Blame the oven not yourself!

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When cookies get burned... the Breads crust is too compact and too hard... Cakes became a flop and didn't rise at all... and everything just didn't work out the way you want it to be then its time to stop and think for a moment... and ask this questions... Where all my ingredients at room temperature? Was everything measured out right? Did I mix the batter correctly? did I knead the dough properly? Blah blah blah blah...the list of question could go on and on but... if your answer are all yes and certainly "I did it as what the recipe instructed me to do" then... its time that you look at your oven because all elements of baking can be controlled precisely like measuring, mixing, and temperature of ingredients but the final product is still in the mercy of your oven and how it performs the task. Not all ovens are the same (yes this is true!!!) and some homebakers might find it peculiar and surprising "Why does Martha's oven can bake cakes so evenly and fast, while mine has few hot spots and bakes longer". Well if there is only one manufacturer of ovens worldwide then the problem could be solved in like a snap but we know its impossible. The performance of an oven is determined by its age,model,altitude, and the wear and tear of the oven. But there are always precautions to avoid this kind of problems and here they are (some might be common while some will surprise you!!!) 1. Always preheat your oven ... please.... nothing is more scary than a perfectly concocted cake and rise to fast and eventually BAM! sinked or turned hard... 2. Never forget to butter and line the pan with parchment paper. This will give the cake the proper height that you want. Unlined/buttered pans would result to a mountain looking cake (because the outer sides of the cake sticks to the pan and cooks faster) unless the recipe specified not to butter or line a pan. 3. Ummm... even batters please... you dont want the other layer to be much bigger right? 4. A-10-TION! PANS IN THE CENTER for even heat distribution and even baking. 5. Never ever forget to use a timer, timers are not just for noise effects as I typed earlier not all ovens are the same so some ovens might bake faster and the minutes/hours called in the recipe might be reduced. 6. Some cake recipes needs to be rotated (especially if your oven have obvious hotspots) ONCE! or Twice depending on your oven. Same goes for breads but some recipes would use steam (use a bottle spray and spray the proofed dough) to evenly bake the bread and so the crust would be light and brown perfectly and not to compact. Like french breads and lean breads which has a nice browned crust yet light and crunchy. 7. Always use your senses on judging your final product. When its browning evenly, when its smells good already, when the cake center starts to spring back, and when a cake tester comes out clean... its done! and don't over bake! 8. A cake that is done will pull back from the sides of the pan and will shrink a little. 9. Hold yourself together and calm down let the cake rest for a while before unmolding no need to rush. Most cakes needs to be cooled for few minutes to an hour to stabilized it while custard based (cheese cakes for example) needs to be cooled completely before unmolding. 10. When your cake is cooled you can start decorating it with an icing of your choice or with just a simple dust of confectioner sugar and chocolate sauce and enjoy it with your family or a friend!