How to Prevent Cake Doming (2024)

FAQs

How do I stop my cake from doming? ›

Lower the temperature and cook for longer: This is one of the easiest solutions. Lower the temperature by around 10-20°C and increase the baking time slightly. This will make sure the cake tin doesn't heat up too quickly.

There are a couple of things you can do. One is to buy insulated cake pans which will heat evenly and stop that mountain from rising. The edge won't be so brown as well. Or, get some old kitchen cloths or terry cloth towels cut into strips, wet them and wrap them around your cake pan.

The outside ring of batter has less insulation so the edges rise and set fast while the center of the cake keeps rising and eventually bumps up into a domed or uneven cake. To insulate the outside portion of the cake in a similar way to the center, try wrapping the pan in damp cake strips.

If the batter contains too much raising agent, this may result in a cake rising too quickly. Reduce the amount of raising agent. If the baking pan is too small, the batter has nowhere to go but up. It will then form a dome, and eventually crack.

You really don't “flatten” a cake layer, you level a layer by cutting the dome off, flipping it upside down to the smooth side and frost the smooth side, repeat the cut/level, chill in the fridge and ice it with a “crumb coat” first, to lock in the crumbs, chill again, put a final coat of icing.

The cake pan is heating up much faster than the rest of the cake. This causes the edges to set before the cake has risen fully, and as the rest of the cake cooks the centre rises and creates a dome. To stop your cake from doming, line the outsides of your cake tin with a double layer of foil.

You need to incorporate enough air during the creaming process to achieve a light and fluffy cake, without over or undermixing. Incorporate too little air and your cake won't rise enough. Too much air and your cake will collapse because it simply can't hold onto all that air.

If the oven is too hot, the cake will set too fast before the air bubbles have formed. If the oven is not hot enough, the cake will rise too much, then fall in the center before it is set. Bake a cake mix cake for a test run to check your oven temperature. (Make sure you've preheated your oven, too.)

To make a box cake mix rise higher, try using a smaller pan, adding an extra egg, using milk instead of water, adding baking powder, mixing for longer, using room temperature ingredients, baking at a higher temperature, or using cake strips.

The steam from the hot water bath adds moisture to the oven. This is important for baking treats like cheesecake which tends to crack when the top is dried out and splits before the insides are done. 2. It gives a more even and slower heat source than the direct heat of your oven.

How do you reduce cake doming? ›

Use Cake Strips to Prevent your Cake from Doming

One of our favourite tips to avoid cake doming is using cake strips. These magical bands wrap around your cake tin, cooling the edges so the cake bakes evenly. Simply soak them in water, squeeze out the excess, and wrap them around the outside of your tin.

Check the temperature once your oven is preheated—if it's much higher, check your oven's manual to calibrate it so that 350 degrees actually means 350 degrees. Patterson also suggests simply lowering the temperature by 10 degrees if you notice your cakes significantly doming all the time.

Here's an easy way to fix domed or uneven cupcake tops: Right out of the oven, while the cupcakes are still in the pan, layer on a sheet of parchment paper then cover with a cutting board. Remove after 2-3 minutes and you'll have perfect even and flat cupcakes!

To do that, you'll either need a cake leveler or a long serrated knife to cut the dome off. Either of these tools works very well for removing the dome and leveling your cake. And bonus, you can use the scraps to make cake pops!

Why do cakes not rise? A: No or insufficient raising agent, mixture too stiff, mixture overbeaten or air knocked out, or insufficient whisking (whisked sponge). Too cool an oven.