It was the same for ours. And worsly ours heated up so hot burning everything on 240 degrees in the end. It made us decide to replace it ...

The technique for the top is that, you can make a line on top, drizzle oil and then bake! No trick like opening the oven after 7 minutes and make a cut on top. Actually I knew this for bread but never thought about doing the same for pound cakes. Simple tips shown in the book help me improve my baking skill a lot already 😊