so, i recently adapted a madhur jaffrey carrot cake recipe to make it closer to north indian carrot halwa. the cake was a success but i have a question about something i did out of laziness:
the recipe calls for the cake to be baked at 350f. however, i had previously been roasting squash at 450 and when that got done i didn't want to wait around for the oven to come down to 350. i slung the cake tin in at 450, lowered the oven temp to 350, and just kept testing to see when it was ready. it probably took about 20 minutes to come down to 350 and the cake was ready at about the 55 minute mark and the results were good. and no, the top was not burned and the cake was not dry (my adaptation makes for a much moister cake than the original).
but as a novice baker i have no idea if it would have been even better if baked throughout at 350. though again given how much more liquid my batter was (uh huh huh huh) than the original i'm not sure if it would have come together as well at the lower temp for the whole time. i'm also curious about whether it is at all common to do this sort of "start at a high temp and come down as you go" baking.
thoughts?