I'm having a horrible time baking in the large cake pans. I am using a 14" X 2" pan and the cake is not cooking in the middle. At least not as fast as the outer edges. By the time the middle is done the outside is overdone. Sometimes, even close to being burnt. I am cooking on the middle rack in my oven and the temperature is set at 325. It is taking almost an hour to bake. This last time after about 45 minutes, I turned the temp down to 300. What can I do to solve the problem. I don't have a thermometer at the moment, to check the oven temp, but I never noticed a problem with anything else. Does anyone have any helpful ideas to solve this. I have a cake due on Saturday and the bottom layer is 16", the middle is 14" and I can't serve a cake that is raw in the middle or burned on the edges. Please help!!!!!!!!!1
are you using the bake even strips and the upside down flower nail(s) in the middle of your cake? You do need some kind of heating core! Most CC'ers use a flower nail. I have used more than one for a large cake. I have also seen on this site that someone suggested using a cleaned tomato paste can, with the top AND bottom removed; as your heating core. I would use cake release on the can. I have not tried this yet; but I also have to make a 16" square cake soon. Try it and let us know how it turns out!
I am baking a 16" round right now. Use the bake even strips with cold water, and for my cake I use 6 #9 flower nails. I make sure that they are in a circle half the diameter of the pan. My cakes come out beautifully baked at 55 minutes on 325 degrees. You may need to change the time depending on your oven. HTH
I forgot to mention that I used 4 flower nails but not the heating strips. The cakes don't rise very much over the top of the pan, so I didn't think I would need them. Do you think that it would help to even the heat around the pan?
the bake even strips are not just for anti-doming. THere's a science behind the logic (see my threat on the demo I gave 8th graders ... http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-293073-8th.html+grade ).
Metal is a conductor of heat. When the metal pan is hot, it cooks the batter that is close to the hot metal pan faster than the batter that is in the center, which is not touching hot metal. When the outer edge'd batter cooks faster, it sets. But the middle batter is still cold and gooey. When it finally begins to bake (as the heat eventually gets to the center), it has no place to go but up (because the edges of the cake are already cooked and they are no longer "flexible") ..... ergo "doming".
The strips will keep the pan a little cooler, allowing the cake to bake more evenly, meaning the outer edge will bake at about the same rate as the center. This helps eliminate some of the doming, but it's not the main purpose of the strips. The strips are for more even baking.
I use the baking strips and oven at 325. I've never used flower nails or heating cores. I grease-only....no flour in the pan. My cakes ususally rise higher than the pan (so I can use the pan's edge to do any trimming). If they don't rise higher than the pan, it will rise at least to the edge with minimal doming. This works for my 16" round and my 14x22 sheet.
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