Here's a 'what the heck happened' - Re: Baking - Any ideas?

This site is a major pain.

Anyway, it wouldn't let me type anything in beyond the picture.

I've been cooking/baking since the dawn of time. I took this recipe from here (the Starbucks Lemon bread/cake recipe) and everything looked fine in the recipe. Mixed it, baked it, and this is how it came out - with a big ditch in the middle.

I noticed it all along the baking but figured it would fill in. Never had something like that happen before.

TIA for any ideas

Well, it looks like too much liquid or the oven was not hot enough....but, I know you've been cooking at least as long as I have and just wouldn't make this mistake, so....I'm gonna say the recipe is off and if you try it again, reduce the liquid?

Appears as though it wants you to consider it a cake and place lemon pudding or a lemon glaze in the ditch... even lemon icing. It's speaking to you... I adore anything lemon!

Mmm...lemon! I love lemon too.

Liquid-wise, there isn't that much. There is 1/3c lemon juice and 1/2c veg oil.

Baking time - I used the 45min it said and it came out done.

It's not supposed to have a tunnel, but I guess it's just a weird mystery.

Thanks for helping, everybody! I really appreciate it.

Haven't tried it yet. It's still cooling. I might just not even make the glaze because it will just pool in the middle. Glad I wasn't making it for somebody else!

Hi chicken! Can you post the recipe? I had this happen with a cranberry bread once, and I think it was either that the batter was too wet or the oven temp. too high or low (done on the outside but not the inside.) Does the recipe call for baking powder and/or soda? The amount may be off.

Just so happens that I tested my oven recently and found that if I set it at 355F I get 350F, so I used that.

It did have BOTH baking powder and soda - 1/2t of each.

Let me see if I saved it on this computer. I just c&p'd it from this board and then formatted it out to fill the page. Found it -

Starbucks Lemon (Bread Pan) Cake

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

3 eggs

1 cup of sugar

2 tbsp. butter, softened

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp. lemon extract

1/3 cup lemon juice

1/2 cup oil

Directions:

Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in bowl. Blend together eggs, sugar, butter, vanilla, lemon extract, and lemon juice in medium bowl. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and blend until smooth. Add oil. Mix well.

Pour batter into well-greased 9X5 inch loaf pan. Bake at 350F for 45 min. or until toothpick comes out clean.

Lemon Icing Ingredients:

1 c. powdered sugar

2 tbsp. milk, I used 2%

1/2 tsp. lemon extract

Lemon Icing Directions:

Combine icing ingredients in small bowl with electric mixer on low. When loaf is cool, remove from pan and frost top with icing. Let icing set up before slicing.

On 3/20/2015 Haca said: Hi chickenbutt, did you use a box cake mix as a starter? Most companies have reduced the contents. (Happened to me with a beloved lemon cake recipe. culprit: Duncan Hines) It does look that you have not enough flour or too much liquid. Could be the recipe has a problem.

Nah, I don't use cake mixes. This was just a 'quick bread' type of thing so I didn't expect anything weird to happen.

The batter is thinner than some I've made but I didn't think much of that. Maybe the recipe is faulty. I kind of cruised around online and found pretty much the same one in several places, though.