the cake to rise unevenly.
To stop your cake from doming, line the outsides of your cake tin with a double layer of foil. Simply take long strips of foil, fold them to the height of your cake pan and wrap around the outside. The extra foil slows down the heating of the pan, so the cake batter at the edges won't cook as quickly. 2.
lower the baking temperature: a high oven temperature will cause the edges to bake quickly and the middle to rise. Consider baking your cakes at lower temperatures for longer to bake a flat cake without a dome.
Correct oven temperature is necessary to allow the cake to rise before the structure sets. If the oven is too hot, the cake will set too fast before the air bubbles have formed. If the oven is not hot enough, the cake will rise too much, then fall in the center before it is set.
Generally, the batter touching the pan will heat more quickly as the metal is a better conductor of heat than the ambient oven air.” Sometimes, she notes, the outer perimeter sets much faster than it should, resulting in a big dome in the center of the cake. The cause here? Likely an oven that's too hot.
Too Much Leavening
You need leaveners, like baking soda and powder, to make your cake rise. But too much can cause your cake to rise super-fast in the oven, then fall once you pull it out. What to do: Be careful when measuring your baking soda and powder quantities, and make sure not to get them confused.
Rotate. Even calibrated ovens have hot and cool spots, with temperatures falling within a 50-degree range. Cookies, pies, tarts, and all but the most delicate cakes should be rotated during baking to achieve even browning and baking. The halfway point or shortly thereafter is generally a good time to rotate.
If you end up with a flat cake, there are a few possible causes. Overbeating the flour will overwork its gluten, so fold in dry ingredients with a light hand. Remember to add the raising agent – self-raising flour already contains this, but if you use any other flour you need to mix in baking powder.
I use these cake strips on all of my cakes and they help a LOT. It's important to note that using these strips will cause the cake to bake a bit slower and you'll likely need to increase the baking time on a recipe.
When you just add fillings, without spreading them, air pockets get trapped between fillings. As you get the cake ready to be displayed, the fillings get softer. At the same time, mother gravity begins her work. The air pockets are pushed out, and the cake bulges.
Baking soda as we talked about reacts immediately to acidic elements and gives immediate leavening effect. The baking powder keeps reacting with the heat to give a leavening boost while the baked goods are in the oven. A combination of both these leavening agents gives the best leavening for most cake recipes.
The average cake mix calls for the most boring of liquids: water. Instead of using water, use a dairy product. Replacing the water with milk will make your cake instantly taste homemade, while using buttermilk will make it taste rich and creamy.
Should I use milk or water in a cake? First, it's always best to use what the recipe calls for, otherwise, milk is usually a better choice over water. Milk contains things that water doesn't, like sugar and fat, which can also help with the taste and texture of the cake.
Milk: Add MILK, not water, when your box mix calls for liquid. The milk adds density, fat and, most importantly, extra flavor to your mix. Egg WHITES: Not adding the yolks to the cake makes the cake fluffy and whiter!
Make sure you follow the recipe's instructions carefully. Cakes typically bake between 325 to 450 degrees F (see chart with Tip #9). Most convection ovens require lowering the temperature by 25 to 50 degrees F, as well as turning off the fan.
Many recipes need both kinds of reactions to achieve the intended overall balance of flavor and texture, which is why you'll often see both baking soda and baking powder in a recipe. Even though the ingredients are both adding air during the baking process, they're complements, not substitutes.
If you notice that the center of your cake sinks right after you take it out of the oven, you can pop it back into the oven for a couple minutes. This won't actually fix the sunken center, but it will help the undercooked center bake through.