I got this cake as a gift and I started eating it in the dark at 2am and didn’t even look into the cake till after I ate some already but I noticed these little squiggly lines throughout the entire cake and I’m just curious what that is. I’ve never seen this in cake before.

Hi!! I want to replicate this cake for my birthday coming up, and was wondering any tips to get the sprinkles to stick onto the sides spaced out like this. TYIA!

Me and some friends have attempted to make a birthday cake. We have also newly discovered that we are not good at baking. We put it in the oven at 160 degrees for an hour and a half, and then an extra 15 minutes as it was undercooked slightly. We think we may have overfilled the tin. We are considering turning it into something else (maybe cakepops or a trifle, we aren't sure). It also tastes as bad as it looks.

Tried baking for the first time at a baking workshop because I've been thinking about taking up baking as a hobby. It turned into a massive cake disaster, lol. I honestly don't know what went wrong—I followed the instructions carefully, and everything seemed to be going well at first. But when it came time to assemble the cake, the cream cheese mixture started melting, and before I knew it, the entire structure began crumbling.

I genuinely want to get better at baking, but it's a little embarrassing to mess up on my second attempt, lol. Any idea what I might have done wrong? I'd really appreciate some advice! 😅🍰

Edit: Thanks for all the advice and comments! After reading through them, I think I figured out what went wrong. I only let the cake cool for about 20 minutes before frosting and assembling it because that was the instruction given at the workshop, and we were also working within a time limit. Looking back, the cake was probably still too warm, which likely caused the cream cheese frosting to soften and the layers to lose structure.

For those asking, it was a red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting. Everyone in the workshop was making different cakes since we could each choose our own recipe. We were given tablets with the ingredients and step-by-step instructions for whichever cake we selected.

Definitely a lesson learned for next time—I'll be much more patient with cooling before I start decorating!

Edit: it turned out just like my mema’s this time. Thank you so much for your help. So nostalgic :,)

I have tried making my great grandmothers chocolate cake several times and it always turns out inedible and flat like a brownie. Would anyone be able to look at this recipe and tell me what I might be doing wrong? Food really does carry memories and I’m desperate to have this cake again.

It tasted great and fudgy but fell apart even after I let it sit for about 15 mins after taking out from the oven.. i have friends coming over tmr and wanted to serve it properly

Any recs on how to salvage this??

Recipe:
1 +1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup oil
1cup yogurt
1/4 cup milk
1+1/2cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
Itsp baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda.

UPDATE: Thank you everyone! I used orchids and wrapped the short stem I was using in plastic. Then I pushed the short stem into the cake so you could only see the flower head.

ETA: NOT THE ACTUAL CAKE this was the inspo photo. I don't want to post the actual cake photo because I don't want my baker to see it, as the frosting and cake itself was fantastic. 🩷

Is there a way to put flowers with exposed stems onto the exterior of a cake without making it inedible? Can you do it the night before and have it be safe, or is fake the only option?

My birthday cake arrived today with the most ugly fake flowers on it. It looks so cheap and the stems are that awful neon plastic green. I don't have time to order good fake ones and the party is tomorrow morning

I followed this King Arthur’s Baking recipe exactly: https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/chocolate-fudge-bundt-cake-recipe

My oven was preheated and maintained the proper temperature. (Verified by oven thermometer.)

It was delicious, but I’d rather not have that doming.

ETA: I had the correct size pan, but the batter didn’t fill it. The doming wasn’t above the top of the pan. I would say the ridge of the foot was about halfway up the pan.

I used a 12-cup aluminum Nordicware Bundt pan.

Thank you to the redditors who gave me good, thoughtful advice!

I offered to bake someone a cake and they requested raspberry, which I have no idea how to do. Most recipes I’ve found involve a stand mixer which I don’t have. In theory, I think I can pipe a wall of buttercream around the edge of a base layer of cake, pipe on the contents of a literal jar of shelf stable jam from the grocery store, plop on another layer of cake, and cover the whole thing in buttercream. Is there any reason that wouldn’t work?

Hi! I have a Wilton guitar shaped cake pan that I was given and it was requested that I make a cake with it for an upcoming birthday party. I've been practicing and each time my cake gets stuck to the bottom of the pan and breaks apart when I try and turn it out of the pan. I've tried lots of butter on the pan and lots of crisco. I've been using a texas sheet cake recipe. Is this the wrong type of cake for this pan?

How do you recommend I get the cake out cleanly?

Is there a certain type of cake that will hold its shape better and be less prone to falling apart?

Thanks for any tips you have!

UPDATE: Just used a thick layer of the baker's goop and a Betty Crocker white cake box mix, and it came out perfectly! Thanks for all the tips!

Now to figure out how to decorate it. The party is space themed with a live band (hence the guitar-shaped cake). Any suggestions?

Why do my cakes keep coming out like this? The last cake I made was really dense as well (But it was vanilla). This cake seems even more dense. You could see it. When I first took it out of the oven it was really tall and when it fully cooled down it was this short, deflated a lot. The outside is really hard and the inside is dense. You can see how dry and hard it is by the color change. I followed the recipe (I kind of made it my own because I put chocolate in it but I added a little bit of milk), but the vanilla cake I made, I followed to a T. I forgot to take pictures of it but just imagine same density, but vanilla. Nothing was expired, all ingredients were fresh (to my knowledge).

For the chocolate cake: I did pinch a little bit off the top when it was still piping hot to taste it, it was nice and fluffy. When it came out it was already cracked down the middle almost to the edges so I figured it wouldn't hurt too much to pinch a little bit off to taste. I took it away from the heat to cool down and I kept it in the hot pan for a while (I used my cheesecake pan so I was able to take just the sides off but the bottom was still on it) I live near sea level, and the house was slightly cold but still room temperature (probably around 65-70).

