Two baking questions please

[Cucumberscarecrow]

I am panicking about preparing for my DS's 4th birthday and have two baking dilemmas:

1. I am using the WI Victoria Sponge recipe for the cake but my tins are 7" tins and the recipe calls for 21cm tin which is 8.2". Should I increase the recommended baking time of 25-30 minutes if I am leaving the quantities of ingredients the same as the WI recipe?

1. I bought toppers to put on cupcakes so will need cupcakes that are not too domed. Should I use no baking agent or just a little to achieve this?

Thank you!

Raising agent not baking agent.

Not sure about your first query, but with the cupcakes, once you put the mixture in the cases, make a slight well or dip in the middle. As they bake and rise, they should end up flat.

Great, thanks very much.

If no one comes back on the first question, I think I'll just start monitoring it from 25 minutes. My mum never uses a timer for these things and relies on the look of the cake but has 50 years' baking experience.

If you are using 7" tins, rather than 8" tins, you will reduce the baking time, not increase it, as the cake is going to be smaller. As a guide, look for when the side pulls away from the edge of the cake pan. You will probably be OK on 25 minutes.

1. So your tins are smaller and deeper? I'd cook on 140 deg fan, 160 regular oven for about 25/30 mins. Agree with advice about the cake starting to come away from the edge of the tin.

1. If you want flat cupcakes, don't overfill the cases and cook on the same temp as 1 for 15-20 mins. I'd do skewer test at 15 mins.

I was told that cakes rise more evenly in a lower temp and it works every time for me.

Hope this works for you too.

And I don't know the WI recipe but I wouldn't add to it. They know what they're doing

Thank you! The WI recipe involves weighing your eggs and matching weight if flour and butter to eggs. Was a success this time last year when last I baked a cake!

Didn't know that's a WI recipe. Thinks it's quite traditional. Here, it's known as great grandma's recipe and my whole family use it! It's great!

That is the sponge recipe I always use.
I made one a couple of nights ago. I used 5 eggs and that went into 8inch tins. No idea how long I baked for, I just kept going until they were done.
I test that they are baked by listening to them, they should be quiet; and by touch, if they spring back they are cooked.
Here is the one I made:

How many eggs are you using? I make a 3 egg mix and bake it in two 7" tins for 25 minutes.

I think that for 7inch tins use 4 eggs. As you can see 5 eggs makes a good thickness of 8 inch tin.
When I say 4 eggs I mean for the whole cake, not each tin.

Not much good to you now, OP, but wanting flat tops is the reason that I don't use a standard sponge recipe for cupcakes. I tend to use the humminbird bakery recipe, which rises very flat IME.

hummingbird, clearly.

My cupcakes don't have high domes, but I have a gas oven. They are just gently rounded and are lovely and moist. I use the same recipe as I do for bog standard sponge cakes - weigh the eggs and use equal weights of SR flour, Stork and sugar.

For flat tip cupcakes I use Stork instead of butter and self raising flour, but no other rising agent. The key is to keep your baking temp quite low, so around 160C or 165C for at least 25 min. I do 175g of Stork, flour and caster sugar, one teaspoon of vanilla extract and three large eggs. Be careful not to overfill your cases...they should each be about three quarters full.

To check that your cake is done, I think the best way is to gently press on the top. If it springs back, it's done. I do that with the cake still in the oven. I got tired of my sponges sinking when I took them out to insert a skewer, only to realise that they weren't done and I had ruined the appearance.