Blueberry cake disaster!

Wayne Boatwright said:

On Thu 04 Aug 2005 05:53:21p, Karen AKA Kajikit wrote in
rec.food.cooking:

Quoted message said:

Blueberries are very cheap atm so I bought a punnet and I thought it
would make a nice blueberry cake... I made up a basic cake using a
cup and a half of flour and a cup of sugar and mixed the blueberries
into it, then I poured it into a pie dish.
instead of rising slightly or puffing up, the cake in the pie tin
exploded over the edges of the pie plate and ran all over the oven!

Could it be that blueberries release a lot of liquid as they're
cooking? I only use the tiny wild blueberries and have never had
that experience, but the large berries are very juicy.

My question would be what levening agent was used in the cake batter?
Baking powder and baking soda react very differently. A complete recipe
would help, not that I'm a cake maven.

Jill

On Thu 04 Aug 2005 05:53:21p, Karen AKA Kajikit wrote in rec.food.cooking:

Quoted message said:

Blueberries are very cheap atm so I bought a punnet and I thought it
would make a nice blueberry cake... I made up a basic cake using a cup
and a half of flour and a cup of sugar and mixed the blueberries into
it, then I poured it into a pie dish. There was way too much in there
so I spooned about a third of it out into greased muffin pans. Then I
put it all into the oven, which is where the disaster came in...
instead of rising slightly or puffing up, the cake in the pie tin
exploded over the edges of the pie plate and ran all over the oven! I
shoved a baking tray underneath it when I realised what was happening
but it was too late... the kitchen stinks of burning blueberries and
cake because it's all over the bottom of the oven and the element 🙁
I've never had anything like that happen before! Does anyone have any
idea what might have gone wrong? Or better still, a recipe for a
blueberry pudding so that I can try it again? I wanted it to turn out
like a shallow cake with a layer of blueberry mush in the middle and a
crumby topping...
I just took the cooked cake/pudding out of the oven and it's convcave
- it didn't rise upwards at all!

Could it be that blueberries release a lot of liquid as they're cooking? I
only use the tiny wild blueberries and have never had that experience, but
the large berries are very juicy.

--
Wayne Boatwright *¿*
____________________________________________

Give me a smart idiot over a stupid genius any day.
Sam Goldwyn, 1882-1974

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"Wayne Boatwright" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On Thu 04 Aug 2005 05:53:21p, Karen AKA Kajikit wrote in rec.food.cooking:

Quoted message said:

Blueberries are very cheap atm so I bought a punnet and I thought it
would make a nice blueberry cake... I made up a basic cake using a cup
and a half of flour and a cup of sugar and mixed the blueberries into
it, then I poured it into a pie dish. There was way too much in there
so I spooned about a third of it out into greased muffin pans. Then I
put it all into the oven, which is where the disaster came in...
instead of rising slightly or puffing up, the cake in the pie tin
exploded over the edges of the pie plate and ran all over the oven! I
shoved a baking tray underneath it when I realised what was happening
but it was too late... the kitchen stinks of burning blueberries and
cake because it's all over the bottom of the oven and the element 🙁
I've never had anything like that happen before! Does anyone have any
idea what might have gone wrong? Or better still, a recipe for a
blueberry pudding so that I can try it again? I wanted it to turn out
like a shallow cake with a layer of blueberry mush in the middle and a
crumby topping...
I just took the cooked cake/pudding out of the oven and it's convcave
- it didn't rise upwards at all!

Could it be that blueberries release a lot of liquid as they're cooking?
I
only use the tiny wild blueberries and have never had that experience, but
the large berries are very juicy.

Quoted message said:

Wayne Boatwright *¿*

I'm not experienced in using fresh blueberries in cake or coffee cake, but
when I do, I usually harden them a little in the freezer, then dip into some
flour before I add them to my batter. This seems to keep the juice of the
berries more in tact.
Dee Dee

On 5 Aug 2005 03:05:52 +0200, Wayne Boatwright
<[email hidden]> connected the dots and wrote:

