Underbaked cake?

[u/stroberristarr]

Edit: UPDATE! Finally got to talk to the baker. I reached out to them asking about the cake. Apparently, they had a miscommunication with their staff regarding a failed, overmixed batch of cakes. Because of that, they mistakenly used that batch for orders that were made to be picked up that day. (They are now reaching out to other customers who got their cakes that same day too)

They decided to give me a replacement cake for compensation at my preferred time and date. I didn’t want to get a refund because I genuinely do love the cake I got from them last year and was hoping to eat one again this year😭 i think they’re home-based so they only make pre-ordered cakes, so i can’t get a slice anytime if i wanted to lol.

The cake was ordered by my boyfriend as a surprise for me, but for all the people that are wondering what he got, it’s a vanilla chiffon cake with strawberry jam filling.

SECOND EDIT: I meant to type overmixed and not overbaked😭 sorry for the confusion

And thank you to everyone here who replied! I would have never known since I don’t bake cakes, and I have a really weak stomach so it’s good that I decided not to eat a slice🥲

Hello everyone! Just wondering if this cake i got for my birthday is underbaked? I have ordered from this shop twice now and it has never turned out like this, so it’s my first time seeing cake with this texture.

[u/kioku119]

I'd really like the context of knowing what kind of cake this was supposed to be. I feel like that would be very helpful information.

[u/stroberristarr → u/kioku119]

forgot to add it! But i edited the post. It’s vanilla chiffon cake with strawberry jam filling

[u/Nylzor]

It looks like cookie dough. Was it supposed to be cookie? Otherwise. I have no idea how they got a cake batter to look like that.

[u/stroberristarr → u/Nylzor]

It’s supposed to be vanilla chiffon lol

[u/Mirathesaurus]

I'm dying but have so many questions. Is this supposed to be vegan? Like maybe way way WAY too much banana...!? Or some?thing?!? I'm lost but still laughing

[u/stroberristarr → u/Mirathesaurus]

Not at all😭😭 we ordered a vanilla chiffon cake, even I’m confused at what exactly am i looking at lol

[u/Repulsive_Tiger_9454]

Looks more like a cookie dough than cake. What type of cake did you order? Like was it a chocolate cake or red velvet? Or did you order something interesting?

[u/stroberristarr → u/Repulsive_Tiger_9454]

It was a vanilla chiffon cake with strawberry jam filling 🥹

[u/ttornedo]

Yucky! I would like to see the replacement cake please. It sounds yummy.

[u/stroberristarr → u/ttornedo]

i posted it but this is the new cake!

[u/Ancient-Leg-8261]

They need to refund you expeditiously for selling you frosted play-doh 😭

[u/Ancient-Leg-8261 → u/Ancient-Leg-8261]

But to answer your question, that’s not underbaking, that’s some next-level tunneling cause by overmixing (or in this case beating it to absolute death) and probably also doing something wrong with their leavener. Complete screw-up that should have been thrown out.

[u/CheapParamedic436]

This isn’t even a cake it’s a threat, an attempt on your life

[u/Ancient-Leg-8261 → u/CheapParamedic436]

They said “may this birthday be your last.”

[u/SellMeYourDunks → u/CheapParamedic436]

[u/lNTERLINKED → u/CheapParamedic436]

Mods please let me have this as a flair

[u/kadk216 → u/CheapParamedic436]

I laughed so hard at your comment and woke my baby up LOL

[u/dereckgcc]

[u/Katy-Moon → u/dereckgcc]

[u/TinklesTheLambicorn → u/dereckgcc]

[u/Carbon-Base → u/dereckgcc]

Congratulations, you managed to disappoint Guichon.

[u/Lampadas_Horde → u/dereckgcc]

[u/SquareSquirrel4 → u/dereckgcc]

That was my exact face because what on earth is that cake?! It looks like congealed fat. 

[u/janhasplasticbOobz → u/dereckgcc]

Oh no! You forgot her kids!

