Skip to Content

5 Reasons Why Your Bundt Cake Isn’t Cooking in the Middle

5 Reasons Why Your Bundt Cake Isn’t Cooking in the Middle

Share this post:

This post may contain affiliate links. If you click one of these links and make a purchase, I may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. In addition, as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Bundt cakes are a classic and beloved dessert by many. However, there’s nothing worse than slicing into a lovely cake just to find out the middle is undercooked.

So, why is your bundt cake not cooking in the middle? Often, your bundt cake may be undercooked in the middle because your oven temperature is too low or the batter is overly thick.

Fortunately, a few easy tricks can help you bake impeccable bundt cakes every time.

Find out what’s causing this baking problem and how to avoid undercooked bundt cakes in the future.

Why Your Bundt Cake Isn’t Cooking in the Middle

There are several reasons why a cake’s middle isn’t cooking perfectly. Usually, setting the incorrect oven temperature and baking time can lead to an undercooked cake.

Read on to learn more.

1 – Incorrect Baking Time

Much like other cooking methods, you need to give some time for your cake to bake thoroughly. That’s because the outer layers are more exposed to heat when baking. Thus, these parts are cooked first.

Moreover, heat runs through the cake and occupies its core later. So, if you remove the cake from the oven sooner than recommended, the heat won’t reach the middle of the cake properly.

Hence, your cake becomes undercooked.

As a general rule, the bigger the cake, the bigger the area the heat needs to cover and the longer you need to bake the cake.

2 – Too Much Baking Powder

Baking powder can make or break your cake. If you use too much baking powder, your cake may rise faster. In this case, the cake puffs before the cake’s core get enough time to bake completely.

So, removing the cake at this point will only result in cooked outer layers but not the middle.

Furthermore, due to excess baking powder, the cake may have a chewy texture. As such, attempting to rebake the cake will only worsen the problem.

Generally, this texture is caused by the gas the baking powder generated, which causes the cake to form air pockets. These air pockets force the cake to collapse and become too thick and crumbly.

3 – Too Low or Too High Oven Temperature

If your oven temperature is too high or too low, you may get a browned outside layer and an undercooked center, or you could have a cake that bakes slowly and turns out dry.

Likewise, temperature settings vary when baking in a conventional or convection oven.

Specifically, conventional ovens bake quickly and are usually set at higher temperatures, while convection ovens function at relatively low temperatures and bake slower.

Despite these ovens’ differences, their thermostats can become inaccurate and perform poorly over time.

As such, try to play around with your oven to determine which setting fits best.

4 – Mistakes When Mixing Ingredients

When mixing all the ingredients, it’s possible that you might miss a procedure in the recipe.

Sometimes it’s likely that you didn’t add the correct measurement of an ingredient or you may have omitted it totally. Additionally, you’ve probably used too much of one of the ingredients.

It’s difficult to predict the cake’s finished product if you fail to mix the ingredients properly. You might find yourself stuck in a situation of baking the cake again and again.

5 – Using the Wrong Baking Pan Size

Using the wrong pan can influence the cake’s quality, taste, and even the baking time.

Ideally, the correct baking pan size will distribute heat to the mixture, allowing the cake to rise evenly. Besides that, it’ll be big enough for the batter to puff up, which can produce a perfectly baked crumb.

In other words, a bundt pan that’s undersized could result in an undercooked cake. Meanwhile, a pan that’s too big can lead to a burnt outer layer.

How to Fix Undercooked Bundt Cake

Most of the time, taking the cake out of the oven too soon may result in a gooey mess after slicing.

In this case, the middle part undercooks. To fix this, wrap the pan in aluminum foil. By doing this technique, the heat is retained, enough to cook the raw parts while avoiding the outer layer from burning.

Subsequently, re-bake the cake for at least 10–15 minutes. You can check the cake occasionally to keep it from overbaking.

On top of that, you can stick a toothpick in the middle. If there are no traces left, that means your cake is fully baked.

Pro tip:

Refrain from eating the cake’s raw parts because ingredients, like flour and eggs, are known to carry harmful bacteria. Instead, cut out the unbaked sections and throw them away.

Tips to Prevent Undercooked Bundt Cake

Here’s what you need to know to prevent an undercooked bundt cake middle.

  • Utilize an oven thermometer – the ideal baking temperature is 350°F
  • Refrain from opening the oven door repeatedly
  • Check the cake’s doneness using the toothpick test
  • Follow the recipe religiously
  • Keep an eye on the baking time

Final Thoughts

As demonstrated above, there could be many reasons why your bundt cake isn’t cooking in the middle. It’s possible you added too much baking powder, used an incorrect baking pan, or didn’t preheat the oven properly.

Ultimately, by knowing how to deal with this problem and sticking to the tips to avoid undercooked bundt cake, you can save yourself from the hassle while enjoying a delightful dessert.

Share this post: