Help! Baking advice needed!

[Deleted]

I am making a barbie cake for DD's bday. The directions say 50-60 mins to bake. It's been 75 mins and it's still raw inside.

I have to go pick her up from school in 10 mins. 30 mins return.

Would you leave the cake on as-is, lower the temp, or take it out and put it back in when I return?

[audette]

75 minutes for a cake and it's still not fully cooked?

Unless it's gigantic or really super deep, there is something wrong with either the recipes's temperature recommendation or your oven.

[Deleted]

Nov 26, 2012 17:01:56 GMT -5 audette said:

75 minutes for a cake and it's still not fully cooked?

Unless it's gigantic or really super deep, there is something wrong with either the recipes's temperature recommendation or your oven.

It's one of those barbie cakes- where the cake is the barbie's skirt. Its 2 cake recipes in one pan.
I can't PIP but I am sure you've seen them

WWYD?

[ckinla]

Are you sure you didn't forget an ingredient? Eggs usually are the culprit if somethings not setting quite right. I am paranoid about leaving the oven on if I'm not home, so I would turn it off and just let it sit in there and turn it back on when I got home.

[audette]

I might have seen one. Do you stick a barbie into the middle of it? (keep in mind, we have no kids...)


I don't like leaving an oven on when I'm not home, so for me, the only option would be to pull it out before leaving. However, I don't think you can put it back in to finish baking later. Is there anyone else who could pick up DD? Or wait around on the cake?

[Deleted]

Nov 26, 2012 17:08:13 GMT -5 audette said:

I might have seen one. Do you stick a barbie into the middle of it? (keep in mind, we have no kids...)


I don't like leaving an oven on when I'm not home, so for me, the only option would be to pull it out before leaving. However, I don't think you can put it back in to finish baking later. Is there anyone else who could pick up DD? Or wait around on the cake?

Yes, here is a link
www.coolest-birthday-cakes.com/barbie-cake.html

No one to pick up Dd, she is having a friend come over that I need to get as well.

I just turned it down to 300 and hope it'll be ok when I return.

It's a new recipe so I don't know what is "normal" for cook time, etc.

[80sjunkie]

I'm sure you are gone now but I would turn the oven off and leave it in there unopened. It will likely stay hot for a bit. Leaving it on might mean you ruin the cake or worse...

[dr.girlfriend]

Sorry, I would ditch it and try again tonight.

[Deleted]

I am back and it's still not cooked. I turned it bak up to 350. 2.5 hrs in the oven so far...

[CloudBee]

Wow, if this is the actual depth then I would imagine it could take 2 hrs to cook.

[audette]

Yeah, at this point I would assume something went wrong with the recipe, and would not consider it safe to eat.

Do you have an oven thermometer so you can check the internal temp in the oven?

[AAM2012]

I would not be serving this. No way should it take this long.

[Deleted]

Nov 26, 2012 18:05:14 GMT -5 CloudBee said:

Wow, if this is the actual depth then I would imagine it could take 2 hrs to cook.

Yes, ths is it.

[Deleted]

Nov 26, 2012 18:05:45 GMT -5 audette said:

Yeah, at this point I would assume something went wrong with the recipe, and would not consider it safe to eat.

Do you have an oven thermometer so you can check the internal temp in the oven?

Why wouldn't it be safe to eat?

No oven thermometer but no issues with the cookies I made yesterday.

[winecat]

It's probably safe to eat but it might be dry. If it is dry on the outside, I would brush it with simple syrup. But I do think something is wrong with the recipe, if your oven is okay.

[audette]

Nov 26, 2012 18:09:32 GMT -5 @gingersb said:

Nov 26, 2012 18:05:45 GMT -5 audette said:

Yeah, at this point I would assume something went wrong with the recipe, and would not consider it safe to eat.

Do you have an oven thermometer so you can check the internal temp in the oven?

Why wouldn't it be safe to eat?

No oven thermometer but no issues with the cookies I made yesterday.

If it's still not cooked in the middle, and there are eggs in it, then they're getting close to being in the food danger zone for too long. I would not serve a normal cake recipe to someone if it had taken more than about 70-80 minutes to cook.

