How to bake a cake

[Astreja]

For cakes I keep the temperature in the 325-350°F range, never any higher.  Letting ingredients warm up to room temperature is supposed to help, although I've had success using eggs straight out of the fridge.  (Butter I usually soften by putting it in the microwave for 20-30 seconds.)

Check recipes for suggested amounts of baking powder and baking soda.  Easy on the soda.  IIRC, soda works better in the presence of something acidic so you could try using sour milk with it (add a spoonful of vinegar or lemon juice to the milk and let it sit for a couple of minutes).

Standard procedure:

• Preheat the oven and get the pan ready.  I like to use a parchment paper liner, and sometimes a bit of margarine or butter to get the paper to stay in place.
  
• Put butter, margarine or shortening into the larger bowl.
  
• Add sugar to the butter and cream together with spoon until combined.
  
• Beat the eggs in a small bowl and add them to the sugar/butter mixture.
  
• Add any flavouring extracts and combine well.
  
• In a separate bowl, mix the flour together with any baking powder, baking soda, cream of tartar, salt, or other dry ingredients.  Stir well (you can also sift it all through a sieve if you want to combine it really well).
  
• Measure out any liquids (milk, oil, etc.) in a measuring cup.
  
• Add flour mixture and milk mixture to the bowl with the butter.  Order is dry-wet-dry-wet-dry.
  
• Put into pan and put into pre-heated oven.
  
• Test for doneness about 5 minutes before estimated finish time.  Do not open the oven door before that.  When you can smell cake, it's time to think about testing.
  
• Take finished cake out of oven, put it on a cooling rack, and leave it alone for a minimum of 10 minutes before trying to take it out of the pan.