More cake help needed....

UnConundrum

UnConundrum

New member
Made the marble cake again today to take to my father for Father's day. Mom says that was his favorite. The last one, despite falling, was so great, I went out and bought a new heavy alumn. bundt pan. Well, this one fell even worse. Looks great on the outside, but I just don't get the chemistry of the cake falling. I made one change to the recipe, I whipped 4 of the egg whites, and added the 5th without whipping, as someone suggested. Original recipe called for 50 minutes @ 350. I went by the suggested smell and tough method. I set an alarm for 30 minutes because I had the exhaust going (really hot here today). Checked again at 35 minutes and was tempted, but the cake really didn't spring back on the slight touch, and didn't quite seem to be pulling away from the pan yet. I came back in another 5 and it was well pulled away on the sides, and the cake had fallen :( Should I have pulled it when I checked at 35 minutes? It was really, really soft.
 

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If it said 50 minutes and you opened it at 35... well, it was too early. Did it fill the kitchen with the aroma of cake before you opened the door?
 
Good point. I had been cooking all day, with all kinds of aromas, and the exhaust fan was running. I could smell it, but it wasn't strong. In fact, it was no stronger 10 minutes later when I removed it.... So you think simply opening the door could cause it to fall? I was careful to close it gently.

Geez.. Bread is so much easier!
 
I'll give you 5 to 1 that it was underdone. Too little time, and I'll bet your oven isn't as hot as indicated. Buy a GOOD oven thermometer.
 
What would happen if you used AP flour instead of cake flour. I went back to the first post and got the answer, i think I'm going to try AP flour.
 
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Well, the cake was very well received... Some had 2nds ;) Just bothers me that it fell... need to study up on the science about that
 
FryBoy said:
I'll give you 5 to 1 that it was underdone. Too little time, and I'll bet your oven isn't as hot as indicated. Buy a GOOD oven thermometer.
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Concur 110%. Get a decent oven thermometer and use that as a guide to your temprature. You'll be surprised how far off ovens are-I know I was!
 
UnConundrum said:
Well, the cake was very well received... Some had 2nds ;) Just bothers me that it fell... need to study up on the science about that
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methinks one of the keys to that 'it fell down and it can't get up' issue is the beaten egg whites.

first, most flour things 'shrink' a bit as they cool - and soft wheat stuff - like cakes - need even more help 'firming up' their structure.

second, think souffle - forget about 'don't open the oven' thing - don't nobody fall down the stairs-a-bumpie-bump - assume that is observed, but regardless, you pull a souffle out of the oven, put it on the table, you can watch it shrink . . . the original root cause for the "fast food" demand.

all those puffed up air bubbles cool and contract.

no clue if it'll work out, but a tip from the whipped cheese cake crowd - bake, when done turn off oven, crack open door, leave cheese cake in the oven to cool s-l-o-w-l-y
 
Guys... I'm a gaget freak... I have a pretty high end infrared unit I use to measure the WFO... First one I did, I checked my 350 oven and the oven walls were 356. I figured that was close enough... If that 6 degrees is enough to cause an issue, let me know. I'm already OCD.... I'll get that sucker right on ;)

CM, the cake is falling in the oven, just getting worse when i take it out. I've considered the comments about opening the door, but most say that if you're half way through, you're OK... I checked it at 30 minutes, it was fine, 35 it was fine, and at 40 it had fallen. At 35, it wasn't really pulled away from the pan walls yet, and it really felt soft. I didn't think it could be done. Can opening the door at 30 minutes, when it's done at 40, cause it to fall? No, I didn't let the oven door snap closed.
 
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