I made 2 cakes this weekend. The middles did not rise a whole lot, but the sides barely rose at all. I felt like I was cutting the cake in half just to get it leveled. And the corners seemed to crunchy to me when I took the cake out of the pan. There has to be a way to get the side to rise more while baking, right ?? Is that what those strip thingies are for ?? Please help. I have a baptism cake in a couple of weeks and need to have a higher cake.

I know my oven temp is correct (thermometer) and I bake at 325. They were larger sheet cakes. Do I need to bake at lower temp maybe to prevent the "crunchies" ??

Thanks !!

Crunchies... lol. Last year I was at a garage sale and saw a brand new pkg. of those little strip thingies..still lol.. I think they were .50, so for that cheap I would give them a try. The cake strips (thingies) were awesome!!! My cake rose almost perfectly level!! I use them all the time and I hate it when my cake is too big to use them(I only have two strips).
So Rhondie says go get some cake strips..you will love them.

What size pan are you using, and how much batter did you put in it??