How do you make the top of a sponge cake flat??

[TooYoungToBeOld]

Whenever i make the two halves of a sandwich cake they always come out as a mound shape rather than flat, which makes it difficult to put a topping on and put on a cake stand.

Is there anything i can do to keep them flat?

Slice the top off using a breadknife before taking out of the pan (you use the rim of the pan as a guide) - you need to do this so you can taste the sponge before serving it

Oooooo I know the answer to this one.

The easiest way - as described is to slice the dome off the bottom one before adding the filling.

But if you would like it to be a little less domed when it cooks you need to dampen a tea towel fold it and wrap it around the cake tin before you put it in the oven.

It happens because your tin edges heat too quickly causing the outside of the cake to set before the middle is cooked. As the cake needs to keep rising it can't around the edge because it has set so it domes up in the middle where teh batter is still flexible. Wrapping the damp tea-towel around the edge insulates it so the cake cooks more evenly and doesn't set on teh outside before it is cooked.

Personally I go for the slicing the top off option as it is a little easier