Yesterday, I posted my topic of the disaster where my cakes had not risen. After taking on board lots of ideas/suggestions from various posters, I thought I would give it another go today.......

well, it was a slight improvement on yesterday! Instead of using two sandwich tins, I used a 9" non-stick spring form cake tin.

Unfortunatley, as soon as I put the cake in the oven, I remembered I had not put any baking paper in the bottom of the tin (even though it is supposed to be non-stick).

Luckily, I did sit the cake tin on a baking tray.......good job, as part way through cooking, the cake mix began to slowly ooze out of the bottom of the tin!! So, what had I done wrong there????

Before putting it in the oven, I levelled the mix out, yet when I took it back out, my cake was slightly lop-sided.....maybe this was due to the mix leaking out??

I haven't bothered to ice this cake, my son and I are just going t eat it as it is! It just doesn't seem worth it!

OH NO! You're not having much luck are you?

With the problem with the leaking, its the tin! I have two mini spring opening tins, I baked two mini cakes in them the other week and even WITH the non stick paper the mixture leaked out of the bottom, its the nature of the tins, because they haven't got solid bottoms the mixture can leak out, probably best to use the ordinary tins and non stick paper.

With the cake being lobsided, it may have been because the mixture leaked, if it was lopsided the side it had leaked. My cakes come out lobsided because me damn cookers wonky!!!

Aww! don't give up, I've made many cakes that are not worthy of icing!

P.S You are more welcome to PM me if you want help!

Hi again,

What about some of these recipes? Or are they like the same you are using?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/victoriasponge_13555

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/532634/grannys-victoria-sponge

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1997/classic-victoria-sandwich

http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/type-of-dish/sweet/victoria-sponge-cake.html
(Maybe try the Delia Smith one above, its like the recipe I use)

Why don't you replace the butter with marg instead? I never use butter in a sponge, the best one I've found is "I Can't Believe Its Not Butter"
I really hope this helps! Please don't give up!

Hey don't give up!!!

Firstly, how does it taste?

Did it rise? What was the texture like?

Ummmmm I think I want some cake....have to wait a few hours though...I'm fasting

it actually tasted ok, but a little bit greasy.

As recommended by another poster (sorry, I forget who it was), she suggested weighing the eggs and then using flour, butter,sugar etc at the weight of the eggs.
Receipe states 4oz of everything, but 2 eggs weighed 5oz, so I justed the other ingredients accordingly.

It managed to rise a little(still not coming anywhere near the top), but I found it slightly cracked when I removed it from the pan (after leaving it to cool for 10mins)

I have been using unsalted butter, but will try it with the "can't believe it's not butter".

I'm getting annoyed with myself that it's not working, as it must be something very simple that I am doing wrong?lol

Hi BakingNewbie,
It was me who said about the eggs, the "default" recipes are that, an egg weighs 2oz, there for the recipe should match the eggs, everything going up 2oz for every extra egg you add, but this isn't always the case, because as you said, you weighed the two eggs and they were 5oz instead of 4oz!
Try this,
2 eggs (but weigh them because they could weigh more than 4oz! If they are do as you did and change the weight of the other ingredients.)
4oz sugar,
4oz "I can't believe its not butter"
4oz self raising flour.
Cream the marg and sugar, until its light and creamy looking.
Add in the eggs, with a pinch of salt and half a teaspoon milk and mix, (the mixture at this point always looks curdled when I do it, so don't worry), mix just until the egg is mixed in.
Lastly add the flour in two halves, put half the flour into the mixture and sieve it in, mix it in just until the flour is mixed in. Add the other half of flour, again sieve it in and mix it in just until the flour is mixed in.

To do this mixture I would have used an electric mixer for the marg,sugar,egg,salt and milk part, but I mix in the flour, by hand in a folding motion to keep the air in the mixture, don't over mix because the air will come out.

Hope this helps! good luck! don't give in to the sponge!

@SugarFiend, Oh man! Now I'm laughing! oh the joys of cake making!

...and that is EXACTLY how I'll say it until my own oven gets levelled.

I am from the middle of the US and primarily deal with doctored box cakes, but I am curious about something...are you at a high altitude where you are? Because that does affect how cakes rise.

Also, if you ARE using baking powder or baking soda make sure it is very fresh because if it isn't your cake won't rise...and it can sink.

Also, make sure your oven temp is calibrated properly. Just stick an oven thermometer in there and see if it's accurate. I once made pecan pies that kept coming out all liquid inside but cooked on the outside. Turned out my oven was 25 degrees off! All I did was turn back my temp 25 degrees and they cooked perfectly from then on.
Good luck!

Hi bakingnewbie, I was just referring to what JamAndButtercream said.

OMG, I must get to the U.K. again someday. I love the way you all speak over there!

@SugarFiend & @cakestyles,
Thanks to your love of my quote I have now made it my signature!

You should both visit the UK, espcially Wales, which has the best sayings ever! Theres a couple!

"Thats well Lush!" Translation - "Thats very Nice!"
"Come and have a Cwtch!" (c-oo-ch) Translation - "Come and have a cuddle!
"Big Huge" Translation - "Big" Or "Huge"
"Aye" (ar-y) Translation - "Yes"

I could go on!

@bakingnewbie,

Have you tried to make a cake again?

It may just be the fact that there is more batter (the pan is more full) when you use extra flour, butter, milk, etc. Using more batter will produce a taller cake.

Glad this one turned out better for you.

Hi BakingNewbie,
Maybe it wasn't raising because the pans were too big for the amount of mixture, the pans I use for a basic sponge are maybe 8 inch across, when I use a 4 oz mixture it doesn't rise up as much as when I use a 6 oz mixture, so it could be that you need more mixture. I'd say you need the pan to be half full of raw mixture to get it to rise to the top of the pan.

hope this helps, post again if you need help!