Cookies take much less time to cook, and the door of the oven opens up much more often, so temperature variations in the oven have less of an impact on the final product. What might just mean the cookies will take an extra minute or two could lead to a substantially longer cooking time for cakes/roasts/whatever else that cooks for longer. An accurate oven thermometer will let you know if there is an issue with the oven. (I've rented in too many places to not have one - every oven is different.)

[ddi741]

I found one recipe that said 1 hour another that says 2 hours.

[Deleted]

Something like that will take forever to bake. Just keep baking it.

It's like baking bread. That stuff can take forever. It's safe to eat. Don't worry about it. You may need to shave off the top if it gets too dry.

[Deleted]

I have zero safety concerns. I mean, people cook things in slow cookers. Including eggs.
I just hope it's. not bad tasting.

I just took it out, we shall see how it goes! Thanks everyone,

[dr.girlfriend]

Nov 26, 2012 18:23:37 GMT -5 @gingersb said:

I have zero safety concerns. I mean, people cook things in slow cookers. Including eggs.
I just hope it's. not bad tasting.

I just took it out, we shall see how it goes! Thanks everyone,

Well, it's good that you're so confident, but it seems a little insane to take that kind of risk with other peoples' kids and stuff. I would worry that your oven is off...the recipes I've seen online say 70 minutes at the most, or 2 hours at 250 degrees. I looked at some of the websites where people write reviews of recipes, and in fifty or more reviews no one's cake has taken as long as yours has to bake.

My college had a case of salmonella where the heating element was off in the oven and the casserole baked at a temperature low enough to just incubate the salmonella. Some of the people were in the hospital for weeks, and those were hearty college kids.

[audette]

Nov 26, 2012 19:04:59 GMT -5 dr.girlfriend said:

Nov 26, 2012 18:23:37 GMT -5 @gingersb said:

I have zero safety concerns. I mean, people cook things in slow cookers. Including eggs.
I just hope it's. not bad tasting.

I just took it out, we shall see how it goes! Thanks everyone,

Well, it's good that you're so confident, but it seems a little insane to take that kind of risk with other peoples' kids and stuff. I would worry that your oven is off...the recipes I've seen online say 70 minutes at the most, or 2 hours at 250 degrees. I looked at some of the websites where people write reviews of recipes, and in fifty or more reviews no one's cake has taken as long as yours has to bake.

My college had a case of salmonella where the heating element was off in the oven and the casserole baked at a temperature low enough to just incubate the salmonella. Some of the people were in the hospital for weeks, and those were hearty college kids.

And that is my thinking. Would I eat it myself? Maybe. Hell, probably. I like cake.

Would I serve it to a child? Particularly someone else's child? Nope. Too much risk.

[Deleted]

Nov 26, 2012 19:04:59 GMT -5 dr.girlfriend said:

Nov 26, 2012 18:23:37 GMT -5 @gingersb said:

I have zero safety concerns. I mean, people cook things in slow cookers. Including eggs.
I just hope it's. not bad tasting.

I just took it out, we shall see how it goes! Thanks everyone,

Well, it's good that you're so confident, but it seems a little insane to take that kind of risk with other peoples' kids and stuff. I would worry that your oven is off...the recipes I've seen online say 70 minutes at the most, or 2 hours at 250 degrees. I looked at some of the websites where people write reviews of recipes, and in fifty or more reviews no one's cake has taken as long as yours has to bake.

My college had a case of salmonella where the heating element was off in the oven and the casserole baked at a temperature low enough to just incubate the salmonella. Some of the people were in the hospital for weeks, and those were hearty college kids.

Well, if her oven temperature is off so much that it baked at 250 for 2 hours then it still baked according to what a recipe said, right?

ETA: That casserole made people sick because it never killed the salmonella. It has to reach 165F to kill it. Once that temperature has been sustained for 10 minutes, it doesn't matter how long it took to get there, the salmonella still dies. This thread is silly.

[jena]

My advice... Toss the one you started. Cook a layer cake and a much smaller bowl cake. Stack the 3 and then carve the skirt to the right shape. The bowl cake will still take a long time to cook and the texture will be crap. Kids won't care, but save the bottom layers for the adults.

