Cake Turning Out Heavy..

[Meg888]

Hi. I've been baking vic sponge cakes for ages now, but I'm getting complaints that they are 'heavy' and not as light as they used to be. This only seems to be the case when I use a round tin as opposed the a square. My round cakes rise really high, and I've found that although I put my fork in and it comes out clean, once cut they do look a bit stodgy in the middle. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong - do you think if I scraped a couple of ounces off the batter amount this would help?

[chris1957au]

Stodgy in the middle, sound like your not cooking it quite long enough, or your oven heat is not right. have you check the temprature of your oven with anothere themometer?
You thermostate may be on the blink and need changing.
Also have you changed the flour that you use?

[Meg888]

Thanks Chris. No I haven't altered the ingredients I use, though the oven temp could be a prob; it's hit & miss with the old york puds too at times. What kind of thermometer would i use to check - if that's not a stupid question?

[mazie]

Here's some on Amazon meg. Sounds like the oven to me

http://www.amazon.co.uk/tag/oven%20thermometer/products