The Reason You Should Rotate Pans When Baking A Cake

In addition to rotating your pans, you can also do a few other things to ensure you avoid any mishaps that might occur due to your oven’s differing internal temperatures. Real Simple notes that, at the same time you rotate your pans, you’ll also want to swap oven racks (if you’re baking two separate cakes and have two racks in your oven, that is). Just move the bottom pan to the top and vice versa. According to Cook’s Illustrated, you should also stagger multiple cake pans, allowing for greater air circulation within your oven. The outlet additionally points out that your oven’s “hot spots” can be as much as 50 degrees hotter, which can obviously make a big difference in your final product.

Whether you rotate, swap racks, stagger, or all of the above, though, make sure that you do your swapping and rotating at the right time. Food Network says that, if you don’t rotate your pans at the right time, you could end up with a cake with a sunken middle. The ideal time is about three-fourths of the way through the baking process.

In addition to these baking tips, you can try this trick that might help save your oven-baked cake if its gone dry.