Betty Crocker's Chocolate Fudge Cake (experiment)

usually i don't bake with pre-mix, much less blog about it !

but i have friends who have been asking me why do their betty crocker's cake crack when baked.

i decided to use the pre-mix & experiment with the baking temperature + time to see how it goes, & since cakes i bake from scratch usually crack too (only that i use icing/cream/ganache to hide the cake flaws, ha), this recipe test would be good for me as well.

when a cake crack, there could be many reasons why..but top 2 reasons based on my past bakes:

1) overmixing

2) baking at a temperature that is too high

so here is my betty crocker's recipe test for Robin + his girlfriend & Alica Monroe:

betty crocker pre-mix: i got the chocolate fudge flavour

recipes as per the box (but baking time & temperature depends on your type of baking tins)

i used an 8" square tin (nonstick) + 4 muffin tins (nonstick)

these are the only 3 extra ingredients you'd need: 

1 1/4 cups water, 265ml

1/2 cup soyabean oil, 100ml
(soyabean oil is one of the best oil for baking because of  its high smoke point)

3 eggs

beat in the premix & pour into the prepared tins,

for the square cake...i  filled till 1/2 full & smooth out the top of the cake batter (this helps to prevent cracks and air bubbles on the cake as well) before putting it in the oven

voila !

i used some frozen & thawed bailey's chocolate glaze from a previous bake to decorate the cake.

Makes....16 square cake slices + 4 muffins

Baking Time & Temperature

Square 8" Cake: 

150ºC for 30 minutes + 15 minutes (i was seeing some cracks, so i covered the cake with aluminium foil to prevent the top from over-baking) + 5 minutes (remove foil)

Muffins: 

180ºC for 20 minutes

How was it?

Cake - still a little cracked on the top but not too bad

Muffins - great, soft & spongy with no cracks

Better it up!

Cake:

1) cool in its tin for 15 minutes after removing from oven before transferring to wire rack (i forgot about this & had some big holes beneath the cake, oopsy) 

2) could try to decrease temperature to 140ºC & bake for about 1 hour

3) bake in a long rectangular pan (13" x 9") instead

The Verdict