Sometimes when I make a cake it rises very unevenly. A hundred-year-old cookbook gave me a clue about what might cause the problem:
A moderate oven will give the best results for nearly all cakes.
If the batter rises in a cone in the center you are using too hot an oven, and a crust has formed before the mixture has had time to rise; or too much flour has been used.
Mrs. DeGraf’s Cook Book (1922)
A Hundred Years Ago 
I laughed at that photo. I’ve seen that a time or a dozen in my life — now I may know why!
And ovens don’t always have the correct temperature, which is another thing to figure out.
Good tips! Everyone needs to check their oven temperature, mine is way off so I have to compensate!
Thats great advice for a specific oven. Nice to see such a commen sense tip.
That Mrs. DeGraf! 🙂
Bakers cut off the tops of cakes to make them level. I thought all cakes were uneven to begin with. We have managed to enjoy uneven cakes for almost 58 years together, never letting it stop us. We’d be thinner if we had.
That’s quite helpful information. I’ve had troubles that the article mentioned, but it never occurred to me that the oven was too hot. Good info to know. Thanks so much.
Ah ha! I’m now in the know! Thanks!! (because this is definitely information I’ll put to use)
Saw a neat trick to help this in a cooking video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNuAMoMgq70
My cakes almost always rise up to much in the middle, but I never knew why. From now on, I’ll lower the oven temp a bit, no matter what the recipe says!