General Question

laureth's avatar

Is it possible to save an underbaked cake? If so, how?

Asked by laureth (27211points) February 8th, 2009

So I was making an almond cream cheese pound cake for the first time ever, and when we cut into the middle of it I discovered it was moderately undercooked. It had only come out of the oven about 25 minutes before, but the middle was still runny. (The solid part was delicious, though!)

Is there anything that can be done to save the cake at that point (rebaking for a little while?) or is cake-baking alchemy so complex that I should scoop out the liquid heart of the loaf and just enjoy the part that came out okay?

I’ll know to use the toothpick test next time… but I’d never made pound cake before, so I didn’t know what was normal for them or if they were still supposed to be a little moist inside.

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14 Answers

Rememberme's avatar

If you dont mind the cosmetics of your cake…
cut off the good part of the cake and try rebaking the unfinished part, possible use a mini cupcake sheet.

laureth's avatar

Thanks! The cake’s charisma is unimportant at this juncture – I think I’ll try your idea…

90s_kid's avatar

@laureth
You decided to bake a cake because of this quip, huh.

laureth's avatar

Yep, a half-batch of this recipe —it sounded good, and I realized I had all the ingredients on hand without even any substitutions!

Any errors in the baking process are mine alone, though.

KrystaElyse's avatar

@laureth Oh god. That cake sounds amazingly delicious ::drool::

90s_kid's avatar

Can I have a slice?

Blondesjon's avatar

You can’t rebake a cake.
Most non-baking recipies are guidelines. Tweak to you heart’s content.

Most baking recipes are chemical formulas. Tweak and prepare to taste disappointment.

kinda like when foghorn leghorn shakes the test tube and says, “watch it fizz…”

steve6's avatar

Yes you can rebake it, just make sure your oven is preheated 25 degrees above recipe and just give it a few minutes. It works best if you don’t cool the cake.

cooksalot's avatar

I’ve never done this but I just had this thought. What about taking slices of the cake and throwing it on a griddle like pancakes or french toast? Gee, I’m going to have to try that one next time.

Blondesjon's avatar

@cooksalot…lurve…let me know how something like that turns out.

i wish i’d have thought of it

laureth's avatar

For anyone still watching this, a follow-up:

I cut out the questionable part of the cake and tossed it back in the oven for a while. It was no longer runny when it was done, but it wasn’t cakey either – more like it just dried out. The dog loved it. :)

agneil's avatar

Thanks for this information! My oven blew up while baking my daughters B-day cake and I know now to start over! I had put it into the fridge…

Lukeros's avatar

So I made a Coconut Mint Cake in a tube pan with some errors. Oven rack was too high, subbed milk for coffee cream and sour cream and I let what looked like a fine cake cool in the pan while I chatted on the phone for an hour. When I checked on it the middle had sunken and was still half raw. I thought it was done for and was prepared to start all over again but thought it was worth trying to rebake the thing before trashing and it really worked! It would have been better I’m sure if I had paid attention to detail but I still have a yummy cake! I think the cooked portion takes less time to heat up than the batter and I think the fact that I used cream helped keep the exterior from drying out too much. Learn from your mistakes (and laugh) and better luck next time around :)

kathalpat's avatar

Can a fruit cake be put back in the oven to cook the centre which appears not to be done. Yesterday I took the cakes out after doing the toothpick test and pressing on the top.
When wrapping the cakes for gifts today, I found the centres looking as if they were not baked.

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