I have a cake due tomorrow at 5 pm. I made a simple Better Homes and Garden chocolate cake in a 11x15 cake pan. I put in the batter and it came to between 1/2 and 2/3s full... Well, after 35 minutes at 325, it's spilling ALL over the edges, is still a PUDDLE in the middle and the cone thingee in the middle has a TALL cake all the way to the rim, and I thought I put too little in there!

Then, after 1.5 hours!!!!! It's now finally cooking through and it's SINKING IN!!!

I followed the recipe to the T with the only thing changed is that I added a box of pudding to the mix - just the mix of pudding....

WHAT HAPPENED!!! I'm almost positive I'll ahve to make another cake as I think this is turning into a brownie, but what happened?!?!?!?!?

Melissa

I think I can salvage this... it tastes REALLY yummy and moist and still fluffy enough... the center is a little concave, so I'll have to do surgery. This will be te FIRST time I have to level a cake, I'm usually pretty good at getting even/level cakes, but THIS time... whoa = I had a valcano!!!

Could it simply be the addition of the pudding?

melissa

I hope everything worked out for you. I've had chocolate cake overflow before. Have you tried the flowernail instead of the heating core? It works the same without making a hug hole in the middle of your cake.

Cindy

The trick I learned with the heating core is to put cake inside the core too, so then you use that as plug for the hole when you are done...

I just don't find the flower nail works as well on larger cakes. Perhaps if I used several? I have three nails.

Why would a chocolate cake do that/ I've NEVER had something like that happen before and I double checked myself about amounts of things... Now I'm scared to do it again! My oven is a MESS.... gotta do self clean today I think!

Melissa

I only use DH mixes these days and make additions to that, but in my previous experience with scratch cakes it is best to use the recipe as is, without adding anything to it...every time I varied the recipe I had problems.

Hope you were able to salvage your cake and not have to re-bake it! Janice

I agree with Janice, I think it was the pudding that did it. I make scratch chocolate cakes, but am careful about how much batter I put in the pan. I think if you make one with the really thin batter, it is more likely to give you trouble. I have been known to put a cookie sheet on the rack below the cake, just in case.

Cindy

Well, lesson learned! the client wanted pudding... NEVER again!

My mix was really thick too, like a pudding consistency... very weird!

Melissa

Well, I wouldn't worry too much about it. Like you said, the cake tastes good and that is the most important thing.

Good luck on getting the oven cleaned up....UUUGHH.

Cindy

The disaster didn't end there either. Next, when I went to flip the cake over, it broke into four equal pieces - NICE... but OK, I can piece that back together.

Next is that I now have 2 hours to get it all together. The lady had called and her son was SUPER sick. I said I would cancel the cake if she wanted as I hadn't decorated it yet, but to let me know one way or the other by 2:30 pm so if she needed it, I could get it done. She's a friend, so I was willing to do that.

Well, at 2:15 she calls and she's going on with the party, so I have 2.5 hours to decorate it. I had already made the icing, so it was just making the FBCT and icing the cake. Well, I make the FBCT and when I tried to peak to see if there was any worming, the paper came detached from the clipboard and it fell unto the counter!! Thank GOODNESS it landed paper side down, but a corner flipped up and the icing all bonded together. You can still sort of see the missing black on the fire truck's ladder over the hood of the truck..

Now, I'm icing like mad and piping like crazy. Everything is going fine and I get out the door just at 5 pm. It was due at 5, but it's literally a 1/2 mile from my house to where the party is being held.

So I deliver it and everthing looks good. It wasn't until I uploaded the pics (which fortunatley was immediately) that I wrote happy 6th bday... well, it was his 3rd bday? What the heck did I do!!!

I FLEW to the party as I hadn't cleaned up anything yet and quickly fixed it. The mom hadn't even noticed it yet!!! OMG!!! I was mortified! She laughed it off. She said, "melissa, I didn't even notice it because I'm brain dead and he's my son and I know you are brain dead too, so don't worry about it. You didn't have to come down here to fix it... it's not a big deal, really".

So... what a nightmare... I should learn that being ultra sleep derpived and cake decorating DO NOT MIX!!!!

But they loved the cake, so I guess that's what counts the most. Phew!

Melissa

My goodness, talk about Murpheys law (anything that can go wrong, Will go wrong) !! Glad it all worked out for you!

I'm sure you're glad to have that one done. Sounds like it all turned out ok in the end, so I'm happy for you.

I have baked 11 x 15 sheet cakes a few times. I use the flower nails - at least two in a pan that size. Much better, in my opinion, than messing with the heating core. But we all find what works best for us.

Great job! Now go get some sleep.