my cakes wont rise...any ideas why?

Hannibal Smith

Hi...looking for some advice. My cakes won't rise. Betty crocker recipe packs are no problem but when I bake myself they won't rise.

Flour is brand new, recipe doesn't have baking powder in it. Any help or ideas?

phormium

What is the raising agent, is it self raising flour? What recipe you using, oven temp?

Princess Peach

Maybe post the recipe here to help?

Are you using self-raising flour?

Hannibal Smith

phormium wrote: »

What is the raising agent, is it self raising flour? What recipe you using, oven temp?

Hi phorium

It's self raising flour. Bought a new pack yesterday in case the bag was gone off.

It's just a Victoria sponge....4oz flour, caster sugar and butter...2 eggs. Everything was at room temp and the oven temp was 180 degrees

phormium

What size tins? Did it rise at all or just not as much as you thought it should, that's quite a small mix.

For example this odlums recipe uses practically twice that for a 7/8" tin 2 layer

http://www.odlums.ie/index.php?page=classic-victoria-sandwich

Faith

Did you cream the butter and sugar for long enough? That's crucial for getting air into the batter. Without air bubbles, there's nothing to increase in volume making the cake rise.

vicwatson

Hannibal Smith wrote: »

Hi phorium

It's self raising flour. Bought a new pack yesterday in case the bag was gone off.

It's just a Victoria sponge....4oz flour, caster sugar and butter...2 eggs. Everything was at room temp and the oven temp was 180 degrees

I go with 4 4 4 2 too !

Are you sieving the SR flour in and then mix by folding, I find that gets some nice air into it.

Hannibal Smith

I'm not sure if I creamed if for long enough....I creamed it until it looked light and fluffy, but is there a nack to it? Like on a higher speed or something? Or for a specific length of time?

Yeah I sieved the flour in, I even did it from a height because I think I saw the hairy bikers do that before

The recipe did say use a 7" tin, buy I only have two 8" ones so used those. I thought tin size might only effect cooking times, does it effect rising too?

I see that odlums recipe also includes baking powder...my recipe didn't include that...should I throw a pinch in just in case?

Hannibal Smith

Oh...also the eggs...should I have beaten them before putting them in?

phormium

In my opinion your 2 egg mix is too little to give you any decent height of cake in 8" tins. The difference between 7 & 8" tins is going to spread the mixture thinner so that it is lower to start with so the finished height will be less. Cake will barely double in height even if everything done right so I would say try a larger mix.

The Odlums recipe has extra baking powder added as it is an all in one mix, no creaming of stuff separately, just all bunged in together, this sort of method requires extra help to rise as there is none of the beating in of air at butter and sugar stage.

Hannibal Smith

phormium wrote: »

In my opinion your 2 egg mix is too little to give you any decent height of cake in 8" tins. The difference between 7 & 8" tins is going to spread the mixture thinner so that it is lower to start with so the finished height will be less. Cake will barely double in height even if everything done right so I would say try a larger mix.

The Odlums recipe has extra baking powder added as it is an all in one mix, no creaming of stuff separately, just all bunged in together, this sort of method requires extra help to rise as there is none of the beating in of air at butter and sugar stage.

Ah that's great advice. I'll give that odlums one a go and see how it goes

Thank you phorium and every one else for all the help xx

vicwatson

Hannibal Smith wrote: »

I'm not sure if I creamed if for long enough....I creamed it until it looked light and fluffy, but is there a nack to it? Like on a higher speed or something? Or for a specific length of time?

Yeah I sieved the flour in, I even did it from a height because I think I saw the hairy bikers do that before

The recipe did say use a 7" tin, buy I only have two 8" ones so used those. I thought tin size might only effect cooking times, does it effect rising too?

I see that odlums recipe also includes baking powder...my recipe didn't include that...should I throw a pinch in just in case?

I would beat the eggs before going in and I would also make sure to fold in the flour instead of just stirring it in.

huskerdu

Also, you dont know if there is enough raising agent in self raising flour.
I dont know if all brands use the same amount.
I prefer to use cream flour and add baking powder, so you know how much
you are using.

Hannibal Smith

Okay, thanks vicwatson, will beat the eggs first. The recipe didn't specify, it said 'beat the eggs in one at a time adding q spoonful of flour with the second egg'. So I thought that meant don't beat it before . I did fold the flour in, but now I understand the reason behind it i'll be extra careful. Does folding it too much have a negative effect then I wonder?

Thanks for the tip re the type of flour huskadu. Its odlums so I'm assuming that's okay? But the new recipe phorium posted has baking powder in it.

I'm be baking it tomorrow so fingers crossed it works. With all these tips I hope I can get it out of the oven

Thank you so much for all the helpful replies, I shall report back

huskerdu

Hannibal Smith wrote: »

Okay, thanks vicwatson, will beat the eggs first. The recipe didn't specify, it said 'beat the eggs in one at a time adding q spoonful of flour with the second egg'. So I thought that meant don't beat it before . I did fold the flour in, but now I understand the reason behind it i'll be extra careful. Does folding it too much have a negative effect then I wonder?

Folding too much or too heavily will remove some of the air that you have beaten in. Dont bang the spoon against the side of the bowl to remove mixture or anything like that.

Thanks for the tip re the type of flour huskadu. Its odlums so I'm assuming that's okay? But the new recipe phorium posted has baking powder in it.

I am sure that Odlums self raising flour is good quality, but i have no idea if it has the same amount of baking powder that the type of self raising flour used by the person who created the recipe. A recipe with a defined amount of baking powder is safer because you know you are using the correct amount.

I'm be baking it tomorrow so fingers crossed it works. With all these tips I hope I can get it out of the oven

Another question, the cake that you baked that was flat, was it soft and spongy and flat, or heavy in texture. If it was soft and spongy and flat, then
maybe your recipe is fine and you just need more mixture.

Hannibal Smith

Thank you for all the tips hints and advice. Made a beautifully risen Victoria sponge! One thing you didn't warn me about was leaving it to cool with a 3 year old around...I came to check on it and the top half was massacred