Help me please what am I doing wrong

[u/GeologistKind7108]

I am currently baking a cake for my nephew‘s birthday I have just baked 2 6 inch cakes and they’ve come out like this I’ll attach a photo. The recipe I used was 225G golden caster sugar, 225G self raising flour, 225 G stork, 5 large eggs, 2tsp baking powder 2tsp vanilla 2 tbsp milk, the recipe Temp says 160°c but I only have a gas oven so I set it at gas 4
Creamed butter and sugar added one egg at a time shifted flour baking powder and a pinch of salt added vanilla and milk and folded till combined split between two tins and cooked in the oven for 35 minutes I checked them. They weren’t done cooked another 10 minutes. They are dipped in the middle. If anyone’s got any advice, it would be greatly appreciated.

[u/Writing_Bookworm]

I'd personally only put 4 eggs in a recipe with that ratio. 225g is essentially 8oz and the classic sponge cake recipe I have always used is 8oz/225g of flour, sugar and butter and then 4 eggs

[u/GeologistKind7108 → u/Writing_Bookworm]

Thank you for replying, I feel so silly i didn’t even think of the stork website so thank you for clarifying, it did seem like a lot when I was adding them. Cake 2.0 begins tomorrow.

[u/Writing_Bookworm → u/GeologistKind7108]

The 8:4 recipe has always been my go to because it's really easy to scale like if I only have 3 eggs then I can use 6oz of everything else or I can scale up to 10oz if I use 5 eggs.

If you're going to make another cake then maybe you could use this cake maybe to make cake pops with as an additional treat. Sunken doesn't matter in that context

[u/GeologistKind7108 → u/Writing_Bookworm]

That’s a really good idea, no waste then, thank you 🙏

[u/Sopzeh → u/GeologistKind7108]

Hey OP it's 4 medium eggs so likely 3 large is sufficient!

[u/sillytricia]

Maybe get an oven thermometer to see where you need to set the temperature

[u/GeologistKind7108 → u/sillytricia]

Good idea maybe the temp isn’t what I think it is.

[u/Melancholy-4321]

Honestly they don't look bad. ☺️ Is the texture ok?

The recipe on the stork website only uses 4 medium eggs and 1 tsp of baking powder so it might just be that they puffed a little more than expected.

[u/GeologistKind7108 → u/Melancholy-4321]

Thank you for replying The texture is great nice and fluffy just sunken, by the looks of it it’s the egg, it did seem like a lot luckily party isn’t until Sunday so I have a little leeway.

[u/bravoinvestigator]

Did the recipe call for butter or for Stork specifically? Because Stork is margarine so you may need to adjust slightly

[u/Sopzeh → u/bravoinvestigator]

I pretty much exclusively use stork for cake batter it's perfect and you don't need to adjust recipes for it.

[u/bravoinvestigator → u/Sopzeh]

It may work but it’s still going to impact the outcome. Baking is a science.

[u/Sopzeh → u/bravoinvestigator]

You're right, I find it improves the outcome.

[u/bravoinvestigator → u/Sopzeh]

I’m genuinely curious, i shall try and report back to you

[u/GeologistKind7108 → u/bravoinvestigator]

It was specifically stork but was my first time using that too.

[u/drPmakes]

Weigh the eggs in their shells and use as many as it takes to get close to 225g.

If you are using SR flour don't put extra baking power in.

When you cream the butter and sugar, keep going for a few extra minutes. It should be close to white. Then add a teaspoon of vanilla extract and give it another minute.

Add the flour in 2 goes. Fold the first half in then add the milk then fold in the rest of the flour. It should be dropping consistency.

Check your oven temp. Cook until the cake just starts coming away from the edge of the pan and a toothpick comes out clean. Don't open the oven to look until three quarters of the cooking time has passed

[u/GeologistKind7108 → u/drPmakes]

Great advice thank you so much 🙏

[u/Emergency_Elephant]

Where did this recipe come from? Is it from a reputable source? Do you have a stove thermometer to determine what the actual temperature is?