~On Thu 04 Aug 2005 05:53:21p, Karen AKA Kajikit wrote in
rec.food.cooking:
~
~> Blueberries are very cheap atm so I bought a punnet and I thought
it
~> would make a nice blueberry cake... I made up a basic cake using a
cup
~> and a half of flour and a cup of sugar and mixed the blueberries
into
~> it, then I poured it into a pie dish. There was way too much in
there
~> so I spooned about a third of it out into greased muffin pans. Then
I
~> put it all into the oven, which is where the disaster came in...
~> instead of rising slightly or puffing up, the cake in the pie tin
~> exploded over the edges of the pie plate and ran all over the oven!
I
~> shoved a baking tray underneath it when I realised what was
happening
~> but it was too late... the kitchen stinks of burning blueberries
and
~> cake because it's all over the bottom of the oven and the element
🙁
~> I've never had anything like that happen before! Does anyone have
any
~> idea what might have gone wrong? Or better still, a recipe for a
~> blueberry pudding so that I can try it again? I wanted it to turn
out
~> like a shallow cake with a layer of blueberry mush in the middle
and a
~> crumby topping...
~> I just took the cooked cake/pudding out of the oven and it's
convcave
~> - it didn't rise upwards at all!
~>
~
~Could it be that blueberries release a lot of liquid as they're
cooking? I
~only use the tiny wild blueberries and have never had that
experience, but
~the large berries are very juicy.

Why did you use a pie dish? I've usually made either loaves, 9x9 or
9x13, or muffins with blueberries, and not had quite the spectacular
results you did.

It's probably concave because the leavening you included exploded all
over your oven<G> and none was left to raise the remaining batter.

Whatever's left probably tastes pretty good, so why not make a trifle
with it, and then get more berries and make these muffins. I've made
them with raspberries, blackberries, and cut up strawberries. They're
wonderful no matter what.

This recipe has worked for me in any of the above-mentioned sized
pans, and is amazing to boot.

OFFICIAL JORDAN MARSH BLUEBERRY MUFFIN
Yield: 12 regular muffins, or 6 JM-sized muffins

1/2 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups flour
1/2 cup milk
1 pint blueberries
Sugar for the top

Shortening may be all vegetable solid shortening or all butter
or all margarine or a 50-50 blend.

Clean and rinse berries; pat dry.

Grease muffin cups well, including the top, and flour lightly
(or use paper liners).

Beat shortening with sugar and vanilla until well mixed. Beat
in eggs. Mash a half cup of the blueberries and mix in.

Mix dry ingredients and mix in alternately with the milk. Fold
in rest of berries. Batter will be very heavy.

Fill muffin cups to top. Sprinkle sugar on top. Be
heavy-handed with this. It's what makes the muffins special.

Bake in preheated 450-degree oven for 5 minutes. Lower heat to
375 degrees and bake an additional 30 to 35 minutes, until they
test done. Cool and remove from pans.

maxine in ri

Karen AKA Kajikit wrote on 04 Aug 2005 in rec.food.cooking

Quoted message said:

- it didn't rise upwards at all!

Do the words 'You forgot Eggs and/or baking powder' mean anything to
you?

--
It's not a question of where he grips it!
It's a simple question of weight ratios!

A five ounce bird could not carry a one pound coconut.

Are you suggesting coconuts migrate?

Karen AKA Kajikit said:

Quoted message said:

Blueberries are very cheap atm so I bought a punnet and I thought it
would make a nice blueberry cake... I made up a basic cake using a
cup and a half of flour and a cup of sugar and mixed the blueberries
into it, then I poured it into a pie dish. There was way too much in
there so I spooned about a third of it out into greased muffin pans.
Then I put it all into the oven, which is where the disaster came
in... instead of rising slightly or puffing up, the cake in the pie
tin exploded over the edges of the pie plate and ran all over the
oven! I shoved a baking tray underneath it when I realised what was
happening but it was too late... the kitchen stinks of burning
blueberries and cake because it's all over the bottom of the oven
and the element 🙁 I've never had anything like that happen before!
Does anyone have any idea what might have gone wrong? Or better
still, a recipe for a blueberry pudding so that I can try it again?
I wanted it to turn out like a shallow cake with a layer of
blueberry mush in the middle and a crumby topping...
I just took the cooked cake/pudding out of the oven and it's convcave
- it didn't rise upwards at all!

--

What happened was your pan was too shallow. It started to rise but was not
firm enough at that point to be able to sustain it on its own. With no
sides on the side of the pan, it did the only thing it could, ran over the
edges.

