Help please with Ds1's birthday cake - how to get a square cake to rise evenly

[cassell]

I'm stupidly attempting a pirate ship cake for ds1's birthday and I'm using a square tin to cook the cakes in which I'll then cut/shape and stuck together - hopefully

However I did a test run cake in the square tin for Easter with my trusty sponge recipe and the cake rose loads in the middle but hardly at all at the sides which have it a very odd shape and isn't going to work for making a ship. I've not had it happen in round tins.

Does anyone know why it did that? What can I do next time to get it to rise evenly?

TIA

I am not a baker but in a cake decorating book I have it says to freeze cake and then slice across the top to make even.

I had the same problem with the princess castle I made. I cut some off the top & turned it upside down to decorate the smooth side

make a dip in the centre of the cake mix in the tin before it goes in the oven

I always just slice it afterwards. Good luck!

Another one who slices the top off - works for me. and I'm a complete novice

Scoop out the middle of the cake and turn the oven down a bit and cook it longer.

Or just level the cake afterwards. After its cooled a bit, put it back in the tin and use dental floss to slice an even top.

Turn it upside down, That's what I always do with Christmas cakes.

Find an old towel, rip it up in to a strip long enough to go round the outside of the baking tin with a bit of overlap, soak it in water then tie it around the tin before you put it in the oven.

Ordinarily the cake mixture touching the cake tin will cook fastest and set before it has risen, while the mixture in the middle keeps rising. Wrapping the tin in the wet towel, reduces the temperature of the tin and means all the mixture inside rises more evenly. This has worked a treat every time I've done it on sponge and fruit cakes. Good luck!

Thanks all - I had tried making it lower in the middle but it didn't seem to do enough. I would normally cut off the top to level it but I need a lot of cake to build the ship and don't want to waste loads.

thesunrising that's an interesting tip thank you - I will definitely try that

I used James Martin's madeira cake recipe recently and it cooked very evenly in a square tin. (Then used for a train cake!) I used a silicon 'tin' though, not sure if that maybe made a difference.

I quite often use square cakes and then cut and slice to make shapes etc.

You need to scoop out the middle before cooking, not just a little bit but loads, pile the mixture up to the sides. That will make it much flatter, but it will still rise some.

slice the worst of the bump off and then turn the cake upside down.

The cut edge is hard to ice, so much easier to ice the bottom