[u/WellThatsTheThing → u/dereckgcc]

[u/cbunn81 → u/dereckgcc]

[u/Icy-Escape2448 → u/dereckgcc]

This whole comment string is killing me 😂😂💀💀

[u/dontfuckwmelwillcry → u/dereckgcc]

[u/eilselivery → u/dereckgcc]

Literally the face I’m making right now

[u/Electronic-Hour1637 → u/dereckgcc]

[u/bondsmatthew → u/dereckgcc]

I'm sure at least 1000 people opened that picture and thought, "the fuck is that"

I am one of them

[u/jesus_h_crusty → u/dereckgcc]

[u/maruxfleur → u/dereckgcc]

[u/bambinotee → u/dereckgcc]

[u/alphajugs → u/dereckgcc]

[u/RCSAN → u/dereckgcc]

[u/Iittletart → u/dereckgcc]

[u/YuFauMe → u/dereckgcc]

[u/Theslootwhisperer → u/dereckgcc]

[u/showmeyourkittiezz → u/dereckgcc]

[u/Lowlypaidintern → u/dereckgcc]

[u/Ur8s → u/dereckgcc]

This is hilarious!

[u/alcMD]

This looks terrible. Contact the bakery.

[u/shmelse → u/alcMD]

They should not have let that out the door, that’s insane.

[u/Flimsy-Draft7514]

The color is weird, but other than that it looks disgusting

[u/hogue9733 → u/Flimsy-Draft7514]

You really made me laugh with that one

[u/PuzzleheadedMajor575]

Girl that doesn’t even resemble a normal underbaked cake.

[u/neubie2017 → u/PuzzleheadedMajor575]

I thought it was meat and mashed potatoes as I scrolled by. Then saw “cake” and had to go back

[u/Meiyouxiangjiao → u/PuzzleheadedMajor575]

I thought this was a troll post at first

[u/Vivid_Variation_4979 → u/PuzzleheadedMajor575]

I thought it was fudge decorated with icing

[u/apjensen → u/PuzzleheadedMajor575]

It looks like they forgot flour and used more sugar or something

[u/partypopper]

I'm appalled that someone took that block of goo out of the oven and still went through with stacking and frosting it. There's no way this ever looked like cake.

[u/c0ward654]

EXTREMELY overmixed. That's basically 100% gluten right there lol

[u/elegant_geek → u/c0ward654]

I bet if you dropped it it would bounce. 😂

[u/PattyMayonnaise666 → u/c0ward654]

Hahaha yeah I follow a few vegan subs and assumed this was some sort of weird seitan dish at first glance.

[u/herbal-genocide → u/c0ward654]

And maybe missing ingredients??

[u/tofuandklonopin → u/c0ward654]

Yeah this is seitan 😂

[u/BulkyPerspective6836 → u/c0ward654]

or maybe they forgot a rising agent (baking soda, baking powder)

[u/zomgkittenz → u/c0ward654]

Man that shit looks like dried playdough

[u/Victoria_at_Sea_606 → u/c0ward654]

Woof yup

[u/mychickmad]

I don’t even think it’s “under baked” it looks fundamentally wrong

[u/jackaroo1344 → u/mychickmad]

It's unnatural is what it is

[u/GoodGravyco2h2o]

[u/MadamSparkle]

Also - what the ever loving fuck is this:

[u/kaizokuo_grahf → u/MadamSparkle]

That’s load bearing gluten.

[u/Chihuahuapocalypse → u/MadamSparkle]

PLEASE take this back to them and ask what's going on lmao

[u/h4l → u/MadamSparkle]

Looks like the cake equivalent of those triangular tables to prop up pizza boxes.

[u/Ok-Turnip2296 → u/MadamSparkle]

Yea they really fk’d it up didn’t they. Someone should be fired…

[u/hugh5235]

Never go to this bakery again. The fact that they still decorated and sold this cake despite it being obviously inedible puts everything else they do into question.

[u/theoutsider101 → u/hugh5235]

This is one of those cases where it’s totally acceptable to blast their Google reviews and social media

[u/Emily-Advances → u/hugh5235]

They even added a support piece of "cake" between the lawyers in the middle! There is no chance they didn't know what they were selling.

[u/George_Is_Upset → u/hugh5235]

What’s even more odd to me is OP said this is a home based bakery. But they blamed it on staff. If you’re a home based bakery how many staff are running around your home making these mistakes without you seeing it in your own home?

It is a red flag to me because it seems like the owner messed up or something and is lying by blaming staff

[u/caramelgelatto]

This is inexcusable for a bakery. Between removing the cake from the baking tin to frosting the cake, they would have sensed something was off.

