This happens quite often with shaped pans like a bundt tin. There are lots of nooks and crannies to grease, so use a pastry brush to get into the edges. With standard cakes, it just means the tin hasn't been greased properly. For a guarantee no-stick, line tins with baking parchment. Try our fab recipe for a tangerine bundt cake, perfect for a celebration.
There are several reasons why this happens: wrong tin size; too much raising agent; the oven isn't at the right temperature – too hot or too cold; the batter is over or under-beaten and finally, were you tempted to keep opening the oven door or perhaps slammed it shut? Always use measuring spoons for baking, check tin sizes, mix the batter in the recipe order and try to avoid opening the oven while your cake is baking.
A flat meringue means there hasn't been sufficient air incorporated into the mixture. First of all, the egg whites must be at room temperature to beat well. Then, add the sugar gradually by tablespoon while whisking constantly. Patience is key here. Don't bash the beaters on the edge of the bowl but use a spatula to get any mixture out. Now try our stunning strawberry pavlova cake recipe.
This happens when the cake tin is over-greased, which causes the edges to almost fry. Try adding a little oil to kitchen paper, using that to grease the tin. Alternatively, line the sides with baking parchment to prevent over-browning, oiling the tin first to ensure the parchment sticks perfectly.
Dark chocolate needs careful handling when melting, or it will stiffen and seize. It does this for two reasons – either a drop of water has got into the bowl or more commonly, the chocolate has been overheated. It shouldn't touch the water it's melted over, and the water must be at a gentle simmer. Slowly does it is the rule here, then try our dreamy chocolate salted caramel cake.
Irish soda bread doesn't contain yeast and is made with standard, rather than strong flour. It doesn't need any rising or proving time so is quick to make. However, it will be tough if over-mixed and over-worked, as the gluten in the flour develops through kneading. So use a light hand to bring the dough together and it will be perfect.
This is often a problem with very liquid batters such as baked cheesecake. Loose-based or springform tins tend not to have a firm seal, hence the leak. Either buy parchment cake liners, line the tin with parchment but ensure the base is covered above it or make a foil lining with one large piece. Surround the tin with foil to protect your oven, just in case. To test out your new skills, try our baked ricotta cheesecake with berries.
There's a reason why good cookie recipes ask you to chill the dough. The butter must firm up in the fridge for at least an hour before baking. It's possible the mixture was over-mixed too, which prevents the cookies from holding their shape. Chilling also helps the flavour to develop, so don't miss out this important step when you try our favourite chocolate chip cookies.
Every baker needs to know their oven, and uneven rising is an appliance problem. Some ovens have hotspots, where one side may be warmer than the other. The heat on the edge will be higher than the centre, so once you know the hotspot, aim to turn the cake once during baking. Always bake on the middle shelf, not the top. Now make our foolproof Victoria sponge recipe.
The most common cause of this is not cooling the cake on a wire rack, so condensation builds up on the base. It could also be that the oven was too hot for the recipe, so invest in an oven thermometer to be sure. Dense wet batters, such as carrot cake, take longer to cool than you think, so allow up to two hours on a wire rack.
Any cake batter needs to go into a preheated oven as soon as it's mixed, otherwise the cake may be flat with air bubbles on the top, due to a chemical reaction from the raising agent. So remember – preheat the oven first, then the cake must go in immediately. Now try your hand at a classic tea cake: coffee and walnut sponge.
A dry cake could be the result of baking for too long or at too high a temperature. Perhaps the ingredients weren't weighed out accurately or possibly the wrong size eggs were used and were too small for the recipe. There could be too much baking powder in the recipe. But don't ditch the dry cake. Use it in our recipe for vanilla cake pops instead.
First off, check the use-by date on the yeast. If it's old, it won't work. The yeast also may have been killed off by mixing it with salt or adding boiling, instead of warm liquid. Perhaps the dough wasn't kneaded for long enough. It should be stretchy and spring back when you prod it. Bake a perfect loaf step-by-step with our bacon and Cheddar bread recipe.
This occurs when the oven isn't hot enough, the wrong tin size was used or it hasn't been cooked for long enough. It's an easy fix when it happens – just make a tent of foil to cover the cake to prevent it burning on the top then bake until cooked through, testing the centre with a skewer which should come out clean. Want a foolproof cake? Bake our sensational lemon drizzle cake.
Get the recipe for lemon drizzle cake here
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A great scone should be crisp, light and fluffy in the centre. If they come out tough, it's because the dough has been overworked. Too much kneading means the gluten in the flour expands, which is what you want when making bread, not for scones. A light hand and as little mixing as possible makes the perfect scone, so give our step-by-step recipe a try.
