Welcome to the Cake Decorators Q&A

Hi all, I baked my first cake today haha ( would normally use a packet mix)
I when down to the local cake supply shop and they gave me a recipe for a standard sponge for a 6″ pan.
But it has come out oily on the bottom.
Recipe was
4 large eggs
250g caster sugar, s/r flour and butter.
@ 160 fan for 25 mins.
It took approx 1 hr to cook and has risen well aprox 3.5″
I also add some lemon curd because I asked about a lemon cake. ( I was advised to add this)
But it’s oily on the bottom and lower sides. I haven’t cut it yet so not sure on the inside! Lol
Butter was at room temperature.

Sorry for the long one.
Any help would be great!
Thanks Sarah

Thank you.
I will give the mud cake ago.
Logged out and bk in and managed to watch the video. I don’t think I had done that since upgrading.

Thanks again Sarah

Hi Sarah

This sounds like your butter, although at room temperature may have been too soft.. Butter should be soft, just enough to leave an imprint of the fingers and not squishy. If it is too soft at the start, the beating process and the heat generated by the beaters will make it become oily. Overbeating the batter at too high speed will also produce an oily cake.
You haven’t said how much lemon curd was added to the mix. This too will change the texture and outcome of the finished cake. Lemon curd is a wet ingredient which contains eggs and butter. This comination will have changed the recipes balance if not added in proportion to the other ingredients.
This is your first bake, it sounds like it wasn’t a bad attempt so have another go. Use a recipe like Mrs Jones’ vanilla cake in the baking section and stick to it faithfully. The recipe can be scaled down for 6″ cake and then halved to make a less deep cake using two sandwich tins. It will bake in approximately 25 mins.
Use the site’s recipe calculator to scale down. The recipe is already preloaded, use the arrows from the drop down menu to adjust it here:

Cake Calculators

Try to remove the cakes out of the tin within five or ten minutes after baking and place on a cooling rack. This will help prevent condensation building up in between the cake and lining paper.

The recipe you were given took longer to bake because all of the mixture was baked one deep tin. Normally a cake that size would take approx 45 minutes in a deep tin and 25 mins in two shallow sandwich tins. The addition of the lemon curd will have also extended the baking time.

Have another go and let us know how you get on. 🙂

Hi Madewithlove
Thanks for replying.
I don’t use lining papers I used the one spray. And 3 tablespoons of curd.

Many thanks Sarah

Sorry I didn’t use lining paper. I used PME spray.
Many thanks Sarah

It’s possible the spray contributed to some of the oilyness., I don’t use it so can’t give definite comment on that. Three tablespoons of curd is approx 45 mls, which may or may not have imbalanced the recipe. I would suggest using it in the filling rather than in the bake or use less in the batter.

Perfect thank you.
I cant get the video you mentioned so I will email support.

If I wanted to turn it into a chocolate cake, do I just add in the coco and take out the same amount in flour?
or just add it?
Thanks again for your help

Hi Sarah

Are you having problems with the video playing back or are a free member? Mrs Jones’ tutorial is for paid members but it can be purchased individually from the baking section here:
https://www.cakeflix.com/purchase-individual-pbss-courses/course-category/baking

To change the recipe into chocolate flavour please see here:
https://www.cakeflix.com/purchase-individual-pbss-courses/course-category/baking
Mix the cocoa powder with a little boiling water first to make a paste befor adding to the batter for a more richer taste.
You can also enjoy Paul’s moist chocolate cake recipe in the free/ beginners section and an alternative recipe in the blog section by typing in the seach bar ‘how to make chocolate mud cake’.

🙂