Is it my oven? Sponge cakes you are my nemesis

[sassyTHEFIRST]

So I have always enjoyed baking - something about sticking slops in the oven and a few mins later CAKE! - but I just can't do it anymore. Been about 2 years. Nothing rises. have tried:-

changing flour I buy
new cake tins
a handheld whisk instead of food processor

Final straw today is 15 fairy cakes which look and weigh like the dds retrieve from the bottom of the swimming pool. What is it??

I've had a similar problem for years. Not my fairy cakes so much but victoria sponges and the like. DH decided he could prove to me it wasn't the oven but me, 5 cakes later with varying methods certainly didn't improve on my cakes. In the end, in desperation I tried the recipe on the Stork tub (I'd bought stork to see if that yielded better results than butter). It's an all in one recipe that doesn't require to you cream the butter/ marg and sugar. Lo and behold - success! I've made 3 now and they've all been great - even my baking guru aunt said so.

I have a fan oven but all the cakes I've made before have always risen. My problem has always been trying to gauge when is the best time to take the cakes out so they brown nicely and sometimes having to lower oven temp because the times or temperatures in the recipes I've used have never seemed to be right for me. With regards to cakes not rising, it could be something to do with your egg temperature - I don't refrigerate my eggs ever, contrary to food safety advice, I store them in a cool dry place and throw them once they have gone past their exp. date - I remember reading elsewhere that eggs that are too cold cause cake mixtures to curdle, etc. not sure if that will cause cakes not to rise though as that has happened to me once or twice but my cakes still rose. Could it be a problem with the proportion of ingredients added (recipes normally call for large eggs if I'm not wrong, though me I buy eggs of mixed sizes and try to find the larger ones to use)? Also are you measuring all the ingredients wet and dry accurately? I think I've always had to add a pinch of baking powder or bicarb of soda to the self-raising flour in the recipes I've tried. It could also be due to the mixing of course... ingredients not mixed well or over mixed.

I'm inclined to think your problem is related to your ingredients and not the oven at this point though, have you ever tried buying a factory-made cake mix and baking it up in your oven to see if the cake that results has a rising problem too? I would think that a shop-bought mix would be more fool-proof in terms of rise-ability, and if a shop-bought mix cannot turn out a risen cake in your oven then it might actually be an oven problem that you have.

Another fan of adding about 2 tablespoons of milk to a 4-4-4-2 recipe. Very moist.

See I use the all in one method, never fails.

My fan oven cooks bloody quick, but imturn it down 30 degrees and check 5 ot 6 mins before the end of the cooking time.

My eggs never go into the fridge oh and I always use stork. Mary Berry is the way to go forward...

1. Have you got an oven thermometer? With a new oven I always check the temperatures.
2. For basic sponge recipes I always use the all-in-one method. It is more reliable and uses less elbow grease/electricity. Just add a teaspoon of baking powder to a 4:4:4:2 recipe and 1.5 teaspoons to a 6:6:6:3 recipe.
3. Always preheat your oven.
4. Make sure you use the correct size baking tin.
5. I always use the 6:6:6:3 proportions for a 7" sandwich cake.
6. Eggs must be at room temperature.
7. Queen Delia suggests using large eggs. I do so and am never disappointed.
8. Weighing the eggs and using the same weights for SR flour, sugar and butter/marge is also a failsafe recipe, especially if the eggs are of assorted sizes. Just ad 1 tsp baking powder with 2 eggs and 1.5 tsp for 3 eggs and follow the all-in-one method.

I have this problem and my gran and mum are convinced it's because I have 'a heavy hand' when it comes to baking

However as a result of this thread, this afternoon I made some fairy cakes and tried the non fan setting on my oven and they were a success...so thanks!

DP thinks it hysterical that we've owned the oven 7 years and I didn't realise it had this setting and only investigated as a result of this thread

You know as long as you are actually using a reasonable recipe, a cake should be ok. All this stuff about methods and temperature of eggs and the like is just tweaking IMO. If no matter what you do your cakes don't rise properly then it must be your oven.

All this stuff does help, but I produce perfectly good, well risen cakes with cold eggs and whether I use an 'all in one' or creamed method and whether or not I use a mixer or not.

I find it really helps to cream the sugar and butter (softened) very well until really pale and fluffy, then add the eggs and any other wet ingredients. I beat my eggs before adding and always add slowly to stop from curdling. I too add a tablespoon or two of milk to the mixure as I find it makes the sponge very light. I also sift the flour and when I add it to my wet ingredients, I fold in, using the cut and fold method to retain as much of the air in as possible; I never beat the mixure. I have an oven with a fan setting but never use it, just the regular bit. With cakes, a lot is trial and error but practice makes perfect!

I agree with shroeder-check temp of oven as first port of call. I have made hundreds of Victoria sponges and used to religiously cream butter and sugar, add eggs bit by bit, fold in flour. Now time is shorter, I do all in one and it honestly hasn't made a jot of difference.

Oh - and if dd aged five does okay when she checks the ingredients by eating some before adding to the cake then I imagine it's less critical than we imagine

Why do some people still use the creaming method when the all-in-one is more reliable and quicker?

honestly? I noticed a difference when I did the all in one method because most of the feckers sank. I don't know whether it was that there was too much air being put into the mix when the flour was present or what, but I ended up with dipped, soggy sponge.

I use the all in one for a denser cake, like a banana loaf but for a sponge I'll always use the creaming method. Just me though, everyone else is free to do what works for them.

The danger with all-in-one methods is that you can overbeat the mixture, which stretches the gluten in the flour and results in a sunken cake. You only need to beat the mixture until it is just blended and no more. I use a hand held electric beater and it takes less than a minute to mix up a cake batter - much, much quicker than the laborious creaming method for which I have no patience for.

I think I'll stick with what I know works for me. I know I overbeat the all in one, so I;m fortunate I have the other method to fall back on.[girn]

I wonder if the creaming method is a bit less relevant since the advent of electric whisks which make it easier to get air into a cake. But everyone has their own way and creaming definitely shouldn't make a less light cake, just take more time. And part of baking is enjoying the process after all.

Butter should be room temperature. Cold butter always makes a heavy cake no matter how much you beat.

i think the key is to beat the sugar and butter for aeons to make super light and fluffy... i do it all by hand and spend ages just on this part.

maybe you like to try by hand - it is quite lovely and calming!

If the butter is warm and soft, you don't need to beat it for an age.

Previous three houses with non-fan (inexpensive) ovens all cake baking incidents were disasters. So my love of cooking was channeled down the savoury route.
This house with fan (very expensive german) oven, I am a baking diva it seems I can do no wrong we bake chou pastry, meringues, cup cakes, velvet cakes, blondies the works and they are all perfect.

It was on Great British Bake Off the other day, which would have made my Granny chuffed as I'm sure she'd convince people she invented this but when the mix is in the cases, tins, on the baking tray (as they did with their macaroons) gently raise the tray/tin a few cm off the counter surface and drop back on.

I always thought, and was told, it was to make sure it was all even but it is worth a try along with all the other advice on here.