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Cooking Time For A Sponge Wedding Cake

by Debby
(Cardiff, South Wales)

How long do I cook a 12inch square chocolate cake without it drying out? I am making a tiered wedding cake and on my practice run the 12inch came out dry.

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Answer:

A cake drying out can be due to inaccurate oven temperatures, scaling to a larger cake size or the recipe itself. If you like the flavour of the recipe you are using and would like to try it again there are a couple of things you can do to prevent drying.

Putting a pan of water in the oven while baking will keep a steady flow of moisture in the oven. You may also try loosely covering the cake with parchment while baking to prevent too much moisture loss. Also, turning the cake in the final stages of cooking will help to prevent the edges from drying out.

If you would like an alternative recipe try this moist Chocolate Sponge Cake.

12” Square Chocolate Sponge Cake
900g/ 2 lb Dark chocolate (50% cocoa content)
675g/1 lb 7oz Unsalted butter
400g/ 14oz Caster sugar
24 Large eggs
150g/5oz Icing sugar
700g/1 lb 8oz Self raising flour

Cooking time 2 ½ hours – 2 ¾ hours, but start checking the cake from around 2 hours of baking onwards.

Preheat your oven to 180°/350°/F/Gas 4. Grease the cake tin and line with parchment paper. Melt the chocolate over simmering water in a glass bowl or microwave. Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy in a large bowl. Separate the eggs and add the yolks to the sugar mixture, followed by the melted chocolate. Whisk the egg whites in a separate bowl until soft peaks form. Fold in the icing sugar. Add sifted flour and egg whites alternately to the chocolate mixture. Pour into the greased cake tin and bake until light and springy.

Good luck

Nicola






Image credits:

Baking: © Bloopiers | Dreamstime.com

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Cooking Time For A Sponge Wedding Cake

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Feb 24, 2011
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by: Anonymous

Forgot to say, I have recently cooked two 12" square celebration cakes - one for Valentines Day for an organisation and one for a Retirement cake for a school.

I used 12-15 eggs and weigh the SR flour, sugar and fat to weigh what the eggs weigh in their shells(I use Stork because it makes a lighter fluffier cake). IE if the eggs weigh 1lb in their shells then I weigh 1lb each of the other ingredients - EXCEPT, if the cake is to be sugarpaste iced I put a couple of ounces more flour which makes it more of a madeira consistency to take the weight of the icing.

As regards the timing of the cake, firstly my nose tells me when it is cooked but I have to make absolutely sure it is cooked by testing it in the middle with my little finger and if it springs back it is cooked. If it is left cooking much longer then it will definitely dry out too much.
Feb 24, 2011
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by: debby

thanx nicola for that tip and i will try your recipe for that choci cake
Feb 24, 2011
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by: Nicola

Great tips! Thanks for sharing your wonderful tips.

Off to make a sponge cake now and try some of those out...

Feb 23, 2011
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by: Anonymous

My tips which work and I have been doing for a long time are:

Line the base of the tin (not necessarily the sides of a Victoria sponge if the tin is of good quality and not loose bottomed).

Resist opening the oven door until the sponge has been cooking for at least 3/4 hour. I use temp. 160 degrees electric in my fan oven. Don't remove the sponge until it springs back when you gently press it with your little finger in the middle. Also, open and close the oven door gently - do not slam or the rush of air will cause it to sink.

Now, and here is the secret of a moist sponge:

When you take it out leave it in the tin until completely cold, maybe overnight. Then when you do loosen it with a palette knife turn it out and double wrap it in cling film and then foil. Leave it at room temperature until you are ready to ice it.

I split and fill the cake and then crumb coat and ice it with sugarpaste. This sugarpaste acts as a moisture preserver in the cake.

A sponge cake, contrary to the old school of thinking, will last for up to a week and actually taste much nicer a couple of days or so after you have iced it.

The flavours and moisture develop over that time and it won't be dry like an uniced cake.

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