Debbie

zo.. do you vant cake or pudding or cobbler?

shallow cake? usse no filling.. put it on the finished cake later.

cobbler - use a cobbler recipe - and then put ice cream on it - even hot raw
cobbler, or over cooked bricks soaked in melted ice cream, will not be
noticed. :-))

pudding? hmmm...

Ok - as to the question -

I think it was as simple as you overfilled the pan and cups. When the
batter rose, it left the support of the pan before it could cook in the
middle and be set, and so it fell.
The muffin tins are filled to about a third up with raw batter, and a
pie plate about third to a maybe a scant half of raw batter.

The other errors possible - baking powder instead of baking soda when a
recipe calls for baking soda; you used the tbs instead of the tsp when
putting in baking powder; opening the oven scrambling to stave off disaster
chilled the dough and caused it to fall.

Hint - buy some oven liner (super heavy duty quilted aluminum foil
pads/roll) at the grocery store - one sheet lasts for years - and if you
need to change it more often than that, you needed oven liner.

Hint 2 - if you use blueberries that are a little on the "not fully ripe"
side, they have more blueberry flavor after cooking/baking than fully ripe
blueberries - and less liquid.

"Karen AKA Kajikit" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Blueberries are very cheap atm so I bought a punnet and I thought it
would make a nice blueberry cake... I made up a basic cake using a cup
and a half of flour and a cup of sugar and mixed the blueberries into
it, then I poured it into a pie dish. There was way too much in there
so I spooned about a third of it out into greased muffin pans. Then I
put it all into the oven, which is where the disaster came in...
instead of rising slightly or puffing up, the cake in the pie tin
exploded over the edges of the pie plate and ran all over the oven! I
shoved a baking tray underneath it when I realised what was happening
but it was too late... the kitchen stinks of burning blueberries and
cake because it's all over the bottom of the oven and the element 🙁
I've never had anything like that happen before! Does anyone have any
idea what might have gone wrong? Or better still, a recipe for a
blueberry pudding so that I can try it again? I wanted it to turn out
like a shallow cake with a layer of blueberry mush in the middle and a
crumby topping...
I just took the cooked cake/pudding out of the oven and it's convcave
- it didn't rise upwards at all!

--
~Karen aka Kajikit
Crafts, cats, and chocolate - the three essentials of life
http://www.kajikitscorner.com

"jmcquown" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Wayne Boatwright said:

On Thu 04 Aug 2005 05:53:21p, Karen AKA Kajikit wrote in
rec.food.cooking:

Quoted message said:

Blueberries are very cheap atm so I bought a punnet and I thought it
would make a nice blueberry cake... I made up a basic cake using a
cup and a half of flour and a cup of sugar and mixed the blueberries
into it, then I poured it into a pie dish.
instead of rising slightly or puffing up, the cake in the pie tin
exploded over the edges of the pie plate and ran all over the oven!

Could it be that blueberries release a lot of liquid as they're
cooking? I only use the tiny wild blueberries and have never had
that experience, but the large berries are very juicy.

My question would be what levening agent was used in the cake batter?
Baking powder and baking soda react very differently. A complete recipe
would help, not that I'm a cake maven.

I was wondering too, along similar lines - if the fruits were bleeding,
they're quite acidic of course - it could have caused the bicarb if used, to
give off it's CO2 early and too rapidly for the cake batter to cope with
it?!?

just a thought.

Shaun aRe

Shaun aRe said:

"jmcquown" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Wayne Boatwright said:

On Thu 04 Aug 2005 05:53:21p, Karen AKA Kajikit wrote in
rec.food.cooking:

> Blueberries are very cheap atm so I bought a punnet and I thought
> it would make a nice blueberry cake... I made up a basic cake
> using a
> cup and a half of flour and a cup of sugar and mixed the
> blueberries into it, then I poured it into a pie dish.
> instead of rising slightly or puffing up, the cake in the pie tin
> exploded over the edges of the pie plate and ran all over the oven!
>

Could it be that blueberries release a lot of liquid as they're
cooking? I only use the tiny wild blueberries and have never had
that experience, but the large berries are very juicy.

My question would be what levening agent was used in the cake batter?
Baking powder and baking soda react very differently. A complete
recipe would help, not that I'm a cake maven.

I was wondering too, along similar lines - if the fruits were
bleeding, they're quite acidic of course - it could have caused the
bicarb if used, to give off it's CO2 early and too rapidly for the
cake batter to cope with it?!?

just a thought.

