An underbaked middle of the cake is a common issue. This is usually due to one of the following reasons: the oven hasn’t properly pre-heated, something has gone wrong with the ingredients, your oven’s heat is uneven or the pan you are baking the cake in isn’t right.
Cake not cooking in the middle? We’ve written out a list of explanations for the dreaded undercooked cake middle so you can identify what has gone wrong with your cake and then find the appropriate solution. Read on to ensure your next sweet treat isn’t a soupy mess in the middle!
Why is my cake not cooking in the middle?
We tend to forget that baking is a science. If the chemical reactions don’t occur properly then the cake won’t bake right. These reactions depend on a perfect combination of heat, ingredients, and timing, and getting all those elements right isn’t always a straightforward task.
So let’s look into which part has gone wrong or could go wrong with your cake and how to fix it.
Most common explanations for your cake not cooking in the middle
The following reasons are the most common ways a cake can go wrong in the middle.
Your oven hasn’t pre-heated properly
Pre-heating is key to baking. It’s one of those somewhat tedious tasks that people often overlook or rush. If you’re on your way to the party in an hour and need to bake the birthday cake for 55 minutes, chances are you may skip the pre-heating process or at least rush it.
This is a common mistake in baking and can lead to a soupy middle because the oven is still heating up while the cake is inside of it meaning the heat is unevenly distributed and getting hotter.
Solution
Constant and even heat allow baked goods to cook from the inside out and unfortunately, when an oven is pre-heating, the heat is not constant or even.
The solution to this problem is avoidance. Even if you are in a rush, it is worth it to wait for your oven to heat to the temperature it is meant to bake the cake at before you put the cake in the oven.
If you’ve already overcooked the outside and undercooked the middle because you didn’t wait for the oven to pre-heat, then you may be able to heat the middle one of two ways.
You may try lowering the oven temperature to cook the middle slowly without burning the outside further. Alternatively, you can pop the cake in the microwave as microwaves cook foods from the inside out and will therefore cook the cake’s interior better.
Something has gone wrong with the ingredients
If you let your oven pre-heat properly but the cake’s middle is still undercooked, then something may have gone wrong with the ingredients. As discussed, baking is a science, and therefore too much of one ingredient and not enough of another can throw the whole result off.
Consider the wet ingredients first as they are often where an undercooked cake went wrong, If you overpoured the milk, oil, or added a large egg instead of a medium one then your cake may be too wet. On the other hand, consider the dry ingredients. Too little baking soda or baking powder or flour can also create an overly dense cake which makes its middle turn out undercooked.
Finally, consider whether or not you mixed the ingredients properly. The ingredients need to react with one another therefore, they need to be properly combined. Ensure you follow the recipe’s mixing time and mix to the right consistency otherwise there may be pockets that have too much of one ingredient and not enough of another which can cause a soupy middle section.
Solution
Again, best to avoid this issue altogether by adding the correct ingredients and amounts of each as well as ensuring you’ve combined them properly.
You can always attempt to balance out the cake before it has been poured into the cake pan by adding more dry ingredients if it appears too watery or mixing more even when it is in the cake pan if need be.
Once the cake is cooked, however, it becomes challenging to change its ingredients. Our best bet at this point is, again, to pop it in the microwave and attempt to cook the inside through that method.
Your oven’s heat is uneven
If neither of the above options seems to describe your issue, then you may need to examine the heating inside your oven. An unevenly cooked cake may be indicative of an unevenly heated oven. This could be an oven problem, or it simply comes down to the setting you’ve set it to.
For instance, setting the oven with or without the fan will change how the cake bakes.
Solution
If you’ve set your oven to the correct temperature, be sure you have also put it to the right setting whether that is with or without the fan to circulate the heat.
If all of this is set properly then your oven may simply be slightly on the older side or less evenly heated than the cake requires. In this case, we recommend using toothpicks or a thin knife to place small holes throughout the cake so heat can get into the center easily.
The baking dish isn’t right
The final possible explanation we will explore is that of the improper baking dish. Baking dishes come in all sorts of shapes, sizes, materials, and coatings and differ in quality particularly as they age.
All these factors will influence the extent to which your cake cooks in the middle.
Solution
Our suggestion is to follow the recipe’s directions when it comes to the best baking dish. If you’re not following a recipe, then ensure you’ve read the label on your dishware so you know which baking needs it works best for and have checked that it doesn’t have too much wear or damage.
Final Thoughts
Don’t let an undercooked middle of the cake rain on your parade, keep these common mistakes in mind and you’ll always know how to solve the issue of an undercooked cake.