There are three fixes for this problem. Firstly, it's surprising how hot an oven needs to be for pastry to be lightly browned and crisp, so double check your oven with a thermometer. Alternatively, if it's a filled tart, it should be baked blind first before adding the filling, or the base will be soggy. Metal tins are essential – any glass or ceramic dish won't get hot enough. Try out our summer berry galette for pastry perfection.
This is caused by the oven being too hot. The crust forms too quickly and the cake is still rising, hence the crack. If the oven temperature is correct and it still happens, the cake was on the top shelf, whereas it should be on the middle shelf. However, it's not a disaster: you could slice off the top of the cake and decorate, or give it a liberal dusting of icing sugar,
This will occur when you have stored the cake in a tin or airtight container before it's completely cold, which causes condensation and therefore the sticky top. This can happen with traditional fruit cakes especially, which retain a lot of heat due to the high sugar content of the fruit. Before storing, leave cakes for longer than you may think, until they are completely cold to the touch.
If your muffin tin is old, chances are it's lost any non-stick qualities, so it needs to be lightly buttered before baking. The easiest fix is to always use muffin cases. To release the stuck muffins, dip the base of the tin in very hot water for a few minutes, then use a palette knife to prise them out. This will re-melt the butter a little. Love savoury muffins? Try our recipe for cheese and ham muffins.
With any cake, the batter should only be as high as two-thirds of the depth of the tin, or it may overflow. It could be that the wrong tin size is being used, or that the recipe writer has made an error – it does happen. Always check you have the correct tin size for the recipe by measuring the base of the tin.
There are a few reasons why this may happen, the main one being that the batter has been over-mixed, which will bash out the air, resulting in a dense cake. Alternatively, you may have measured out your ingredients incorrectly, so there could be either too much liquid, sugar or baking powder. Always weigh out your ingredients accurately before you start.
A greasy cake is the result of the butter being far too soft when mixed in, causing the butter to separate when it goes into the oven. Don't be tempted to soften butter in the microwave. It shouldn't be rock hard from the fridge, but just soft enough to beat in, so allow around 20 minutes at room temperature. Try our recipe for the perfect marbled coffee ring cake to test your skills.
A cookie should be melt-in-the-mouth buttery, not tough. This happens when the ingredients, especially the egg, are too cold. With any baking, all ingredients should be at room temperature, and the same goes for cookies. Try our brown butter, chocolate and banana cookies for the perfect texture.
Get the recipe for brown butter, chocolate and banana cookies here
This is quite a common problem, where meringues have streaks of melted sugar. This is an easy fix, as it's caused by the sugar being added too quickly to the egg whites when they aren't stiff enough. The whites should be beaten first until stiff peaks form, then the sugar can be added gradually, as in our recipe for mango, lime and coconut meringues.
Assuming the rolling pin has been floured, there are a few reasons for sticky pastry, the main one being that it hasn't been chilled for long enough. It needs an hour in the fridge and on a hot day, you'll need to work quickly. If it's a rich pastry, with lots of butter and egg yolks, it will be hard to handle. Try rolling it covered with a sheet of clingfilm, then use the base of your tart tin to lift it. You can patch up any cracks then brush with egg yolk.
Cakes appear curdled when eggs are added to a creamed butter and sugar batter. It may look scary, but there's an easy fix. Simply add a tablespoon of the flour needed in between each egg addition, before adding the rest of the flour once all the eggs are in.
The technique of whisking sugar and eggs in a bowl over simmering water is used for Swiss rolls, sponge roulades and zabaglione. The aim is to incorporate air and volume into the mixture. However, if the bowl touches the hot water, the heat will cook and scramble the eggs, so ensure a good gap between the base of the bowl and the water.
Tough pastry is the result of it being overworked. Too much kneading and it becomes sticky, so the temptation is to add more flour to make it easy to roll out. Too much flour equals tough pastry. Don't work it too hard, and once pulled together, allow it to rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Try out homemade pastry with our fantastic classic quiche recipe.
If your bread dough spreads out in the oven rather than rising beautifully, the problem is likely to be you have proved it (the first rising) for too long. This means there's little strength in the dough and it can't hold its shape. In hot weather, it's preferable to allow the dough to prove slowly in the fridge. Try our easy (and foolproof) recipe for Italian focaccia for a winning bake.
That awful moment when the frosting slides off the cake is simply down to the wrong cream cheese being used. It has to be full fat and a well-known brand, such as Philadelphia. Reduced-fat cream cheese can't hold up the structure with icing sugar and butter. Ensure your ingredients are at room temperature, too, before embarking on our divine red velvet cake.