You read every word of the recipe and follow it exactly. You hear the timer go off and go to open the oven door and BAM…you ask, “What happened to my cake?” If cake baking problems and fails are constantly getting you down, well this post is all about common cake baking problems and why they happen. You’ll get some helpful cake troubleshooting tips and easy ways to keep those cake baking fails from happening in the first place.
Here’s the thing, really any cake baking problem could have a multitude of reasons for why it’s happened. For simplicity’s sake, I’m going to just talk about common problems.
It would be easy if I could just say, oh your cake is dry and the problem is XYZ, but in the cake baking world it just isn’t like that. There’s really no black and white…it’s all gray, so there can be several different reasons.
There is much more I could say about measuring, weighing ingredients and other issues that could affect cakes like temperature of ingredients etc, but I’m trying get to the basics here.
As always, if I’ve missed something (which is quite possible), just shoot me a comment below, so we can all see the tip!
I’m going to list the common cake problem and then give some ideas of what could have happened. Remember…some of the reasons could be the same for multiple problems. Ok, here we go:
Common Cake Baking Problems and Why They Happen:
(These are in no particular order.)
Cake Baking Problem #1: The Cake is Too Dry
Reasons Why:
- Baked too long.
- Too much flour or not enough moisture in the recipe.
- Baked at a lower temp for too long.
- It could just be the recipe.
Cake Baking Problem #2: The Cake is Wet on the Bottom
Reasons Why:
- Too much liquid in the recipe
Cake Baking Problem #3: The Cake Sunk in the Middle
Reasons Why:
- Opened the oven door too much, or slammed it shut.
- Too much leavener, so the cake rose up too quickly, then fell.
- Oven temp could be too high or low…either one.
- It was underbaked…pulled out of the oven too soon when the middle wasn’t baked yet.
Cake Baking Problem #4: The Cake is Done or Over-baked on the Outside, but Not Done in the Middle
Reasons Why:
- Oven temp is too high, so the outside baked before the middle had a chance to.
Cake Baking Problem #5: The Cake Stuck to the Pan
Reasons Why:
- It’s really important to prepare your pans correctly. I’ve got a post that really goes into the details on how to do that and it will prevent your cakes from sticking to their pans. You can see that post here: Tips for Getting Your Cakes to Release from Their Pans
Cake Baking Problem #6: The Cake Has Gluey Like Streaks in it
Reasons Why:
- Creaming the sugar and butter at high speed or just over mixing the batter.
Cake Baking Problem #7: There are Holes in the Cake
Reasons Why:
- Over mixing the batter.
- Mixing at too high a speed.
Cake Baking Problem #8: The Cake is too Dense
Reasons Why:
- Over-mixed the batter.
- Make sure to measure the flour correctly-don’t pack it down when measuring.
- Oven was too cool.
Cake Baking Problem #9: The Cake Didn’t Rise
Reasons Why:
- Insufficient leavener, or forgot to add it in.
Cake Baking Problem #10: The Cake is Tough
Reasons Why:
- Over mixing the batter.
- Too much flour.
Cake Baking Problem #11: The Cake is Cracked on the Top
Reasons Why:
- Too much leavener.
- Heat is too high.
- A lot of times, these cakes are fine to eat, you’ll just want to trim the dome off the top, if there’s one.
Cake Baking Problem #12: The Cake is Missing (Okay…I just had to do it.)
Reasons Why:
- Check the husband, wife, kids…but it’s probably too late. Never admit it, if it was you though.
Main Cake Baking Tips to Remember:
- Check the oven temperature and make sure to preheat the oven.
- Don’t open and close the oven door constantly.
- Try to get ingredients as close to the same temperature.
- Measure properly (ie. don’t pack down your flour when measuring…you can even weigh ingredients if you want to get technical about it.)
- Follow the recipe exactly without trying substitutions right off the bat.
- Be careful not to over-mix.
- Sometimes it’s just the recipe. If you’ve tried a recipe a couple times already and it keeps coming out all wrong, you may need to look for another recipe.
If you want even more cake baking tips, you’ll want to check out these posts:
If you want some really delicious cake recipes, here are a few of my favorites from the blog:
- Favorite Vanilla Bean Cake
- Moist White Cake
- Chocolate Butter Cake
- Coconut Cake
- Red Velvet Sour Cream Cake
Adona says
July 6, 2018 at 11:56 amMy cake is usually crumbly on the edges otherwise it’s perfect. These crumbly edges make it very difficult to put a crumb coating on none-the-less frost it. What causes this?
Kara Jane says
July 6, 2018 at 7:58 pmIt could be the temperature it’s baked at. You could possibly lower it a bit…maybe 15-20 degrees and bake it a tad longer (depending on what temp). You could also just try baking it five minutes less and see if that helps. It could also just be the recipe…I’ve tried some recipes that are just more crumbly than others. If you really like the recipe though and want to make it work, you could pop the cake layers in the fridge for a bit before adding a crumb coat. Sometimes that helps as well as thinning the icing you use for the crumb coat a little. Hope this helps.
Kath says
July 6, 2018 at 2:22 pmthanks for the “cake problem” tips. My problem is that when I take my cakes out of the oven they are fine but when they cool I find the tops are quite sticky to the touch. This does not affect the taste and I can get round this issue by covering the cakes with icing but just wondering what I’m doing wrong. If it’s cupcakes that I’m making I remove them round the baking pan very soon after they come out of the oven but with a large cake I tend to leave it until it has cooled.
Kara Jane says
July 6, 2018 at 8:03 pmHi there, I don’t think you’re doing anything wrong. Some cake recipes just do that. If I bake a cake and it’s got a sticky top like that, I just use my cake leveler and level off that top sticky part…but really it doesn’t hurt anything.
Also, when I take my cakes out of the oven, I let them sit in their pans on cooling racks for only about 10 minutes for layer cakes and 15-20 for bundt cakes. Once the 10 minutes or so is up, I turn them out of the pans and let the cool the rest of the way on the cooling racks. I don’t think that’ll make much difference in the sticky top, but you might try it.
To me, the sticky top, just means it’s a moist cake. 😉
Claudia Rosalie Ryan says
February 24, 2019 at 9:50 amsometimes my cakes come out with a “waist “around the middle Sometimes all the way sometimes half way, What causes this
Kara Jane says
February 24, 2019 at 11:17 amOh that is interesting. I would do several things…because I don’t know exactly what the cause could be. Get an oven thermometer and check to make sure your oven temp is correct. I’m wondering if the temperature is fluctuating quite a bit while it’s baking. Make sure not to open and close the oven door during the baking. Also, make sure to grease and flour your pans (or use pan release) and make sure to get the sides too.
You might need to check your baking soda and baking powder as well. Maybe replace them. Like I said, I’m not exactly sure what’s causing it, but I have seen it happen before, so you’re not the only one.
I’d check those things I suggested above and if they don’t help, try a different recipe and see what happens. If the new recipe comes out the same, you might need to get new pans. Some people swear by those baking strips that go around pans. I don’t use them, but I do use Magic Line pans and they bake a really even cake layer, so that’s a thought.