How to use the online timer
Forty minutes is a common bake for a standard sponge or butter cake in a moderate oven, though tin size shifts it considerably: a shallow sandwich tin bakes faster, while a deep, dense cake in a loaf tin wants longer at a lower temperature. Keep the door shut for the first twenty-five minutes at least, since a draught of cold air before the crumb has set is what sinks the middle more often than anything else.
Ovens lie, and most run hotter or cooler than the dial claims, so an oven thermometer costs little and removes a lot of guesswork. Fan settings need twenty degrees off the stated conventional temperature, and a cake sitting too high in the oven browns on top before the middle has set. Turning the tin around halfway helps if your oven has a hot corner, which most do.
The skewer settles it. Pushed into the deepest part, it should come out with a few dry crumbs clinging on rather than wet batter, and the cake should be shrinking very slightly from the sides of the tin and springing back when pressed. Ten minutes in the tin before turning out lets the structure firm up enough to survive the move to the rack.
Common questions
Why has my cake got a dip in the middle?
Usually the oven door opened too early, before the structure had set, or the cake was underbaked. Keep the door shut for the first twenty-five minutes and test with a skewer before taking it out.
How do I know it is done?
A skewer pushed into the deepest part should come out with a few dry crumbs rather than wet batter, and the cake should spring back when pressed lightly and pull very slightly from the tin.
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