Baking cakes and Bundt cakes

Why

In the oven, heat travels from the tin towards the centre, so the batter at the edge sets long before the egg proteins coagulate and the starch gelatinises in the middle; until then the centre is held up only by bubbles of gas from the raising agent and of steam. If the oven is opened too early or the cake comes out underbaked, the bubbles shrink as they cool before the surrounding batter can firm them up, and the centre sinks. Batter with too much baking powder or bicarbonate of soda ends up the same way: it rises fast and high, the bubble walls give way and it collapses back. Doneness is shown by a skewer pushed into the centre that comes out dry, or by a core temperature of about 93–99 °C; an overbaked cake, on the other hand, loses water and dries out, so keep an eye on it towards the end of the stated time. A greased and floured tin keeps the cake from sticking to it.

How to do it

• Grease the tin and dust it with flour right into every fold, then tap out the excess flour.
• Preheat the oven in good time and put the batter in as soon as it is ready.
• Don't open the oven until at least two thirds of the stated baking time have passed.
• Towards the end, push a skewer into the centre: it should come out dry, with a few crumbs at most and no raw batter.
• Leave a Bundt cake to cool in the tin for about 10 minutes, then turn it out onto a rack.

If it goes wrong

You can't lift a sunken centre again, but the flavour remains: cut it out and fill the hollow with cream or fruit, and cut a tray cake into squares. If you find the centre is raw straight after taking it out, put the cake back in the oven and cover the top with foil so it doesn't burn. Run a thin knife around the edge of a stuck Bundt cake and try turning it out again; next time grease and flour the tin more carefully.