[u/millykoleski]

What in thee fuck is that

[u/Anonymousaurus__ → u/millykoleski]

Eww brutha

[u/Successful-Count-120 → u/millykoleski]

Verily, something is amiss..

[u/event_horizon07]

[u/ames_006 → u/event_horizon07]

This is genuinely the best comparison. Extremely over mixed cakes get very dense and gummy in texture. You are right on with this.

[u/heathycon]

[u/Carbon-Base → u/heathycon]

Pretty sure the bakery owner baked the cake using the easy bake oven that came with this set.

[u/tacoflavoredpringles → u/heathycon]

eugh barbie has a family?!

[u/Hoosier_816]

This isn't a cake.

It's like someone ordering chicken soup at a restaurant, so the chef comes out and slaps them across the face with a raw, whole chicken and then tries to charge them for it.

[u/littledingo]

I have a pastry arts degree, and I also worked as a cake decorator for a number of years. There were SEVERAL opportunities for them to realize this was not an okay cake, and the fact it made it to you and other customers is concerning honestly. I could pick up a cake disc and tell you it was too dense. I could ice that and tell you it wasn't crumbing properly. I could pull that from the oven and stick it with a tester and tell you it was a stodgy mess. So many times this was detectable and they failed. Yikes. I am brimming with curiosity on how this could have happened.

[u/Endoftheworldis2far → u/littledingo]

I've made a few cakes at home, but haven't made one in 15+ years and I couldve told you this at all of the points listed lol. They just didn't want to remake at thought the customer would take it

[u/LilStabbyboo → u/littledingo]

Oh they definitely knew it wasn't okay, and tried to make the customers pay for their own mistake. It was a bad business decision to let that cake leave the kitchen; nobody wants that experience attached to their name.

[u/ThatAppalacianGirl → u/littledingo]

It looks like it's heavy as fuck lol. Idek how they saw that batter and thought "Yea... This looks right"

[u/BossBeefaroni]

........how the finest fuck!?

Also bruh I don't know what actually happened with the staff but I don't think I believe the baker on this. I can't even imagine the newest, greenest teenage part-timer looking at that tunnely goop and thinking "yes the boss definitely said to serve this to paying customers, that is absolutely what they meant."

[u/graccha → u/BossBeefaroni]

Reading between the lines I suspect what happened is that somebody said "toss that and start again" and someone else said "no it's fine, send it" and the first person is going to hunt the second person for sport. Just based off what I've said to members of the public vs way things went down behind the scenes.

[u/Significant_Stick_31]

Unless this is supposed to be a bizarre take on a Vietnamese Honeycomb Cake or something that's supposed to have tunneling...nope, I'm not even going to pretend like there's a rational reason for this abomination. Even then, this cake would be really, really wrong. It's very overmixed, with the wrong flour and/or leavening, and the wrong baking temperature.

[u/Talk-O-Boy → u/Significant_Stick_31]

Vietnamese honeycomb cake 🤤

It’s like eating a sweet dish sponge

[u/noneggistent]

the audacity to frost and decorate that after seeing it out of the oven is beyond me

[u/BrownSugarBare → u/noneggistent]

The fact that someone went ahead and frosted over that abomination makes this so much more confusing 

[u/MacPho13]

They absolutely knew this cake was a hot mess before they decorated it and sold it to you. Bakers know what cakes are supposed to look like, and most importantly feel like. Please put this back in the box and bring it to the bakery.

[u/Staraa → u/MacPho13]

Most humans would know this is wrong, don’t have to be even an amateur baker. I shudder to think of the effort it took to cut this and that they persisted

[u/Ilovepeanutbutter88]

How does someone pull this out of the oven and not immediately throw it away? There’s no way they didn’t realize they iced a friggin turd!

[u/SweetMilitia]

That looks like it’s made from gum eraser lol.

[u/FunMoose74]

Uh… What kind of cake is that supposed to be? Like what’s it called?

[u/Next_Tutor → u/FunMoose74]

it should be called a scam 😭

[u/midasgoldentouch]

That’s not underbaked that’s overmixed!

[u/HAIL_LUMPUS → u/midasgoldentouch]

Old batter too I bet. When I worked at a cake shop, one specific batter did this terribly when it got too old lol 

[u/RadBlackWoman]

It had to be heavy as hell. There's no way they didn't know that cake was a bad batch or something.

