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asked March 21st 2016

Muffin top

I’ve made two chocolate cakes today, Mary Cadman recipe.
The first came out with a split top rising a good inch above the rest of the cake.
Thinking this was due to the oven temp being too hot I turned it down for the second one but the same thing happened!
I’m sure I can salvage them with a bit of infill etc but would like to know exactly what happened. The raising agent in the mix was SR Flour/Plain combined and bicarbonate of soda.
If I can understand the why that will help in the future.
ThankQ.

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I’ve made two chocolate cakes today, Mary Cadman recipe.
The first came out with a split top rising a good inch above the rest of the cake.
Thinking this was due to the oven temp being too hot I turned it down for the second one but the same thing happened!
I’m sure I can salvage them with a bit of infill etc but would like to know exactly what happened. The raising agent in the mix was SR Flour/Plain combined and bicarbonate of soda.
If I can understand the why that will help in the future.
ThankQ.

0

Hi AnnieLauire

I haven’t heard of Mary Cadman but her chocolate cake recipe appears to be straightforward. The split happens because the baking soda helps lift the batter to give it an extra rise when combined with acid ingredients in the recipe. The sr/plain flour mix also creates a similar split as seen in many madeira cakes. You haven’t done anything wrong. As I don’t know how much soda you’ve used, I can not recommend whether you should try reducing it very slightly. The cake can be flattened by removing just the dome part, this will give you an even surface once turned over. Paul removes the dome of cakes in lots of his tutorials, please use them as guides so you don’t lose the height of your cake.

Please let me know if my answer helps or if you would like more information. 🙂
ps was the cake nice and firm?

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Hi MIWL
Yes helpful. I think in future I will do a slower bake on a reduced temperature. The recipe was saying 160C. I think 140C next time round will probably reduce the explosive top. What is the difference in action between bicarbonate of soda and baking powder. Is their behaviour similar?
What I did was fill in the bottom with excess cake I had for shaping. Packed it in. I just hope when they cut it that it doesn’t fall apart! I had to do this to maintain the height.
Have a great Easter!

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