Help: Cake recipe

[WarrenGRegulate]

So backstory; always been fairly good at making cakes etc since a young child, I took it for granted…UNTILL, moving into current house with an inbuilt oven (I have had other inbuilt ovens - not a problem). Oven is a good brand; I cannot for the life of me cook a decent cake in it!

I followed the recipe above which states to use a conventional oven setting instead of fan oven. I tried this; 6” cake recipe, 12oz mix and 4 eggs, 45minutes on 180. Slightly undercooked on skewer test so left for another 2 minutes, then too well cooked…ARGHHHHH! Tasted fine but super heavy and bit on the dry side.

CAN ANYONE HELP ME TO COOK A LIGHT FLUFFY SPONGE AGAIN PLEASE 😭 (IT MUST BE THE OVEN)!

Have you used this recipe before? The measurements seem off to me. And the oven temp is very high for cake. I would try a tried and tested recipe before blaming the new oven. (you might have already done this, in which case ignore me…)

I’m in bed now so can’t check, but I think a standard Victoria sponge is 4oz of everything and two eggs. So her recipe would be two eggs short. Scale up from there if you want more mixture. And I’ve always baked them at 160c (not fan).

Also, if there’s any chance your self raising flour is a bit old, the raising agent won’t work as well as it should. Either add baking powder or buy new flour!

That’s all the suggestions I have for now! Good luck!

If it's standard sponge then weigh the eggs. Make sugar, butter and flour same weight.

You need 2 eggs for every 4oz of butter, flour and sugar, so if you're using a 12oz mix, then you ought to be using 6 eggs, not the 4 you've stated.

I agree with the egg not being enough. Replace some of the butter (an oz) with yoghurt, sift flour (get a new bag if reasonable). Is your baking powder new? Add some lemon juice to the recipe or a 1/4tsp of cream of tartar to give it a boost. Put a thermometer I. The oven to see if it’s hitting temp.

@Sockmonkeysloth @5zeds @Flanjango @Swizzel
Thank you so much for all of your replies!
Ive been in this house about 5 years and have done a lot of tried and tested recipes which is why I’m now thinking it must be the oven. I thought I’d give a new recipe ago just in case it made a difference.

I had NO idea about the old flour (and my flour is often very old), so I will definitely get some new flour and give it another go! I also didn’t sift it so wonder if this will help.

Yes my tried and tested Victoria sponge has always been 8oz of everything and 4 eggs so I did wonder if there was enough eggs - I didn’t know the rule of thumb about eggs/oz ratio so will also try this!

@Sockmonkeysloth This recipe was for two 6” cakes (which are then cut in half to create a 4 tier cake) - would you cook this at 160c in a normal oven when I retry this please?

Thanks again everyone for all the comments, really appreciate it and have learnt some important tips!

You might need to play with the timings, but yes, 160c I think. It might need a hat if the top is getting too brown but I wouldn’t go any higher than that for a sponge.

Thank you @Sockmonkeysloth!

I had something similar with my oven. Made perfect cakes then all of a sudden it didn't everything else cooked OK. I bought an oven thermometer and found out that it was 20 degrees cooler than what the setting said.

Our family Victoria sponge recipe probably goes back to 1900 and never fails.

Weigh eggs and use the same weight of flour, butter, sugar plus vanilla extract.

For a six inch cake in shallow pans I use two large eggs. Usually weight about 4.5 or 5 ounces.

Bake at 180 fan for 18-20 minutes.

Thanks @LunaLoveFood i think I’m going to invest in one and see what it says!

Thank you @BobMortimersPocketMeat when you say weigh the eggs, should these weigh the same as the flour etc (sorry if that’s a really dumb question)! These are deep 6” pans and then I cut the sponges in half, but if I still struggle might try doing 4 x smaller ones.

Thank you everyone 🤗

(this is the 4 tiers from 2x 6” - first attempt)!

Yes, weigh the eggs whole - 4 eggs will usually weigh around 225-250g.

Then you want the same weight (say 225g) of caster sugar, butter and SR flour. This makes 2 . I use 165 fan for 25mins.

I follow ThisJane Asher recipe to the letter.

Yes, exactly that - weigh the whole eggs first, note the weight, and weigh out equal quantities of the other main ingredients.

For your four-layer cake you’d need to make my recipe twice over. I find it easier to make four shallow layers than to cut deep cakes in two horizontally. I think it also helps with making it moist as you don’t have to cook each layer for as long because they’re so much more shallow.

@BobMortimersPocketMeat so I took everyone’s advice and followed your instructions to the T for a 6” cake…and it was PERFECT! Thank you so much ☺️

I’m so glad! My Nan, who taught me to make it 40 years ago, will be smiling down at the thought! 😁

Woo hoo for @WarrenGRegulate, and @BobMortimersPocketMeat I’m going to try out your Nan’s recipe too this weekend!

This also makes me happy 😁

That recipe is SO bad!

I do 225g flour, caster, butter. 4 eggs, 1tsp baking powder. Does two 8 inch tins.

For a 3 egg recipe do 175g of first 3 ingredients

Well at least two of us here like it (plus several generations of all my extended family, various friends and lots of guests) so I’ll stick with it, thanks.

And if you like yours, carry on with that. No need to be rude, though.

I assume Carrie's talking about OP's original unsuccessful recipe, Bob!

Lawks, you might be right! It’s the heat. You could bake a cake on my lap just now.

@BobMortimersPocketMeat I LOVE this ❤️ and thank you for sharing it with us!

@Carrieonmywaywardsun that was my failsafe recipe that I always used to do (8oz/4 eggs) but it just doesn’t work in this oven 🤷🏼‍♀️- brand new flour, weighing the eggs and the temp/timing on @BobMortimersPocketMeat was spot on though…I’m going to be baking a birthday cake next week so hoping it wasn’t a fluke 😁

(PS following someone’s advice here I went to test the oven temp with the metal thermometer from my fridge - luckily DH pointed out to me just in time that it only goes up to 30•c!!!!!! 😂😅)

I'm not having the oven on in this heat. I'm using my instant pot and slow cooker instead. Saves heating up the kitchen. So now I'm inspired to try some of those cake recipes for slow/pressure cookers. Yum.

@BobMortimersPocketMeat my go to cake guru - I’ve baked an 8” tonight exactly to the same instructions as I did for the perfect 6”…I have it 22 minutes, the skewer came out clean and there was a slight spring when I pressed the top…and then it sank 😩 What did I do wrong?! I’m still going to ice it but wondering if you would have left it for 25 minutes (180/fan etc)?!