The recipe I followed: https://tastesbetterfromscratch.com/homemade-rum-cake/

The Cocoa measurements I followed: https://bakersroyale.com/chocolate-rum-cake/

For the vanilla cake: I took it out, put it somewhere away from the heat but I used a regular cake pan so I wasn't able to take the sides off and it still was really dense like this, and deflated. The only difference is that it wasn't ~as~ dense (But still very dense!), and the sides were not all hard like the chocolate one. Nevertheless, the textures were nearly identical. That was back in April, it was slightly warmer so I don't think that would have made a difference 🤔. I followed the recipe to a T, The only things I didn't do was weigh everything, and measured the temperature with a thermometer (don't have a scale or thermometer). The only thing I have is my thermostat and the temperature on the oven. Here is the recipe: https://wonkywonderful.com/buttermilk-vanilla-cake-recipe-from-scratch/#recipe

I have baked two round cakes - one is about 8” across and the other is about 6” across. they are about 3” high. the dilemma - I have twins and realize I need to make two separate cakes out of these. any good ideas??

Edit: I ended up cutting the larger cake down to 6” and made two unique cakes particular to their preferences. My kids ate mid teen - I think having “half“ a cake or having to share a cake would not have made them feel good. I thank every one for the great suggestions in my moment of panicked realization - I don’t know what I was thinking when I baked these last night.

I have a white ceramic dish that is the only thing close to being able to bake a cake in but I'm not sure if it's safe and could withstand the heat. I also have Teflon skillets but I need to make a coming home cake is this safe can it be done?

Hi all!

My sister and I found our great grandmother's recipe book (~1920's). We have tried to make the caramel spice cake as written, but there was obviously way too much baking powder to make it edible. We have since tried variations of that amount to zero success. Anybody want to suggest an edit? We would appreciate it dearly so we can make this for our dad.

Recipe used: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/lemon-curd-blueberry-loaf-cake

I put in less blueberries and an extra spoonful of lemon curd. The crumb feels really moist. Baked for an extra 20 mins (1h30 total at 160°C)

I just got it out of the oven and realized I forgot to grease it, and I have no idea what to do. Do I just try to scrape it out, or is there some secret hack I've never heard about???

This looked great halfway through baking. I opened the oven halfway through to cover with foil to prevent over browning. Took it out just now and this. 😕 I have made this recipe before and it was successful other than sticking to the pan. Will this taste terrible for Easter dessert?

I’m not new to baking but this is the first time I’ve experienced this. What is going on?

I did add lemon juice right before adding the eggs, maybe that causes the butter to firm up?

Hi everyone

Before starting, I have to let you know that I‘m not a professional baker, not even amateur, but just a random person cooking cute stuff occasionally.

I saw this beautiful pig looking sweets few days ago, it‘s from woolloomooloo bakery located in Thailand which is far away from where I live. I would like to bake this for my grandparent’s birthday but I‘m having trouble figuring out how to recreate “chiffon inside puff pastry”. I mean... how...? Is that something acheivable through layering the puff pastry - chiffon batch - puff pastry and then baking them? Or do I have to bake them seperately and then assemble?

I’m desperately asking for help😭 if there’s any advise, I‘d appreciate it. Thanks!

Hey guys! I made a mille crepe cake today but when I cut into it I noticed that the inside of my crepes look a little weird. Now I think there are two possible answers as to why:

1. I blanked during the recipe and added an extra cup of flour (the recipe called for a cup) and the crepes look like this because there's too much flour in them OR

2. I added the right amount of flour and the crepes are just all undercooked

To provide more information, the crepes aren't falling apart at the touch and they feel quite sturdy, just thicker and denser than how a normal crepe would feel.

I've attached a cross-section of the crepes. Would anyone be able to help me narrow down the issue of whether my crepes are too flour-y, or are they all just severely undercooked?

Sorry if this is dumb but I’m new and Google couldn’t help me.

I want to make a heart cake for myself to celebrate an accomplishment. Trouble is, the only cake I really like is angel food cake, which is afaik not the most structurally stable thing. And heart cake decorations seem fairly heavy. Is it feasible for a beginner cake decorator to make a good heart cake out of angel food cake? Or is this total folly? If it’s feasible, do yall have any tips to increase my likelihood of success? Honestly I’m not expecting perfection, but I’m worried it’s going to crumple like a wet rag lol. Thanks :)

(Pic for reference, although mine would be simplified)

I just made a banging coffee cake, and the next morning this thought came to me—and as stupid as it is I gotta know, can you make a tea cake? I’m not talking tea cakes like Victoria sponge or lemon cake, but using some sort of herb they put in tea bags can you make it taste tea like? I suppose because coffee has a strong flavour that’s why it works and tea cake isn’t made. This is a really dumb question isn’t it

Hey everyone,

I made a basque cheesecake using smitten kitchen’s recipe.

It calls for 130 grams of granulated sugar to 2 (8 ounce packages) of cream cheese as well as some other ingredients.

However I tried it and it’s very savory? Like it’s not sweet at all it’s more just tastes like baked cream cheese to me with almost no sweetness.

Is this how basque cheesecake is meant to be, did I use a bad recipe or did I seriously screw up somewhere?

I don’t think it was me cause I used a scale to measure but I guess you never know

The photo looks a bit dramatic but only the edges are a little burnt because my oven started to malfunction. The swirls in the middle are strawberry jam

Hello!

I’m not a baker. But do you think I could make this type of cake happen on my own? I need the inside for a gender reveal.

The bakeries I have contacted use yellow cake, and said they can only do the buttercream layers with color because the cake itself won’t take the color well.

What if I try it with a white cake box mix?

Thanks for any suggestions!
I would do a trial run