Cake Problems

If you ever have challenges baking the perfect candied fruit cake, take a look at these suggestions to see if you can find some ways to improve results.

The cake has a texture that is too coarse

• There may have been too much baking powder used.
• You may not have used enough water milk.
• The sugar and butter needs to be beaten for 3 to 4 minutes if the recipe says you need to cream them. Failure to do this until it is light and fluffy can cause the cake to be too coarse.
• The oven may not have been at a high enough temperature.

The cake came out too dry

• Possibly too much leavening with baking powder or soda.
• Too much flour in the mixture.
• Too small of an amount of sugar or shortening.
• If you over bake the cake, too much moisture is taken out of the cake causing it to be dry. This can be caused by either having the temperature too high or baking the cake too long.

The cake fell, the center sunk in

• Not enough liquid, confirm you used the amount called for in the recipe.
• The pan wasn't big enough. This could have caused the batter to be too thick.
• Something could have abruptly moved the cake as it was baking.
• The baking soda could have been past the date of expiration.
• A cake tester could have been used a little too early

The cake is too flat, did not rise

• Improper water or milk measurement, too little or too much liquid can cause this problem.
• The batter could have been mixed too much or not enough.
• The pan could have been too big.
• Oven temperature could have been too high or too low.

The cake shrunk around the edges of the pan

• Too much grease could have been put on the pan.
• Multiple cakes could have been put too close together if cooked at the same time.
• Not enough batter was put in the pan.
• The cake could have been baked for too long or the oven temperature was too high.
• Not enough milk or water in the batter.