Hello, newbie here :D

[Fluffy]

Hello everyone!
Recently I developed a liking for baking and making desserts in general.
As far as skills go, I'm a total newbie.
In the past I've baked a few simple cakes (I'm not sure of the exact terms, whether it's a sponge or skillet cake.., not sure, English isn't my first language), and even those ones didn't always turn out okay.
Lately I've been trying out some recipes with flour, milk, eggs, again, the simple ones, but I haven't had much luck. Seems like they always end up undercooked for some reason.. Or at least they seem that way.. Today I've tried baking something, and when I sliced the cake, it was still wet(raw? Not sure which) after baking for 40 min on 175°C. I put it back in the oven for another 20 min or so, but it remained the same on the inside I must have done something really wrong.. The outside looked done after the initial 40min though. Anyway, sorry I've wandered away from the introduction a bit I hope this forum is alive and active. So far, I've snooped around a bit and found there are a lot of people here that realllyy know what they're doing! So I'm really glad I found this site!
I'm going to do a little bit of exploring around the forum for some basic information about how the components react, what goes well together, etc. Hopefully I'll be able to get enough info from it to get to the bottom of my recent baking failures

 

[Becky]

Welcome to the forum @Fluffy, great to have you here!

Sorry to hear you've had problems with an undercooked cake recently. There are a few ways in which that can happen, but the first one to check would be your oven temperature. Oven temps vary wildly, so it's a good idea to check that your oven is the temperature it says it is. I check mine with a digital meat probe.

40 minutes for a sponge cake is still a long time though, so if the problem wasn't your oven temperature it could be that it's not rising properly and the lack of air bubbles makes it look underbaked. If you have an instant read thermometer you can check whether a cake is cooked. Could you tell us a bit more about the recipe you used? It's always a good idea to keep the oven door closed during the first 80% of the bake time otherwise the rush of cold air can cause it to collapse.

 

[Fluffy]

Hi @Becky, thank you for the warm welcome! Thanks for the tip about the temperature. But since I have a really old stove, and the dials on the oven have all dissappeared, I already bought an analog oven thermometer, so I was using it at the time. As far as the recipe goes.. I actually lost the original one, so I kindof improvised a little, because I couldn't remember how it went xD I know now that I shouldn't have lol.. The original recipe called for:
• flour
• sugar
• butter
• Baking powder
• yogurt or milk
• Fruit
So what I went with:
• 1 cup of flour (I used the one for doughnuts)
• 1/2 cup of brown sugar
• 75 g butter
• 1/2 cup of yogurt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• Strawberries (a lot)
I melted the butter and added yogurt (whoops), the mixture didn't really dissolve like I had hoped it would (not enough fat for it to mix?).. Maybe I should have stuck with milk instead? I added sugar to the mixture. Then I added flour and baking powder. The consistency was pretty tough.. So I added some milk x).. And then the cut strawberries.
I baked on 175°C for 40 min. And then an additional 20 min. Btw. I used the same flour for doughnuts today to make pancakes. And I've always been able to make good pancakes. And I had the same thing happen today. The pancakes remained moist on the inside, like they haven't baked at all
I'm guessing I shouldn't have used flour for doughnuts?.. I just never thought it would have made such a difference

 

[Becky]

To be honest I've never seen doughnut flour before, I'm not sure how it differs from regular flour... Are there no eggs in your recipe? To be honest it sounds like quite an odd balance of ingredients, I'd be tempted to find a tried and tested recipe and go from there. Were you specifically looking for a low fat recipe?

 

[Fluffy]

@Becky I'm not sure actually if it's called "doughnut flour" in English, I just translated it into English :/..
I wasn't going for a low fat recipe, it just happened that the ingredients were only those I mentioned. I just loved the cake as I made it often last year. But it always turned out delicious and beautiful then.

I found the recipe later on and tried it out again. Only this time, I used all-purpose flour and strictly followed the instructions. (I substituted plums for frozen mixed fruit, as I always did last year).
I haven't a clue why, but the cake didn't turn out good again... I monitored the temperature closely, and the cake actually rose beautifully in the first 45min of baking. I took it out after 55min. It was wet from the inside again ..
The only thing I can think of that I did differently was used a narrow, high mold instead of the shallow, wide one I used last year..
I'm probably gonna give it one last shot and try baking it in the low, wide tray this time. The cake is so good, I just wanna enjoy it again xD

Oh, right, here's the link to the recipe:
https://www.marthastewart.com/1153308/marthas-plum-skillet-cake

 

[Becky]

The only thing I can think of that I did differently was used a narrow, high mold instead of the shallow, wide one I used last year..

Yep that will definitely make a difference. The flatter the cake the quicker it will cook, so it's worth finding a dish that is similar to what you used before. Thanks for the recipe link, that's helpful to see There is a lot of fruit which will add moisture to the dessert, so the shallow dish should definitely help.

 

[Fluffy]

Thank you for your reply and advice Becky!
That's what I was thinking too, but maybe didn't consider it too seriously as I just wanted to try out my new tray xD silly me, I know hehe
I'll give it another shot sometime this week, and I'll post an update on the situation xD

The one I made on the second try ended up looking made off dark flour + over backed + beaten with a thick pole ...
Wish me luck!

 

[Becky]

Great, let us know how it goes!