Expert: Ralph Onesti - 9/9/2011

Question
QUESTION: Whenever, I bake a cake at home, it develops a complete circular crack. Rather, it looks like a design.

To be more specific, it is a cake in which I use 2 eggs and 1 cup flour. The flour is actually almost half wheat flour and half white flour. I thought it may be the reason, but even when I tried using white flour only, it had the same problem. I put about 3/4 cup of oil and 1 tsp baking powder.

I bake it in a round steel vessel in a ring shape by putting a glass-like tool in the middle. The temperature I set is about 180 degrees in the starting, but is later lowered down to about 130-140 degrees.

I would be highly obliged if you could answer my query, as that would really be a great help in future.

Thanking you.
Regards

ANSWER: Hi Ishita:

I have a question or two or three.

1. Your oven setting, I hope you mean centigrade and not Fahrenheit?????

2. It would be most helpful to see the entire formula.

3. it would be helpful to see your method. In other words, how you actually put the ingredients together.

4. When you used all white flour, what kind of white flour; cake flour, all purpose, bread flour?

Let's start there.


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks for your quick reply.
and as you said,
1. it sure is centigrade......
2. The ENTIRE FORMULA :
(A) I mix 2 eggs, about 3/4th cup sugar and somewhere around 3/4 cup refined oil in a mixer and keep it aside.

(B) On the other side, I sieve 1 cup ( mixture of wheat flour and all purpose flour), a pinch of salt and a spoon baking soda together. Next I preheat the oven and dust the vessel for baking (i.e. with oil and all purpose flour ).
Next taking the already mixed liquid (A) in a vessel, and slowly adding (B) to it, I mix it with cut and fold method.

And adding it to the already dusted vessel, I put it in the oven at about 180 degrees centigrade and later decrease the temperature to about 130-140 degrees centigrade.

Answer
Hi Ishita:

Ok...to some extent...most of this is normal...almost. And, to some extent, slight cracking of cakes is normal, however:

1. unless I'm missing something, you have no acid in your formula to react with the baking soda. Baking soda has to have acid in the form of sour milk, or yogurt, or lemon juice. I see nothing here in that area.

2. I see no reason to lower the temp of the oven. 180C is pretty normal for the entire bake of a cake.

3. Instead of the "cut and fold" method, I would just add the dry ingredients to the wet in the mixer until thoroughly mixed...not over mixed, just completely incorporated. Over mixing will "kill" the carbon dioxide made by the baking soda and acid, which I said seems to me missing here.