Why can’t I bake?

[Clearasmuddypuddles]

My 4 year old is always wanting to bake cakes, but despite my best efforts they are always awful!

Today was basic fairy cakes. You would think they can’t go wrong. 100g flour, caster sugar and butter, 2 eggs. Looked great straight out of the oven, 5 minutes later they are sunken and wrinkly. Taste all eggy.

What am I doing wrong?

I’m not a good cook or baker unfortunately, I love baking and would like things to turn out how they’re supposed to. My cakes are always too tough instead of light and airy.

when you think they are baked, put a cocktail stick in one cake , if it comes out clean then the cakes are done

The recip e is wrong -I use 4 oz to 2 eggs. 100g is only 3.5 oz.
4oz is 113 g so you had too much egg and eggs are so big sometimes, medium is enough.
I use hard butter, softened in microwave for about 12 secs. But soft stork is fine. Stick it all in the bowl together. Don't overbeat it -just until it's mixed together. You probably have an idea whether your oven is accurate temperaturewise or not. Mine is hot so I check after a shorter time.

@Caeruleanblue has a good point, and more generally the principles of baking can be easier to grasp in imperial rather than metric measurement because the relative proportions are more obvious.

I'd get an oven thermometer, just to make sure it's reaching the right temperature - once I did that, I found that my oven was about 3/4 of a gas mark low

The recipe is wrong -I use 4 oz to 2 eggs. 100g is only 3.5 oz

This is what I came on to say. I don't use imperial for anything else but have always gone with 2oz of everything else for each egg and generally have good sponges.