What Happened Here? My Cake FELL!

[Kaneohegirlinaz]

I made this recipe:
https://foodfolksandfun.net/copycat-olive-garden-lemon-cream-cake/

We've had (Italian) Lemon Cream Cake at three different
restaurants here and we just adore it.
So I thought I'd give it a whirl.

I'm not the best cake maker, but, what the heck?!

What I did realize is that my 9inch Spring Form pan
leaked and just every so little batter and I'm thinking that's what
happened to create this CRATER in my White Cake.
For reference, this was the first time I've made a White Cake.

This cake I will salvage by turning it into Cake Pops

 

[taxlady]

This cake I will salvage by turning it into Cake Pops

...
Or you could use the dip in the middle as a bowl for some whipped cream and berries or do something else to pretend that it was on purpose.

 

[Just Cooking]

...
Or you could use the dip in the middle as a bowl for some whipped cream and berries or do something else to pretend that it was on purpose.

For the win!!!

Ross

 

[Kaneohegirlinaz]

...
Or you could use the dip in the middle as a bowl for some whipped cream and berries or do something else to pretend that it was on purpose.

Taxy, that's exactly what I was thinking!
You know that geniuses tend to group together

For the win!!!

Ross

 

[Andy M.]

Often, a sunken middle indicates it was under done when you took it out of the oven. not sure if that's what your issue is.

 

[Kaneohegirlinaz]

DH came up with an idea.

He saw a site where they made the white cake in a tub pan
So he suggested that I simply cut out that DIVET of the middle,
split the cake horizontally and fill it as directed. I'll give it a-go
manana, today is shot!
I feel defeated, but tomorrow is another day

 

[Kaneohegirlinaz]

Often, a sunken middle indicates it was under done when you took it out of the oven. not sure if that's what your issue is.

Andy, I was typing when your responded, sorry...

No, I followed the directions for the batter,
filled the 9 inch Spring Form pan, smoothed the top
with a small off-set spatula,
baked it at 350° for 23 minutes, rotated the pan ...
*note here-when I turned the pan, it was FAR from halfway done,
very watery still, but starting to brown on top
… baked it for another 23 minutes,
opened the oven door to my horror!
Stuck a toothpick in the center, it was done, no crumbs
clinging to the pick.

Curious I'm not understanding what happened, and that's
very frustrating!

 

[Cooking Goddess]

Even though the instructions tell you to rotate the cake, I wonder if opening the door caused the problem. From the list of ingredients, that seems like a very delicate cake. I know it is absolutely verboten to open a door when baking popovers. Other than that, I got nothin'.

Curious, though. What will you be doing with six egg yolks? That's a lot of hollandaise sauce or mayonnaise.

 

[Andy M.]

...Curious, though. What will you be doing with six egg yolks? That's a lot of hollandaise sauce or mayonnaise.

Crème Brûlée!!!! Far and away the best use for orphaned egg yolks.

 

[Kaneohegirlinaz]

Even though the instructions tell you to rotate the cake, I wonder if opening the door caused the problem. From the list of ingredients, that seems like a very delicate cake. I know it is absolutely verboten to open a door when baking popovers. Other than that, I got nothin'.

Curious, though. What will you be doing with six egg yolks? That's a lot of hollandaise sauce or mayonnaise.

CG, I was thinking the same, you're not suppose to open the oven door when baking, especially such a fussy cake

I make Meyer Lemon Curd with the yolks, often.

https://mykitcheninthemiddleofthedesert.wordpress.com/2014/03/25/meyer-lemon-curd-yum/
The whites I separate and freeze individually, so say I want
to make Italian Meringue Buttercream Frosting, I've got
a BOATLOAD of egg whites in the deep freeze

[/IMG]
I also will on occasion, like when I've accumulated way more
whites than I could use up in a year,
I'll de-frost a few to add to our Omelets or Scrambled.
Ssshhhhh, don't tell DH that he's eating mostly whites
I put maybe 1 whole egg to 3-4 whites

 

[Sandrii93]

That was a strange resolution on your cake procedure. :O


Would be a nice value information to account knowing what caused the end result.

 

[Kaneohegirlinaz]

Okay!
So I went with what DH suggested; cut out that HUGE divot in the
middle of the cake, crumbled it all up into a small bowl.
Filled the cake and used the Cake Crumbs rather than
following the recipe and making crumbs.

I don't know, the idea of the raw flour just turned me off this recipe.

Chilled the finished cake all afternoon.

We sliced into it and I dusted the tops on service with
powdered sugar and dug in.

THAT was the worst cake I've ever made!
The cake it self was do dense and tasteless, the filling was, meh,
not great.

Both DH and I agreed that I should have gone with the Cake Pops,
LIKE I SAID IN THE FIRST PLACE !!!


At this point, I don't really care what went wrong,
I threw that dang recipe away!!!!

 

[Andy M.]

Sometimes you just get a recipe that sucks. Mark it up to experience and move on.

 

[taxlady]

Sometimes you just get a recipe that sucks. Mark it up to experience and move on.

Yup.

 

[Kaneohegirlinaz]

Ditto!
Move on ...

 

[Addie]

I no sooner went on from your post but came across a site that stated "the reason cakes fail to rise is the leavening is old or not enough was placed in the batter. Too bad she wasn't in your kitchen with you when your disaster happened.

Don't you just love it when someone who wasn't even there, has all the answers?

 

[dragnlaw]

That was well 'saved', congrats!

I just don't make cake from scratch any more. This was almost a 3 day project. Lemon Cheese Layer Cake

The batter was so thick I almost couldn't spread it in the pan. The cake was dense, heavy and I don't know how to describe it. I followed the instructions to a T.

Although the flavour was good all around - it was saved by the curd and the icing. A friend and I sacrificed ourselves and ate the whole thing eventually.

 

[dragnlaw]

When you read the recipe you'll note it uses 4 eggs plus 3 yolks for the Curd, then another 4 eggs for the cake - almost a dozen eggs. A lot of eggs for a fail.

 

[Kaneohegirlinaz]

Well, Dragn, I'm so glad that your cake came out at
the least edible, mine did not

I don't take to throwing away food lightly,
but that was a terrible cake that I made!!!!

I'm really tempted to send an email to the
gal who posted that recipe, saying how
wonderful it was … it was awful!!!

Anyways …
tomorrow is another day
and I'm comin' out swingin' for the fences !!

 

[dragnlaw]

True Kgirl, we were at least able to eat it.

That it was a full 4 layer cake, I had to borrow 2 extra round pans to bake it. LOL the density was heavier than pound cake! I believe the recipe shows a cake at least twice the height of mine.

It truly has to be inedible for me to toss food as well, so I hear yuh when you say you did.