Over-creaming the butter and eggs in a cake recipe is the most common cause of a pasty-looking streak in a cake. Mixing the wet and dry ingredients together for a long time can make the cake tough and not rise quite as much, so you can reduce this mixing time until the dry and wet ingredients are just incorporated. Cakes can also fall if you have too much sugar, shortening, or leavening, so be sure you are using a tried and tested recipe. Here is our favorite chocolate cake recipe if you are looking to experiment: http://bit.ly/19QHAoF. Happy cake baking to you! --Kye@KAF

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