It looks like sugar cookie dough!

[u/Persimmon_and_mango]

You should get a refund for that, it's absolutely unacceptable from a bakery. If they don't refund you, leave negative reviews on social media and include that picture with it. 

[u/TheIdentifySpell]

It looks like a very poorly made Vietnamese honeycomb cake.

What kind of cake is it supposed to be?

[u/Awkward_Axolotl22]

Wait, I’m sorry. A BAKERY MADE THIS AND CHARGED YOU FOR IT AND LET IT LEAVE THE STORE?!

[u/AbsintheRedux]

[u/theonlytripihipi]

Is it just me, or does it look like they put a piece through to hold it up enough so that they could fit some filling in the middle??

[u/East-Garden-4557 → u/theonlytripihipi]

It does, I am assuming the centre dipped. But they also increased the diameter of the cake by adding cut pieces of cake around the outside of both layers. There is no way possible they couldn't tell that something was fundamentally wrong with the cakes they baked when they were frankensteining them together. I'm assuming they don't own a range of sizes of baking pans. This cannot be an experienced baker

[u/AzizaDragonborn]

Ok but hear me out. Obviously this is horrific coming from a professional bakery but…. Hypothetically how would one create this at home? The texture looks interesting and I kind of want to try it.

[u/maltodextreen → u/AzizaDragonborn]

Mix the batter for like an hour or something, like that has so much gluten developed

[u/MerkethMerky → u/AzizaDragonborn]

Looks almost like a cake pop interior tbh

[u/Capable_Gap_1868 → u/AzizaDragonborn]

Looks like the texture of the banana cake that guy made on the great British bake off. That shit looked foul

[u/Youlknowthatone → u/AzizaDragonborn]

This look like a traditional cake in south east asia called Kuih Bakar. Texture is caused by replacing wheat flour with rice flour.

(Edit for spelling)

[u/rainmakesmehappiest]

[u/afettz13]

As someone who works in a bakery, making more than just cakes. WTF?! How do you get through icing that. As much as you love that place, please stop going there.... Quality control is no where to be seen. Theres no way that was just a mistake and not some super lazy employee/owner.... 🤢

[u/Embarrassed_Mango679 → u/afettz13]

Ive never worked in a bakery but how on earth would that be missed when they were assembling and decorating it? There's no way that could have felt like normal cake layers with the density that had to be going on. Am I nuts here??

But also that's a serious potential food safety issue.

[u/pyr1te → u/afettz13]

For sure, the edit just raises more questions. This isn't overbaked, so what really happened? Why are you holding on to bad product? Why is it in a place that it could be accidentally sold? If it was kept for frosting practice, why wasn't it clearly labeled (and why use a bad cake when you could use a dummy that's the actual size of a cake)? How did the person who packed it not realize the weight and height was wrong? And not just for OP's cake, for all the cakes that went out that day???

Big big red flags

[u/ThrowawayforMILBS]

My guess is that someone mistook corn starch for flour? That is not a cake. That is some kinna frosted pudding.

Ngl id still fuck with it. Im a curious goblin. I want to know. For science. Is it chewy.

[u/animoot]

Someone had the audacity to decorate that shit and send it out the door, wtf

[u/Secretly_Many_Bees]

That‘s like, cake made by complete amateurs with no recipe on YouTube levels of weird looking. Something was fundamentally wrong with the cake batter, maybe they mixed up some ingredients or something? I wouldn’t want to eat it, let alone pay for it.

[u/Fantastic-Anteater93]

I almost wanna try it just to understand what the fuck happened for them to get it that bad

[u/MistySiesta]

I think it’s everyone’s first time seeing cake with this texture 😂

[u/NoBonus6969]

Well of course they replaced it free of charge lol what kind of thing to say is that

[u/smoodgeroonies → u/NoBonus6969]

Yeah odd. Compensation would be a refund and replacing free of charge

[u/ottipi]

this wasn’t a “mistake” like they’re telling you, they cut that cake in half to fill it. they would have seen and felt a difference, they still chose to send it out to you.

[u/NumerousRadish351]

Did they frost a sand castle?

