Welcome to the Cake Decorators Q&A
Hi maitlka
My initial thoughts on this is that the oven temperature is not high enough. Most victoria sandwich sponges are baked at 180c or 160c in a fan assisted oven. If the temperature is out, the centre of your cake batter, which is the deepest and coolest will not rise at the same time as the sides. The smaller size cakes seem ok because they don’t hold as much batter as the 8″. Trying raising the temperature slightly in case your oven is running cooler than perhaps you think. Investing in an oven thermometer is a good idea as it will show you the internal temperature to compare with what the dial control is showing. Other things to check would be that your ingredients are at room temperature, you’re using the correct size eggs and if using, the baking powder is in date and hasn’t become damp at any time. I still think it’s a temperature problem, the centre of the cake isn’t getting the heat boost it needs to make it rise. Try and see, hope it works for you. x
Hi maitlka
Correct size eggs means what the recipe asks for like medium or large. Sometimes bakers mistakenly use wrong size eggs which affects the quality of the cake. Eggs provide liquid and fats to cake batter and also act as leavening, if not enough eggs or the wrong size are used cakes can be dry, not rise properly and a have bad texture.All cakes feel greasy when they come out of the oven because the butter or which ever fat has been used is still hot. Once they cool down the texture of the cake begins to contract and feel less greasy. If you’ve used margarine or oil the cake will feel greasier than if butter was used. Margarine and oil cakes do not firm up in the same way as butter cakes because butter has a high fat content which becomes more solid as it cools. If your six inch cake is now showing problems perhaps the oven is baking on the low side and your cakes are not baking through. Test your cakes for doneness by putting a cake tester / toothpick or skewer into the middle of the cake, if it comes out clean with no stickiness or wettish crumbs it’s done. If not bake on and check at 5 minute intervals until done. This blog http://www.cakeflix.com/blog/baking-the-perfect-cake-why-things-go-wrong might also help.
Hi, thank you for your reply, I will definitely get a thermometer. When you say correct size eggs do you mean weigh out an amount of eggs or just that they are medium? I also have an issue where when my cakes are removed from the tin they feel very greasy, is this normal? Also I baked a 6″ round and it was definitely ready to come out of the oven but when I cut into it to fill it, it feels almost squelchy in the middle. It tasted ok but I’m concerned in case it want cooked properly, could you please advise me on those points? Thank you very much x
