You're talking about a rolled cake? It sounds like it might have baked too hot. I don't use silicone pans, however, and am less sure of how that might figure into it. Is this a recipe you've used before?

Yes a rolled cake. It was the recipe that was on the silicone pan. I personally think it was too hot also. I baked it on a cookie sheet (you have to with a silicone pan otherwise it will flop around when you take it out.) and perhaps that had something to do with it. I guess I will try again with a different recipe - since it turns out this one was way too sweet....ugh.

I think I figured out what I did wrong. I think the cake is supposed to be rolled while it is still warm. I waited until it cooled before rolling and I think that's where I went wrong.

From now on, I am baking everything with 75% of the sugar called for in the recipe, unless the recipe says it isn't sweet.

Oh! Yes, absolutely, you have to roll it warm, while there's excess moisture and more elasticity. After the cake steams out and sets and starts to tighten, you can't bend it sufficiently. Good for you for figuring it out! You should also chill your filling well so that it's easier to handle. Fats (cream/butter) will melt. Jammy sugary things will loosen and run. Chilled is less messy. :)

I'm with you on the sugar. I love cakes but they all taste too sweet to me nowadays.

Quite some time ago, someone with knowledge said in the forum that you can reduce the sugar by up to 25% without bombing the recipe (the sugar is part of the liquid of the cake and necessary to a great extent). Please report back if you try the reduction. Though, thinking on it, it might not be such a good idea for the rolled sponge because of the liquid factor and elasticity. Worth an experiment maybe, if you have the time and inclination. Or maybe start with less of a reduction.

I agree, you must roll it while it's warm, leave it rolled until cool, then unroll it, fill it and roll it back up.

I've not tried to lessen the sugar in a rolled cake, although by the time you fill it with jam or other sweet fillings, it's pretty sweet. AnnT makes one filled with fresh strawberries and a cream cheese filling, and that seems less sweet, the filling has only 3 tablespoons of sugar.

http://thibeaultstablerecipes.blogspot.com/2009/06/strawberry-roll.html

I've not tried with a silicone cake pan either, I just don't have good luck with the silicone bakeware other than small things like muffins.

Good luck, just about the only rolled cake I make any more is the pumpkin spice roll made at Thanksgiving.

Annie

Also, i find the cracked look is fine. It shows it's home made and not an industrial thing.

Islay it always seems to get eaten at my house too. I've tried to glaze them or frost them or sprinkle with powdered sugar, but sometimes I just leave them cracked and we eat them anyway.

Annie

And if you roll ti the other way, with the bottom on the inside it's less likely to crack.
I also make a rolled souffle and fill it with a savory filling...I wonder if that would be more to your liking....you who don't like a sweet cake.

Do you think as a person gets older they get more sensitive to sweet things (and salty things)? I stopped using salt in cooking (except where it's absolutely necessary) . I have gotten so used to no salt that when someone serves a normally salted dish, I often have a problem with it. I also stopped eating sugar because I was starting to get high glucose levels and now anything with normal sugar is just too sweet for me. My DH has no problem with the sweetness of this cake; I tried to dump it and he wouldn't let me. Now he's eating it a la mode! It's kind of distressing!

pillog, There is an article I read about reducing sugar in baking. It was an experiment and the person reduced sugar in their cookies by 25%, 50% and 100%. Reducing by 25% did not affect the bake at all and apparently tasted very good. 50% was not great but edible and 100% was downright awful.

I will try AnnT's recipe above with the low sugar and the Pioneer Woman had a recipe that seemed low in sugar. I'll keep trying until I figure it out - there always seems someone willing to eat the failures!

From King Arthur - Reducing Sugar in Muffins

jerzeegirl, I've made quite a few, using special sponge recipes, my own that are not special in any way, and store bought cake mix in a couple pinches - I find that if you are able to bake them just a bit underdone, they won't crack. Not mushy or uncooked, just not baked to regular done-ness. I can't really give a good description - I've baked them ultra thin and thicker than normal so times vary. I find if they are thick enough to use the toothpick test (most just aren't), if there's a bit of crumb on the toothpick, but the cake feels and looks done, it'll roll. Fine line, though! Too underdone and it also won't roll : /

Thanks pillog. I think the next time I do it I will try to roll the outside to the inside. That actually makes some sense.

