Welcome to the Cake Decorators Q&A

Hi,

when I’ve been making my cakes the outside is starting to burn. I am cooking at gas mark 3 in a gas oven. When cooking large cakes (10 inch plus) this is taking a long time, so if I reduce the temp it’s surely only going to take even longer. Is this just what I need to do? Its the top but also the sides too 🙁 thanks

Perhaps your oven is baking a little high. Might be a good idea to get an oven thermometer to check the dial reading against the internal temperature. Double lining tins and having the lining paper well above the rim will help prevent the top and sides baking too quickly. Over greasing the tins will make the sides of the cake crusty and quite dark. I bake my large cakes on 140c fan assisted oven which I think is equivalent to gas mark 3 however if your oven is slightly fierce it may be worth reducing the temperature for the extra baking time.

Try wrapping damp newspaper around the outside of your cake tin. Or if you have an old towel cut a strip off, wet it and wrap around the outside of the tin.