Q: Why is my cake so runny in the middle? I have been baking for a while, but every time I make a cake, the middle is always runny. I follow the recipes by every single word! I tried to bake them longer, I even doubled the time. But nothing works. The finish product tastes weird too. Really floury.
Sent by Dolores
Editor: Wow! You have me stumped on this one! The only things I can think to suggest are to check your oven temperature with an oven thermometer (like this one) and to make sure your ingredients are fresh. Your runny middles might be caused by low oven temperature or expired baking soda.
Readers, any other suggestions?
Next question?
Related: Recipe: Spiced Bundt Cake with Whisky-Coffee Glaze
(Image: Anjali Prasertong)
How To Cook Fluffy, Tasty Quinoa
Perfect Summer Cocktail Recipe: Honey Bourbon Lemonade
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Elizabeth Apron fro...
100 DIY Ideas for the 3-Day Weekend
Danielle's Charming, Classic Walk-Up
Not sure why your cakes aren't cooking in the middle, but have you tried a heating core? http://www.thekitchn.com/cake-and-ice-cream-62763
And if you're doubling the cooking time, I would also wonder if your oven needs to be checked.
And it's funny that I'm answering this question, because I am not much of a baker, which is why I know everything that can go wrong! ;-)
Sounds like an over-abundance of flour (as to the final product tasting weird). Try to bake by weight, not measurement.
As to the middle being runny, your oven temp is off and possibly heating unequally on top of it.
generally if it tastes floury, it's because the flour hasn't cooked.
as you suggest, broken oven thermostat seems likeliest...
Most likely oven temp but also try weighing your flour. If when you scoop the flour you are packing it in too much you could be mismeasuring the flour or other solids. 1 cup should weigh 125 grams. If it does not I would try baking by weight.
Also you could have hot spots. Putting and toasting white bread slices in the oven on each level in cookie sheets covering the whole inside will tell you if or where you have hot spots.
I had a similar problem way back in college. The electric oven in our rental was really old and the broiler coil heated just fine but the bottom coil didn't work. The top always looked cooked and it felt hot when I opened the door but all the heat was at the top and there was none at the bottom. I ruined several things before I figured out the problem. Our jerk landlord wouldn't fix it so I always had to take things to my friend's houses to bake.
Get yourself a $5 dial style oven thermometer at your grocery store, put it in your oven and set to 350, wait 15 minutes and then check the thermometer reading. Prepare to be amazed.
This sounds ridiculous but I have a rental electric oven and while it generally cooks about 50 degrees too HOT (I tested with a thermometer), this kind of thing would happen when baking. My solution was to test putting the cake (or whatever) in different parts of the oven.
I learned that the LEFT side of the oven, in my case, heats evenly & well and things bake up fine if I put the cake tin/cookie sheet/etc all the way to the left (WITH the still-adjusted temperature).
So test your temp first, as others suggested, but also test different parts of the oven with a few sample things.
While I still dream of a vintage gas stove, for now, this tweak helps me to keep baking!!
Yeah I am betting it's a problem with the oven
My bets are also on wonky oven temps. Getting a cheap oven thermometer was a huge help for me - my oven is 25 degrees hotter than the dial reads!
Another tip I learned from a Wilton cake decorating class was to use Bake Even Strips - they're insulated strips you wrap around the top of your metal cake pan, that keep the outer edges of the cake from baking before the middle has had a chance to heat up. In my experience they're really effective at producing evenly-baked and non-domed cakes. They're not expensive and come in several sizes.
Good luck!
Like others, I think the uneven cooking is likely your oven. If you have electric, check out both coils. If gas, take a look and make sure everything is firing. The last issue might be the seal on your oven. Does it throw off a lot of heat while on and closed? I had this problem in my last apartment kitchen. I couldn't bake a full cake without the outside being hard and floury and the inside still being questionably raw.
Another vote here for testing your oven temp. Also check out the link for advice on how to measure different ingredients properly. You don't need scales for everyday baking if you know how to measure. Are you also using the pan size and shape for the recipe? I doubt that's the problem but just throwing it out there.
(BTW, my MIL is convinced that my method for measuring is BS but then she can't figure out why my stuff comes out better than hers. LOL)
I used to make a lot of banana bread using frozen bananas. It took me a couple of tries to realize that my loaf wasn't cooking properly because the ingredients I started with were too cold. It's more likely to be a problem with the oven, but this is something to consider!
I used to make a lot of banana bread using frozen bananas. It took me a couple of tries to realize that my loaf wasn't cooking properly because the ingredients I started with were too cold. It's more likely to be a problem with the oven, but this is something to consider!