I can't bake cakes, so why do I keep trying?

This one works every time: www.allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/13024/easy-peasy-chocolate-cake.aspx - you just need to check at end of cooking time by sticking knife in to see if it comes out clean and if in doubt give it an extra 5 mins. I usually make it well in advance, freeze it, and then just ice it when I'm having visitors. I freeze most of my baking and it saves any last minute panics!!

My MIL didn't measure ingredients accurately, with very variable results. FIL used to sing her praises but he conveniently remembered only the successes.
I'll never forget her method for a sponge flan case (she wasn't joking) - make a fatless sponge and wait for it to sink. lol

I make fabulous scones, and drop scones (scotch pancakes). In fact I think I'll make a batch of the latter in the morning.
I'm just defeated by cakes.

I can bake with some success usualy but dont ever ask me to make yorkshire puddings,doesn't matter whose recipe I use they are always a disaster..and I cant stand the frozen ones so yorkshire free food on Sundays here

If your cakes sink in the middle, are you opening the oven during cooking to check on them? This lowers the oven temperature and is a classic cause of cakes sinking. Thank you for reminding me of the days I had teaching pupils with EBD ( emotional and behavioural difficulties) cooking!

Have you tried baking cupcakes, or muffins? They are less likely to sink and if they’re dry there’s more surface area to smother in buttercream icing ?

I always use baking powder and sift the flour. Follow Mary Berry's recipe.

I think we are good at cooking the things we like, less so at those we don't.

I am great at soup, curries,casseroles and stews - and fruit cake - , because those are the foods I really enjoy, otherwise my cake cooking is very hit and miss, because I do not have sweet tooth, do not eat much cake myself, nor enjoy them very much.

Perhaps that is the problem * hildajennej*

I have found it helps if you use more eggs than the recipe says, and separate them, whisk the whites and yolks separately and add the egg whites at the end. This also gives a brilliant consistency for putting it in a piping bag and piping even amounts into fairy cake cases with no spills.

Perhaps not "more eggs" just the one more is enough!

I was going to ask the same as thirdinline, as opening the oven too soon will result in a sunken cake. At the end of the stated cooking time (do you use a timer to remind you, I do or I'd probably forget), I test for doneness with a cake tester and if it's still a bit sticky, pop it back for 5 minutes and test again. Remember, too, if it's a fan oven, the temperature needs setting at about 10 degrees less, though you are probably aware of that. Good luck. ?

I admit my baking is a bit hit and miss, but I’m good at Christmas cakes, so they must be foolproof. Even this year when mine had been in the oven an hour before I realised I’d left out the butter. I smashed it all down, mixed it all up, put it back in the oven with little hope of it recovering. It didn’t rise again but tasted wonderful!

M0nica you may well have a point there. I don't care for cake. I hardly ever eat it even if I've managed to bake a good one. Likewise with muffins and fairy cakes. Perhaps they fail because I don't have any enthusiasm while baking them.

If only it were cakes! I can’t cook, I can feed family but I can’t ‘cook’ following a recipe. I can’t see the point worrying about at my age now either!

My Yorkshire puds are legend but I'm rubbish at rice and most baking but I also do a good quiche with ready pastry but cakes terrify me, my mum could bake without measuring etc every day and I don't measure for Yorkshire puds so doesn't really follow

You can buy cakes and if you buy two, you can eat one before your visitors get there.

Menopaws awesome puddings! Please share you recipe/method/oven temp please

My Mum never owned a pair of scales and she was a wonderful baker. I learned to bake as she taught me and can still estimate weights of ingredients using tablespoons for ounces etc. I do use scales now as DH was a chemistry graduate and insists that accuracy is always needed. (It's not!)
I never use scales for Yorkshire Puddings though and mine are like Menopaws'. The trick is plain flour, hot oven and get the fat very hot before adding the batter (which needs to stand for a good while before use, with a splash of cold water added at the last minute).

Menopaws, please share your Yorkie Pud recipe...

I cannot make Yorkies for the life of me, and when I try my daughter says they look like Yorkshire biscuits!

I try... oh how I try... I’ve tried loads of different ways... I whisk and mix and have even used a soda water recipe... added extra eggs... I’ve whisked the air in... let it sit for a while.. got the oil piping hot in the oven... poured it in. Left it alone. Not even peeped at it....

And still end up with a flat unbeatable bit of baked batter or a soggy mess.

please help

hildajenniJ I feel your pain. I've tried so hard since DH came out of hospital and needs to put back so much lost weight. I'm going out to buy an oven thermometer as the oven has been getting the blame. Even the birds didn't eat my carrot cake it was so dry.
Has any one got a lovely gooey Carrot Cake recipe I could try? x

I can't bake, but I can make scones (and I used to gave a nice recipe for boiled fruit cake that I never managed to foul up). Keep trying.

HildajenniJ Overbeating can sometimes be a problem. Next time, if there is a next time! try a recipe that doesn't require beating the butter, also your oven may be a little hotter and perhaps you could try not cooking as long as the recipe says. I have a carrot cake recipe that uses oil instead of butter and never fails. Good Luck on your next attempt.

Since someone posted on here sometime ago I have been making Yorkshire puds as follows.
Break two or more eggs in a cup , using the same size cup measure plain flour then milk to the same level as the eggs.
Pour into a bowl with a teas of salt then beat well until bubbles cover the surface,
I then refrigerate for a few hours . Get oven very hot and place pan/ tins in the hot oven with oil or dripping to get smoking hot, pour into tins/pans and cook ,25 mins approx for individual puds 10 mins longer for a large one.
I have not had a bad pud since following this method.

I made a Christmas cake two years ago with my DGD's help. The cake was lovely but my attempts and putting on the marzipan and icing it were disastrous!

If unsure, YouTube is the way to go. Precise amounts of ingredients given, method shown as they make the cake, finished result visible.
Just input the type of cake then scroll through the various versions until you find one that suits.
I'm making pitta pockets this afternoon after seeing a video on YT. Will make enough to freeze some.
Good luck

I use Betty Crocker cake mix. Lots of different flavours and always comes out beautifully. That way you feel you have done some cooking not just bought a shop cake!!