Shaun aRe

Yes, that was my thought 🙂

"jmcquown" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Shaun aRe said:

"jmcquown" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Wayne Boatwright wrote:
> On Thu 04 Aug 2005 05:53:21p, Karen AKA Kajikit wrote in
> rec.food.cooking:
>
>> Blueberries are very cheap atm so I bought a punnet and I thought
>> it would make a nice blueberry cake... I made up a basic cake
>> using a
>> cup and a half of flour and a cup of sugar and mixed the
>> blueberries into it, then I poured it into a pie dish.
>> instead of rising slightly or puffing up, the cake in the pie tin
>> exploded over the edges of the pie plate and ran all over the oven!
>>
>
> Could it be that blueberries release a lot of liquid as they're
> cooking? I only use the tiny wild blueberries and have never had
> that experience, but the large berries are very juicy.

My question would be what levening agent was used in the cake batter?
Baking powder and baking soda react very differently. A complete
recipe would help, not that I'm a cake maven.

I was wondering too, along similar lines - if the fruits were
bleeding, they're quite acidic of course - it could have caused the
bicarb if used, to give off it's CO2 early and too rapidly for the
cake batter to cope with it?!?

just a thought.

Shaun aRe

Yes, that was my thought 🙂

Thought so. Makes us both clever then LOL! ',;~}~

Shaun aRe

Shaun aRe said:

"jmcquown" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Shaun aRe said:

"jmcquown" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
> Wayne Boatwright wrote:
>> On Thu 04 Aug 2005 05:53:21p, Karen AKA Kajikit wrote in
>> rec.food.cooking:
>>
>>> Blueberries are very cheap atm so I bought a punnet and I thought
>>> it would make a nice blueberry cake... I made up a basic cake
>>> using a
>>> cup and a half of flour and a cup of sugar and mixed the
>>> blueberries into it, then I poured it into a pie dish.
>>> instead of rising slightly or puffing up, the cake in the pie tin
>>> exploded over the edges of the pie plate and ran all over the oven!
>>>
>>
>> Could it be that blueberries release a lot of liquid as they're
>> cooking? I only use the tiny wild blueberries and have never had
>> that experience, but the large berries are very juicy.
>
> My question would be what levening agent was used in the cake batter?
> Baking powder and baking soda react very differently. A complete
> recipe would help, not that I'm a cake maven.

I was wondering too, along similar lines - if the fruits were
bleeding, they're quite acidic of course - it could have caused the
bicarb if used, to give off it's CO2 early and too rapidly for the
cake batter to cope with it?!?

just a thought.

Shaun aRe

Yes, that was my thought 🙂

Thought so. Makes us both clever then LOL! ',;~}~

You're cleverer than me... and I think you're probably right. The cake
mix sort of fizzled in the oven. I made up my own recipe but it was
pretty much standard - 1 stick melted butter, 1 cup sugar, 2 eggs, 1
1/2 cups flour, a slosh of milk and two heaped teaspoons of baking
powder. And of course a whole punnet of blueberries. I was hoping for
a kind of blueberry clafoutis(sp?)

I think another problem was the sloping sides of the pie dish... that
was all I could think to bake it in... but after I took it out the
oven I looked in the cupboard and I HAVE a square pyrex casserole dish
with much deeper sides - I just forgot it was there!

--
~Karen aka Kajikit
Crafts, cats, and chocolate - the three essentials of life
http://www.kajikitscorner.com

Quoted message said:

.................... I HAVE a square pyrex casserole dish
with much deeper sides - I just forgot it was there!

--
~Karen aka Kajikit

LOL!
i can't tell you how many duplicates of things i have because i "forgot
i already had one"

rosie read n' post said:

Quoted message said:

.................... I HAVE a square pyrex casserole dish
with much deeper sides - I just forgot it was there!

--
~Karen aka Kajikit

LOL!
i can't tell you how many duplicates of things i have because i "forgot
i already had one"

There are only two of us and I have a tiny little kitchen... you'd
think I'd know what was in my own cupboards! But I still have stuff
that I don't use - a few nice things I bought have never even been
used once.

--
~Karen aka Kajikit
Crafts, cats, and chocolate - the three essentials of life
http://www.kajikitscorner.com