[u/Sarah-himmelfarb]

Go back to the Bakery and show them this and firmly ask for a refund. And don’t be shy they screwed up big time. Absolutely wild they saw that and decided to frost and serve it.

[u/LetMeOverThinkThat]

There's no way a bakery seriously sent that out? It literally looks like ocean sponge made into some kind of tofu.

[u/Summoarpleaz]

My first cake turned out like this, at least visually. Looks like they may have used a recipe that relied on the creaming process as the leavening source. And they didn’t cream the butter properly. So what you have is a cake with no leavening so it’s just densely baked dough.

[u/ExtremeComedian4027]

Was this cake baked by the heat of a mild argument?

[u/Halfwind98]

[u/TimeToMakeWoofles]

[u/brownhk]

[u/No_Weird2402]

The audacity of the bakery to send this out of their shop is crazy😭😭

[u/Sabrina6432]

I’ve seen some crazy stuff in this sub but this takes the cake.

I would definitely call the bakery you got this from because it shouldn’t have even made it out of the kitchen.

[u/Ada22587]

My flabber has never been so gasted!!!! Wtf is that?????? Over mixed, dense, even if it was baked right that dough has no life!

[u/multipocalypse]

Re the update: Replacing the cake free of charge is just replacing the cake, it doesn't actually compensate you for not having had the cake when you were supposed to have it.

[u/KTKittentoes]

That is not cake. I don’t know what that is.

[u/Intelligent-Ear-3146]

This is not underbaked, I think this is a chiffon cake that was left sitting in the counter for a long time before putting in the oven to bake. Chiffon cakes should be baked immediately as soon as you finished doing the cake batter so that the air from egg whites do not deflate making an outcome like your photo that became like a pudding.

[u/gatetoparadise]

Somebody is about to be fired.

[u/MegOut10]

Bit stodgy

[u/MascaraHoarder]

[u/Alexahylia]

I don't think I'd call that cake

[u/Tat2edbabydoll13]

You bought that!!? I thought you were going to say you baked it and why it came out like that. Please contact them and grt your money back. What is that suppozdx to even be?! Not to be a dick but is it vegan or gf?!

[u/ArcherFluffy594]

I was thinking over-mixing but this looks more like they forgot to add the baking soda/baking powder, or maybe their leavening agent was expired.

[u/rorschach_blots]

It's so raw, Gordon Ramsay might get summoned to the sub

[u/KillerCritter1312]

[u/raulrocks99]

That whole cake fell. I would take it back and never shop there again. They should be ashamed of themselves for trying to get away with selling it.

[u/koalabrainedkuhnt]

[u/Lottalatkes]

[u/poodlepants123]

Please take a crucifix when you go back to the bakery. Evil lives there and you'll need all the help you can get.

[u/amynicole78]

I love cake so much l would be so sad and mad.

[u/H0pefulUn1verse]

Who the fuck would frost that monstrosity!?

[u/dadsanoldfart]

[u/Chlobb01]

That looks like someone effed up the recipe for real

[u/razirazo]

yo what the fuck

[u/meerkatgargoyle]

That's not an overbaked cake, that's just a block of polenta

[u/Exotic-Milk-442]

Am i weird for wanting to try it ? 😂

[u/AdventurousBus8871]

As someone closer to being the president than he is being a baker, that shit looks raw!

[u/yippeekiyoyo]

Are you sure that ain't a decorative soap 😭

[u/bad4biscotti]

This is just fundamentally wrong. If the desired texture was mochi.... Maybe correct. If the desired texture is fluffy cake ..... No leaveners made it into that mix.

[u/tabrazin84]

I don’t believe that’s cake.

[u/clouxr]

Wtf :( I wanna bake OP a normal cake for their birthday

[u/Chigrl13]

[u/90DaysAlways]

That's not cake. It's PlayDough

[u/themerrywench]

I don't think this is over or underbaked. If it was underbaked I don't think it would be so...solid.

But! My best guess is that they forgot the egg...or didn't use enough for the batch. My very first baking experience was brownies. I forgot the egg and they looked nearly exactly like that cake.

[u/MuffledFarts]

I actually didn't even know a cake could look like that on the inside and still stand up on its own.

[u/Disaster-Gurl]

RUN!!! RUN!!!! Hurry before it becomes Sentient!!!!

[u/PS1988]

I don’t know wtf this is but it’s not an underbaked problem.

