Overbaked the bloody birthday cake

[Lalunya85]

It stayed in the oven a little too long. It's not burned but it did go quite dark! It's a chocolate cake.

Was meant to be in for an hour, it stayed for 1:15 or thereabouts.

I need it for Sunday. Covered with cling film now. Will it moisten up?? I hate dry cake.

It's for a a children's birthday party... It Will be covered in buttercream and smarties.

It won't moisten up

I would trim off the 'crust' then slice in half and fill with plenty of buttercream, then a nice layer of buttercream on the outside. The buttercream will mean that when you have a bite it won't seem dry.

I'm sure it will be fine with plenty of buttercream and if it's for kids they don't end up eating much of it anyway and most kids will eat it regardless if it's cake!

15 mind is a lot extra on a cake,I'd do it again personally.

Wrap the cake in a damp (clean) tea towel, then wrap over the tea towel with cling film. Put the cake in the fridge until you need it.

I'd make another tbh

Or you need to cover it with so much butter cream that is hides the horrible dry cake

I'd make another.

Nobody wants a bone dry cake covered in so much buttercream

Treat cake with respect

Agree 15 mintunes is loads extra for a cake and it will only get dryer whatever you do
No expert but I find the fridge to be absolute death to cakes, it makes them go hard and dry!
If you really can't make another my mother used to prick holes and pour a small amount of coke onto dry chocolate cake to moisten it, never tried it myself though!

No cake should go in the fridge imo.

You can make holes with a toothpick and pour some sugary syrup over it.

Oh dear...! I will be making another cake. I wanted to have two! But I won't have time to make a third.

Just to clarify, I did check the cake after an hour and the toothpick I inserted came up completely covered in dough. I should have checked it after 5-10 minutes but nappy changes took longer so it ended up being 15.

Im not sure how dry it is... How do I know without cutting it?

Sorry about the drip feed, not intentional...

I would re do it personally, there isn't much that can be done to rescue an over baked cake, not to a level worth the effort anyway.

You can tell how baked/overbaked it is based on the resistance you get when you press it, like you would check a steak. If it's a sponge the more resistance the dryer it will be. Should be nice and well spongy when pressed, not stiff or hard. Sorry if that doesn't make sense, I'm rubbish at explaining things!

green it makes perfect sense thanks! I was actually checking it for springyness earlier and a gentle press and release gets an instant spring back. If that makes sense. It gives me hope!

I make cakes quite regularly and love baking, so I think I'm going to trust my instinct here. That and some buttercream.

I might also inject with a melted chocolate type syrup. Just to be on the safe side. Thanks for the suggestion wiggle

Crumble it up, add some chocolate ganache and make cake balls. Then make another. Good luck

If it's being eaten by children and covered in smarties I really don't think they will notice.

Cut into 3 or 4 layers instead of just 2, then youryour almost guaranteed buttercream with every bite. I agree that kids probably won't notice too much. Definitely don't fridge it though! That will make it hard too!

Hello all! In case somebody is watching, thanks for all the suggestions!

I ended up cutting it into three layers and I'm happy to report that it looks and feels very moist inside. The only issue will probably a slightly overdone top, but then that bit is covered in chocolate butter cream and smarties so hopefully nobody will notice!

I've filled it wo h chocolate buttercream and raspberry coulis. Not too much, just to give it a but of extra moisture inside.

I also made a second cake because you can never have too much cake.

Fingers crossed for tomorrow!