My cake raised up well, when it is out from the oven. It shrink at the sides and the surface looks “wet”. When I touch it, it is kind of “sticky”. Why is this happening?

I’m really puzzled…

BAGMANIAC:
  Good morning to you. Due to my poor vision I must be direct & not explain baking science to you, The reason why of your problem is associated with excessive amount of liquids & or insufficent amount of flour.
  You didn’t say… but are you using one of Miss Rose’s recipes??? I think you are.

  ~FRESHKID.

Freshkid,

Please don’t scold me… I didn’t use Rose recipe this time cos I am thinking to try out other recipe book cos the picture of the cake looks nice and beautiful but sad to say…. i am not a good baker. The picture shown and my cake looks so totally different…. :(

I follow everything in the book but alas… I thought kind souls here can help me in my problems.

Please pardon me cos I am not using rose recipe for this cake.

Bagmaniac, thank you for the quick reply. If you can post the recipe with the directions & along with the mixer type used. We here can help you better this way.
  Have a nice day my friend.

  ~FRESHKID.

I have had the same problem, both using Rose´s and other recipes.
The cakes get stickier with time; they even get “stuck” to the plate.
Once i thought it could be too much egg white, but I am not very
sure.

SILVIA:
Good day to you. If in the future you have baking problems just post the recipe so that we can help you trouble~shoot the problem but we can alter the recipe as well just for you.

  ~CASS.

I have a couple of thoughts—this could be underbaking, although the cake crumb looks “set.” You could try baking just a bit longer or raising your oven temperature a little bit.

Was the air very humid on the day you were baking? Maybe the cake is absorbing moisture from the air. Cakes have a lot of sugar in them and sugar loves to “grab” onto water molecules.

I live in a humid climate, so my cakes are always a little sticky on the exterior when they cool. The remedy is to refrigerate the cake uncovered for a short while until it feels dry to the touch. Or don’t worry about it (provided the cake did not have too much liquid ingredients and provided it baked long enough) and just go ahead and frost it when cool. If you are in a humid climate, the longer it sits out at room temp. after it cools, the stickier it will get.

If I remember correctly, you are in Singapore? A very humid and hot climate to be sure. Sugar will grab onto moisture, as someone else stated, and a hot and humid climate will always cause a little stickiness on the surface of a cake. From the picture, your cake looks pretty good. We could give you a more accurate diagnosis if we could see the recipe you are using.

Thank you all!

I am thinking maybe my cooling rack is very near to the counter and maybe this is the way that causes the moist surface when it is closer to the counter surface when overturn. After reading all your kind inouts, I didn’t know that sugar plays such a role. So…. the other cakes I make also has a sticky surface but not so moist like the cake I make yesterday, is all because of the sugar. *enlighten*

Kathleen - How fast you usually refrigerate the cake when it is cool? Does it need to be out from the cake tin? So can I fridge the cake till I am ready to frost the cake right?

The recipe I am using,

Ingredient A:
120g superfine flour
2g baking powder
50g castor sugar
1g salt

Ingredient B:
80g melted butter
75g egg yolk
60g milk

Ingredient C:
150g egg white
70g castor sugar
1g cream of tartar

1. Combine ingredient A.
2.Add in ingredient B and blend to form soft batter.
3. Beat ingredient C until stiff peaks form.
4. Gradually fold in 1/3 of egg white form into the batter, stir gently, repeat the process, mix well after each addition.
5. Pour the batter into a 9” lined cake tin.
6. Bake at 180degC for 30-35min.

This is a very unusual recipe. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a cake batter put together quite this way. What book is this from?

Their are 2 other possible reasons:

1. the flour is not the proper kind. Are you using unbleached flour? If not, are you using Kate’s flour? What kind of superfine flour are you using? Cake flour? Does the recipe specify what type of flour should be used, or does it just say “superfine flour?”

2. The egg whites are not being probably beaten and they are watering out and the sugar is coming out of suspension. How are you beating the egg whites?

I may just have to bake this recipe myself. Just to see what it does for me.

I have to say that I recently had this happen with one of Rose’s cakes from the new book, and I thought it had more to do with the weather than the recipe.  I made the individual pound cakes on a very humid day, and within a few hours that tops had become sticky.  I chalked it up to the weather, but also, I don’t normally make cakes that aren’t frosted or syruped, so maybe this happens more often than I am aware of?

Matthew - 05 November 2009 12:06 PM

I have to say that I recently had this happen with one of Rose’s cakes from the new book, and I thought it had more to do with the weather than the recipe.  I made the individual pound cakes on a very humid day, and within a few hours that tops had become sticky.  I chalked it up to the weather, but also, I don’t normally make cakes that aren’t frosted or syruped, so maybe this happens more often than I am aware of?

I live in a typically dry climate, but stickiness does happen occasionally to me, specifically after it’s rained a lot or after I’ve been washing dishes in my little kitchen, which traps moisture pretty well!

BAGMANIAC:
Good day. I must be quick for now. I will assume the flour is “Cake flour”  It would not matter if it bleached or not when using melted butter.
The recipe is in balance for the 2~stage mixing method which this is. My opinion is that the flour gluten was not fully developed..hence there was no foundation to become coagulated. Also the amount of baking powder is not enough. It amounts to 1/2, tsp. use 3 grams / 3/4, tsp max. When mixing in the yolks do so in 2 additions like 2 then the other 2 mix 30, seconds each time.
  When mixing in the whites just blend it in with a spatula till the whites are no longer visible. Do not shake the pan or otherwise the whites will deflate for sure….bake at 335/350 max degrees.  Your pans are 1.5 deep aren’t they???.

  Good luck & have a nice day. 

  ~FRESHKID.

Bagmaniac, I am editing this post because I forgot to mention this. The reason your cake appeared sticky is because the sugar was not FULLY MELTED. Use extra sugar fine & proc it yourself.

Roxanne - This recipe book is by Malaysia’s publisher. I bought this book from Singapore bookshop.
The flour states superfine flour, we have superfine flour selling in Singapore. This is not referring to cake flour.
I beat the egg white and cream of tartar till soft peak then add the sugar to beat till stiff texture. Then add in the stiff egg white by spatula.

Freshkid - I see…. I am using 2” deep pan. But everytime the cake is only 1”+ thick. I will try this recipe again next trial. Thanks!