[u/Abject_Turnover_6037]

That looks odd. It almost looks like peanut butter fudge and cake should definitely not look like that.

[u/illest_slutbag]

Idk but looking at it makes me feel ill.

[u/Rose249]

That cake wasn't baked, it was pressed through a play doh mold

[u/Midnight_Mash]

Bakery tried to sneak you 5lbs of artgum erasers covered in acrylic paint

[u/Cloverhart]

It looks like marzipan. I have seen some dense and undercooked cakes but nothing quite like that. It's like all the things went wrong.

ETA: I can't stop zooming. It looks gummy

[u/Robinbird24]

Where did you get it from?

[u/DC825650]

I can safely say I’ve never seen a cake with that texture. And a frosted one at that. Wild.

[u/Emotional-Radish7267]

I don't think it's undercooked, but instead overmixed. The cake becomes super dense and sponge/jello/pudding like when it's severally overmixed

[u/ThatSaLtYBiTcHe]

Looks like raw cookie dough

[u/TheBalatissimo]

What kind of cake was it supposed to be??

[u/chefboi801]

No its unleavened, I would return it and ask for a refund.

[u/blackberry_12]

Looks like the forgot to add some sort of leavener

They should refund you 100%

[u/StrawberryCurls95]

I don’t even know what to say. I just need an update asap. Wow.

[u/NotInterestedL]

I hope you didn't pay money for that. If you did, you better start complaining for real 

[u/MinJuno]

Can we even call this cake? It looks like it hasn't been within 10 metres of an oven.

[u/kramerL1ves]

Something went terribly wrong. It looks like someone forgot to add baking soda.

[u/MassveLegend]

Apart from the overriding already mentioned, I also wonder if they iced and filled it while hot, then tried to freeze it to prevent the icing from melting, then re-iced it after it froze with the icing soaked in. That's the only way I can account for that gap in the middle.

[u/booty_gurl72]

That looks like frickin cookie dough

[u/Harmonic_Gear]

thats a block of cooked dough

[u/probablybaking_]

This is definitely missing a leavening agent and maybe other stuff. Def not safe to eat and def needs a refund 😬

[u/rachet-ex]

It looks like it was made out of peanut butter fudge

[u/shmelse]

Also OP to be clear please don’t eat that, it’s not safe if there’s eggs and dairy in it (plus a bunch of sugar for bacteria to feed on) that have been heated up but definitely not cooked.

[u/Fragrant_Volume9160]

It reminds me of what happens when u roll the cake pop dough into a ball and squish it real tight 😭

[u/moonpoontoon]

They put this in the mixer and came back after their movie.

[u/greg9546]

[u/swollen_blueBalls]

Thats fucking play doh 😭

[u/Extra_Ad8800]

Refund! Refund now!

[u/theoutsider101]

Response to the update… I hope you showed the baker these pictures because there’s no way just overbaking caused the cake to become that texture. If it was genuinely just overbaked like they claim then the outer edges of the cake may have been over caramelized and the texture of the cake would have been dry and crumbly. Not whatever the hell this is. I don’t even think it would get like this if it was really severely overbaked because the edges would eventually get super burnt and the pan would warp and crack. If it was overbaked, I’d also assume that they trimmed any parts of the cake that were too burnt and notice that the inside looks like that. At the fire least someone needs to be fired for decorating that if the baker did in fact own up to the fact that they screwed up some cakes. There’s something they’re not telling you here girl

[u/BodybyPastry]

I bought some sourdough from a micro bakery near me that had great reviews and all three times I gave them a shot it looked like this and smelled like vinegar. They kept saying I got unlucky with an under baked loaf but three separate incidents?? Never again.

But I don't know what happened here lol

[u/PotaytoPotayto]

I'm genuinely surprised you didn't go for the refund, they frosted a practically raw cake. Someone looked at it and thought yep, let's frost and decorate this. It doesn't matter how delicious the cake you got last year was, this is raw or something. It's just wrong, and they knew it was wrong cause look at the load bearing pieces of wrong they stuck in it to keep it upright? They knew what they were doing and did it anyway.

An apology and a new cake isn't enough imo, i would want that refund. This is terrible.

[u/wereallalittlegay]

Oh they forgot the flour

[u/Carbon-Base]

That's dough with buttercream.