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Increasing ingredients to fit cake tin size

(21 Posts)
purplepansyem Thu 06-Dec-18 15:38:28

Hi, I have a recipe for a coconut cake that should be cooked in a 7" cake tin. I have an 8" cake tin but I made the cake anyway and it came out very thin? Low? not sure how to describe it! Should I increase the size of the ingredients to make a thicker cake next time? If I do, how do I adjust the cooking time?

The current recipe calls for 85g dessicated coconut, 170g self raising flour, 140g caster sugar, 3 large eggs, 170g margarine, 2 tbsp milk - cook on gas mark 3 for 1 hour 30 mins.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Bathsheba Thu 06-Dec-18 15:42:34

Buy a 7" tin! That would be the easiest thing to do wink.
Otherwise have a look at this site

Bathsheba Thu 06-Dec-18 15:43:49

or this one

Gonegirl Thu 06-Dec-18 15:48:18

Wow! Has everyone gone over to cooking in grams now? Am I the last old woman still measuring in ounces?

Wouldn't worry about the cake being thin. It means the icing is nearer to your mouth.

janeainsworth Thu 06-Dec-18 15:50:04

I think I’d be inclined to buy a 7 inch tingrin

If you increase the diameter of the cake by an inch, that’s a 14% increase.
So you’d need to increase the ingredients by that percentage.

I think cooking time would be slightly longer but not much, because the thickness of the cake would be the same.

janeainsworth Thu 06-Dec-18 15:51:34

Crossed posts bathsheba while I was busy calculating the percentage increase between a 7 and 8 inch tingrin

Fennel Thu 06-Dec-18 15:54:27

It sounds a strange recipe. I would cut down on the margarine, maybe to 120g. And increase the flour, to 200g.
Your batter probably wasn't thick enough to support the weight of the coconut. And that's why it was flat.
Just a guess - there's a lot of trial and error in baking.

Elegran Thu 06-Dec-18 16:01:13

Yes, a very strange assortment of quantities. Maybe you should be looking for a recipe for a similar cake with quantities to fit the tin you have, if you don't want to buy a 7inch one. There are umpteen baking sites on the net.

Gonegirl Thu 06-Dec-18 16:07:42

In my old fashioned way of doing it, this is 6 oz flour, 6 oz marg, and five oz sugar to 3 eggs. Plus the coconut. Sounds alright to me. It was only low because of the larger tin size.

Jalima1108 Thu 06-Dec-18 16:10:17

Try putting it in a loaf tin:
www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/coconut-cake

Ingredients in metric but tin size in Imperial - perhaps that's the problem grin

FlexibleFriend Thu 06-Dec-18 16:13:02

Try this one it seems very similar
www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/coconut-cake

Jalima1108 Thu 06-Dec-18 16:18:08

Snap!

FlexibleFriend Thu 06-Dec-18 17:16:08

Great minds and all that

NanaMacGeek Thu 06-Dec-18 17:52:24

You actually need to increase the weight of each ingredient by nearly ⅓ to go from a 7” tin to an 8” tin. The calculations above don't include keeping the same depth of cake in the tin.

www.cookipedia.co.uk/recipes_wiki/Cake_tin_conversion_charts

Fennel Thu 06-Dec-18 18:51:54

The recipes from Jalima and Flexible have almost twice the amount of flour to fat and sugar.
Compared to yours, purplepansey where they're equal.

Jalima1108 Thu 06-Dec-18 19:12:30

I did wonder about that, Fennel, but of course, you are adding another dry ingredient - coconut.

Using a Victoria sponge type recipe would not work with this.

So glad I don't like coconut cake grin
We used to have to eat coconut and jam sponge with custard at school.

Jalima1108 Thu 06-Dec-18 19:13:35

ps Strange because I like coconut yogurt
hmm

GrannyIris5 Thu 06-Dec-18 19:45:40

I’d use 4 eggs and divide the other ingredients by 3, then multiply by 4.
Bake for an extra 15 minutes but keep checking, have you got a knitting needle or a cake teste to poke it to check?
Good luck

Fennel Thu 06-Dec-18 19:49:24

I use blocks of coconut cream to thicken curry sauce.
One DiL uses coconut oil for frying veg - works well.

Gonegirl Thu 06-Dec-18 22:14:30

I'd eat it. Haven't made a coconut cake in years. Might try one again. I would put thick white water icing on it, and sprinkle it with loads of coconut. Dreaming now. hmm

Gonegirl Thu 06-Dec-18 22:18:35

Actually, don't think I've got a 7" tin either. Got 6" or 8". confused