Sent from my HTCEVOV4G using proboards

[Norticprincess]

I would start over.
I've used an angel food cake pan in the past for a doll skirt. A little extra icing down the center hole held the doll top in just fine.

[dr.girlfriend]

Nov 26, 2012 19:19:17 GMT -5 aswartzw said:

Nov 26, 2012 19:04:59 GMT -5 dr.girlfriend said:

Well, it's good that you're so confident, but it seems a little insane to take that kind of risk with other peoples' kids and stuff. I would worry that your oven is off...the recipes I've seen online say 70 minutes at the most, or 2 hours at 250 degrees. I looked at some of the websites where people write reviews of recipes, and in fifty or more reviews no one's cake has taken as long as yours has to bake.

My college had a case of salmonella where the heating element was off in the oven and the casserole baked at a temperature low enough to just incubate the salmonella. Some of the people were in the hospital for weeks, and those were hearty college kids.

Well, if her oven temperature is off so much that it baked at 250 for 2 hours then it still baked according to what a recipe said, right?

ETA: That casserole made people sick because it never killed the salmonella. It has to reach 165F to kill it. Once that temperature has been sustained for 10 minutes, it doesn't matter how long it took to get there, the salmonella still dies. This thread is silly.

And you are somehow weirdly confident that her cake reached an internal temperature of 165, even though it's been 2.5 hours and still isn't cooked? BTW, I've actually heard 175 for salmonella.

[jaylea]

I made one of these for DD once, and I don't remember it taking 2.5 hours. I only used one cake mix though - it was Devil's Food and the cake was moist and delicious!

[MamaMaui24]

Update, OP?

I'd go for the 3 stacked tiers like a PP mentioned if you had to start again. That's a dense cake!

[Deleted]

Nov 27, 2012 11:00:59 GMT -5 dr.girlfriend said:

Nov 26, 2012 19:19:17 GMT -5 aswartzw said:

Well, if her oven temperature is off so much that it baked at 250 for 2 hours then it still baked according to what a recipe said, right?

ETA: That casserole made people sick because it never killed the salmonella. It has to reach 165F to kill it. Once that temperature has been sustained for 10 minutes, it doesn't matter how long it took to get there, the salmonella still dies. This thread is silly.

And you are somehow weirdly confident that her cake reached an internal temperature of 165, even though it's been 2.5 hours and still isn't cooked? BTW, I've actually heard 175 for salmonella.

Because it baked. That's why. I also know this because baking is a very serious hobby of mine and I've learned how and why baking times can be seriously increased because of the environment, the pan, how much batter is in the pan, etc. It's extremely rare for my cakes to ever bake in the recommended time because I overfill my pans. I also have an oven thermometer so you can't get me on that either. The simple truth is: when the toothpick comes out clean, it's done. This can not be said of other things like quiche, etc. because it is completely different science happening when baking.

If you are this concerned about salmonella, never eat a meringue based BC. That stuff scares me and there's not much that does.

For your egg questions: www.fsis.usda.gov/factsheets/egg_products_and_food_safety/index.asp

OP's problem is also why I would never bake this cake the way she did. It would take at least 2 hours in my oven to bake but that is just my oven. I don't want to risk a dry cake. I'd either use a heating core or just do the layers as PP suggested.

[Deleted]

OP, you do know the other box mix wasn't supposed to go in the bowl, right? It was supposed to go in the cake pans? The 50-60 min baking time was for 1 cake mix in that bowl--not 2--which is why it took forever. LOL I saw you stuck 2 mixes in there and it made complete sense to me why it was taking forever and I didn't understand that baking time but now I do. LOL

[Deleted]

Update: The cake was pretty terrible. We tossed it. We did try eating it so I'll let you know if we come down with salmonella. Considering we also ate the batter before it was cooked, I doubt it!

So, today, I bought a couple of boxed mixes (I'd made home made yesterday), and they're cooking as we speak.

My instruction sheet says 1-2 cake mixes, depending on how much each mix makes. The pan is huge! I ended up doing one and a bit cake mix in the big pan and the rest in a round cake pan that I'll cut I guess.

I'll let you know how it does.