<p>Don't under any circumstances open the oven door in the middle of the cooking time. The heat will come whooshing out, destroying the chemical reaction taking place inside your cake. Your raising agent needs the heat to become activated and you might kill it off.</p>
<h2>Your cake is chewy and tough</h2>
<p>If your light sponge is the consistency of a spare tyre, you might have over-mixed your batter. Keep the lightness inside your cake mixture by carefully and gently folding in the ingredients and only to the point they are just mixed. If you over-fold, the gluten in the flour will start to come out and you'll be making bread instead of cake.</p>
<p>If your light sponge is the consistency of a spare tire, you might have over-mixed your batter. Keep the lightness inside your cake mixture by carefully and gently folding in the ingredients and only to the point they are just mixed. If you over-fold, the gluten in the flour will start to come out and you'll be making bread instead of cake.</p>
<h2>Your cookies burned</h2>
<p>A great trick is to use light colored bakeware, rather than black. It is less likely to absorb the heat and transfer it to the bottom of your biscuits. Using baking paper will also help with this. Also, using too much sugar can result in your cookies browning too much and giving them a caramelized look.</p>