Hi,

Please I really need help with this. I couldnt upload the pics to this post so it is in my photos.

This happens to all my cakes. They are not under or over mixed, and they not under cooked, skewer comes out clean.

The dark bits are really really hard and almost smooth to the touch.

Do you know what causes this??

http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1568700


Anythoughts?

My mother always called those "sad streaks", but ours were usually more of an underbaked texture, no matter how well done the rest of the cake was. Usually in pound cakes for me. Never did figure out what caused it. Sorry!

What's your recipe? Looks like it's underdone to me, but just slightly. Or it could be excessive moisture in your recipe.

to much cake release? That used to happen to my cakes.. after I spray my pans I wipe them out... and it seems to work. HTH

i have used wasc scratch recipe, thats the one that is pictured, also 2 madiera recipes. they all started doing it. I grease my pan with butter and line with greaseproof paper. I dont understand, if its undercooked, why is the skewer coming out clean? and the outside slightly over cooked? Bake at 140 - 180 degrees depending what the recipe calls for, in a fan assisted oven.

Have you checked your oven with an oven therm? It may be off or fluctuating too much. 140c is only 280 f , unless I'm converting wrong, and seems awfully low to me to be baking.

im hoping that it is not the oven temp, the oven is only four months old! 140 is for a madiera racipe i use sometime, the wasc i have cooked on 180 and have tried at 170 coz its fan assisted. Thanks everybody for you thoughts, i just dont know

This almost always happen to me when I baked from scratch. Since I made cakes from doctored cake box, my cakes are fine. Go figure..?

Do a leavener check. What ever your using check it. If BP check it in some warm/tepid water. If BS check it in some sort of warm acid.

Are you sifting the leavener with the flour? All dry sifted together?

Mike

That's a sad streak. Underbaked OR collapsing before it's fully set. Try baking at a bit highter temp.

That's a sad streak. Underbaked OR collapsing before it's fully set. Try baking at a bit highter temp.

So she says her skewer comes out clean. Is this due to the skewer passing thru done cake and the underbaked part coming off before it comes all the way out?

I found this info:

Causes:

Sad streak under top of cake:

Under baking
Cake being knocked or moved during baking
Too hot an oven

Sad streak at bottom of cake:

Too much liquid
Insufficient baking powder
Insufficient sugar
Too soft a flour
Weak or insufficient egg

cheers for everybodys input.

Mike, I do sift all dry ingredients together.

Jamie, no, that isn't the case. At times, having inserted the skewer, it gets harder to push through the problem area, it has already firmed up harder that the rest of the cake whilst in the oven, not apon cooling.

The positioning varies, sometimes top, sometimes bottom, sometimes random spots throughout. I will test the BP.

Its difficult to pin point, if i bake at a higher temp, it just overcooks the outside. Lower temp no change

If you are cooking your cakes in a permanant fan forced oven then you must turn your temperature down by about 20C to what the recipe states.

And thus extend your cooking time by at least 30 minutes.

Otherwise the outside will be crusty but the inside patchy and undercooked,
which is what is happeneing to your cakes.
If you knock the temp down and extend the baking time you should not need baking strips.

Also, remember that halving F temperatures does not give you C temperatures in your oven.

Below is a guide to oven temperatures............. but all oven manufactureres have their own temperature guides.

Very Slow = 120C = 250F = Gas Mark 1
Slow = 150C = 300F = Gas Mark 2
Mod Slow = 160C = 325f = Gas Mark 3
Moderate = 180 - 190C = 350 - 375F = Gas Mark 4
Mod Hot = 200 - 210C = 400 - 425F = Gas Mark 5
Hot = 220 - 230C = 450 - 475F = Gas Mark 6


Bluehue

I totally know what you mean, i think it has something to do with the quality of the sugar