Sponge cake: excessive cooking time

Sponge cake: excessive cooking time - Woman in White Sweater Baking Cake

I haven't baked anything for over a decade. But the other day I decided to have a go at doing a Victoria sponge. As a result, I now have lots of questions. But I'll try to keep things focused.

All the recipies I've found are slightly different, but they all say essentially the same thing: Measure identical quantities of butter, sugar, flour and eggs. Cream the butter and sugar together. Sift the flour, beat the eggs. Alternate between adding egg and adding flour until everything has been added.

The recipe suggests cooking for 20 minutes at 180°C. A similar recipe for fairy cakes suggests cooking for 8 to 10 minutes at 180°C. (Presumably fairy cakes, being smaller, cook through more quickly.)

So far, so good. The only trouble is... the cooking times seem to be miles off.

I tried cooking a large sponge. After 20 minutes, I pulled the tray out of the oven to take a look. The surface was dry, but given the way the whole cake was rippling, it was clearly just a thin skin over a fully liquid centre. The cake was actually cooked after a about 1 hour and 20 minutes. In other words, it took about 4 times longer to cook than the recipe says.

Similarly, when I made fairy cakes, they cook roughly an hour to cook.

Obviously cooking times are a guideline. All sorts of variables affect how long a given item will actually take to cook. But is it usual for something to require 4x as long as the recipe says? What might cause that?

(In case it matters, this is a gas oven. It's not fan-assisted or anything. And I'm placing the tray near but not at the top.)

bakingcake


Best Answer

A couple things:

  • Unless the recipe (or experience) says otherwise, place items in the middle. Putting something higher in a conventional (non-convection) oven should make the top cook quicker than the bottom. This may account for the top drying out when the rest isn't done yet.
  • As @ElendilTheTall says, check your oven temperature. Your oven is probably running much lower than it should be. On most ovens, you can adjust the dial so its right.
  • Make sure you're using the same size (and material) pan as the recipe. Thicker cakes take longer to cook, and some pan materials are slower than others.

I looked up several recipes, and all gave times under 30 minutes.



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Can you overcook a sponge cake?

This prevents the formation of an unsightly dome on the baked cakes. Do not overbake \u2013 or too much moisture will be lost and the sponge cake will be dry.

Why do sponge cakes take so long to cook?

Set It To The Right Temperature Too high a heat and the cake will be overcooked. Too low and the cake will take too long to cook, which will likely cause it to dry out due to it not baking very well.

What happens if you cook a cake too long?

A properly baked cake is sublime. It's tender, moist, and has a perfect crumb. An overbaked cake, on the other hand, can be dry and tough. And maybe worse, an underbaked cake is gummy and dense.

How many minutes cake should be baked?

Baking Times for Different Sized Cake PansCake Pan SizeApproximate Baking Times10-inch cheesecake made in spring form pan35 to one hour13- x 9- x 2-inch - 1/4 sheet cake30 to 35 minutes15 x 10 x 1-inch long jelly roll cake25 to 30 minutes10-inch loaf cake25 to 40 minutes5 more rows•Jan 2, 2020


The Sponge Cake That Can Do It All With Claire Saffitz | Try This at Home | NYT Cooking



More answers regarding sponge cake: excessive cooking time

Answer 2

Maybe the recipe is ment to be two cakes? A lot of sponge cakes call for the batter to be divided into two tins and sandwiched together at the end. That will dramatically change the cooking time. Ps. fairy cakes are like cupcakes or small muffins

Answer 3

You say "skin over a fully liquid cake". When I make sponge, the batter is never really liquid - it's heavy, gloopy, it oozes over the bottom of the cake pan. If your cake mix is really liquid, maybe you have too many eggs in it.

I use three eggs for 125g each of butter, sugar and flour (and my sister tells me off for making it too eggy). It cooks in about 20-25 mins at 180C.

Answer 4

The baking instructions might have been geared toward a convection oven or some other kind of specialty oven. Things tend to bake much more quickly in a convection oven.

Answer 5

My guess is your oven isnt hot enough. Probably you recipe book gives the cooking temperature in centigrades or degrees celcius and you're in the USA, where your oven is regulated in degrees farenheit. Example:180 degrees celsius = Approx 350 degrees fahrenheit a typical °F setting for a sponge cake.

Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Images: cottonbro, cottonbro, Nicole Michalou, cottonbro

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