How to bake a cake

[ErGingerbreadMandude]

I was a chef for many years and I always stayed clear of cakes and pastries if I could.
I'm a master of sauces, a pro at the grill, can have twelve pans cooking twelve different dishes at the same time, non-stop for hours and hours, never burning or spoiling a dish, sending meals out to large tables at the same time, all piping hot and delicious with only one or two complaints a year.
But get me to bake a cake, soufflé or just about any pastry and you will hear yelling, swearing, pots and trays being thrown around the kitchen.
I can barely melt chocolate.
So, Pool, I feel your pain.

I know how to make chicken curry, sambar, fish curry, beef and chicken roast, chicken tikka, chicken 65, avial, rasam, rice, briyani...etc etc but baking I'm clueless😕 I think the ratio of the ingredients have to be just right because I get greedy and put a little more sugar and chocolate into the mix to make it taste better.. Wish I had pics of all the failed experiments, had to dig a hole and bury it or Rambo will eat it lol

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If it's made at the edges and gooey in the middle, your oven is too hot.

So preheat the oven to like 150? I usually preheat up to 180. While baking it's usually 110 degrees and that's the lowest it goes