2Many, that's an interesting thought. The recipe call for the sponge to bake 10-12 minutes and I took it out after 10 because I wanted it moist. It was baked, but also really moist looking so I don't know if that was the problem.

Here another thought. I really worked on the egg whites until they formed stiff peaks. I know there was a lot of air in the sponge because it was difficult to incorporate the flour and cocoa powder and I could see it was well aerated.

Do you suppose that maybe there was too much air that caused the fissures? I was thinking the more air the better but maybe not.

I just thought of another deviation I made. I did not have cake flour and so I made my own (removed two tablespoons of flour from a cup and substituted with cornstarch). I think I did that right but you never know....

I never use cake flour as it's not common here, but I've always rolled mine bottom in. The instructions on recipes here generally say to lay a tea towel on the counter top, lightly sprinkle it with sugar, then turn the cake out onto the towel and roll it up, which puts the bottom on the inside. Then the whole thing goes on a rack to cool. I imagine the tea towel, being more porous than parchment, also facilitates cooling.

I used to make a sponge layer cake for a customer who preferred it with 75% sugar. It always seemed to be the same as regards appearance and baking etc, and the customer loved them so they must have tasted OK as well.

Cake flour shouldn't matter since you're not beating the batter. What makes it cake flour is less protein, as well as a little fluffiness (the slightly less quantity of AP probably helps the fluffy factor). Protein is mostly a problem when gluten forms. That happens when it's stretched or beaten or sits. If you're folding in your flour and yolks or liquid alternately, there's no beating at all, and even if you mix the flour with the yolks/liquid first, just don't put the mixer on high and walk away. :) Mix, don't beat. OTOH, a little gluten could make a roll more elastic. But tougher... :)

I've never had a cake crack from doing a good enough job whipping the eggwhites. That's also a protein thing. I sure miss Grainlady, who would have a whole essay ready!

2Many's suggestion about skimping on the baking time makes sense. It's also about the moisture and elasticity. The difference between structurally set (lacy, not goopy) and done is greatly about more moisture evaporating. The main culprit in cracks is dryness. That's why my first guess before you shared the details was that it was baked too hot. That dries out a cake.

The main reason for the towel, I think, is to make it easier to handle and roll the cake without squishing it with your fingers, and making it roll more evenly. Coleen, I'd expect parchment, if left on the cake, would keep in too much steam and possibly make the cake mushy. The towel probably retards steaming some, but absorbs some as well, keeping the cake moister, and more malleable, without reducing it to mush. I'm guessing here. But it makes sense.

Colleen, I'm here in Michigan, as you know, but all my recipes say to do exactly as you do. Spread a tea towel on the counter, sprinkle with powdered sugar, roll up the warm cake with the towel inside, let it cool on a rack, then unroll, fill and reroll.

I can't imagine how I could fill a warm cake with cream cheese filling or buttercream without having the filling melt. Even jam would melt somewhat, I think.

I did learn quickly not to use a terrycloth type towel, as when I unrolled it, the little bits of cloth stuck to the cake. Now I have a "dedicated" linen towel that I use for rolled cakes.

Annie

LOL! Not that warm, Annie. I guess I should have said partially cooled. Still moist. It works with a chilled filling but not with just made. Hm... My kitchen is much warmer than most people's and also dryer. Thinking on what you said, I'm guessing that my filling issues may be more about the heat of the kitchen, and the cooling is probably about me bumbling around trying to keep the cake from drying out and figuring out what works for me.

plllog, I'm not a big proponent of "only one way to do things", there are often several ways, and I use whatever works well for me. My recipes are mostly from old reliable sources, like Grandma's old Farm Journal cookbooks, but they sure aren't updated with the latest and greatest information. If it works for me, I just keep doing it that way!

Annie

OK. My first (overly sweet) cake roll is finally gone and I am ready to try another. I would like to make one that tastes like a Twinkie - but obviously healthier! I think a plain sponge would be the best, with a cream filling? Any recipes come to mind?

tea towel … and spritz with your sprayer with a little rum or Jack Dee before you fill/roll...

Now that's my kind of dessert! Adult dessert. I just made some molasses cookies with rum....very nice.