I've been trying out a few new recipes recently and some of them are sunken in the middle when I take them out of the oven. I just baked a 9" round chocolate cake, in the size pan that the recipe stated, baked it at 180C / 350F for 50 minutes as directed, but when I opened the oven door there was a big crater in the middle of the cake! It was cooked through and tastes fine (no gooey bits in the middle either, so it wasn't under cooked. The same thing happened to a red velvet cake I made recently.
Anyone know why this is happening to me?
TIA
Kelly
My mother-in-law just made a cake 2 days ago and the samething happened to her. So she made another cake a different brand and it happened again. She said they where nice and high over the pan and she left the room and came back and they were only about 1" high. They sunk way down in the pan. I asked her if they were under cooked too and she said no.
the same thing it's been happening to my cakes too and they are Duncan Hines, the minute I take it out of the oven they sink to like 1in.... I don't know what's going on, it never happened before.
It must be the trans fat stuff. I hate the fact we are trying to get thin but we are losing our taste to boot.
Hi,
This is an interesting topic. A few weeks ago while baking for a large shower cake I ran into a very similar issue. Made a 10" that was beautiful in the oven but when it came out it sank in the pan. Tried the same thing again and again it sank. After the 3rd try realized I should have used a heating core (flower nail). The 3rd one came out just perfect. Sometimes these cakes are just tempermental. I'd suggest a heating core even in a 9" and hopefully that might help. Also I don't bake my cakes at 350 but rather between 325 and 350. But like I said sometimes these cakes have a mind of their own!!! 
I would get a couple of oven thermometers to check if your oven bakes at the correct temperature. You can pick them up in the grocery store very inexpensively. I had a similar problem. Sounds to me that your oven may be a bit on the hot side so that the batter rises quickly but then collapses on itself as the structure is not stable enough to hold up. I had to stop using the fan assisted mode in my oven for the same reason. You will be surprised how in-accurate an oven can be.
I second BakingGirl's suggestion on oven thermometers. Not all ovens are calibrated the same and you may be baking several degrees off the desired temperature.
Also, I just use the baking time as a guideline and start peeking (thru glass, not opening the door) to check if the cake starts pulling from the sides, around 5 minutes before the suggested baking time. If the cake is not quite ready yet and the oven door is opened, the baking process is interrupted and may issues with the cake.
All the cakes this happened to have been scratch recipes. We don't have the trans-fat issue over here in Ireland, and anyway the cake I made today had sunflower oil in it (first cake I made that uses oil instead of butter!).
BakingGirl, I was thinking that maybe my oven is the problem; its fan-assisted, and there is no option to turn off the fan! I usually don't adjust the temp as on the occasions that I have, food has been underdone. I did notice that the temp light was coming on a lot, so I wonder if the temp fluctuation inside the oven may be a problem. The cake actually sank BEFORE i even opened the oven door. I will have to get a thermometer and check it out.
Kelly
Kelly75, do you reduce by 25F to compensate for the fan assist? That should at least help a bit. When you get the thermometers you will see the accurate temp and be able to adjust accordingly more accurately.
I forgot the heating core part on larger cakes. That could be a big thing there also. Plus the heating element in the oven.
A couple years ago I went through a patch of time when all of my chocolate from scratch cakes were sinking in. After awhile I realized that maybe it had to do with how was actually making them. I was overbeating the recipe and causing them to crash in on themselves. I don't know the science of why this happened but I found a different recipe and made sure I timed it correctly and used the right setting on the mixer and haven't had problems since. Good luck and I hope this helps.
Sorry bakinggirl, but you've got the science wrong... an oven that is too cool will allow the cake to collapse on itself because the crumb has a chance to set - the air bubbles get too big and burst. An oven that is too hot will create a severe dome where the crumb is setting before the leavening expands all the way and is therefore forced to the center.
Sorry bakinggirl, but you've got the science wrong... an oven that is too cool will allow the cake to collapse on itself because the crumb has a chance to set - the air bubbles get too big and burst. An oven that is too hot will create a severe dome where the crumb is setting before the leavening expands all the way and is therefore forced to the center.
I haven't been using the heating core and all of my cakes have come out without sinking until the last 2 cakes I made a couple of weeks ago. They were Duncan Hines. I baked them in a 9x13 pan using 2 mixes for each cake. They did not sink while in the oven, but when I got them out, I pressed them down so they would be level and I let them cool for the hour. After a while, I noticed they did sink a little in the middle. It wasn't too bad-no one probably even noticed-but I did not like it. Now I'm thinking after reading this forum that maybe I should have used the heating core since it was 2 mixes in the 1 pan. One thing I would like to ask is do I use 2 heating cores (using the flower nail) with the 9x13 cake pan or would that only require 1? I am baking another 9x13 this week for my nephew and I don't want it to sink.
I don't really time them, I just look through the door, and when they look done I toothpick to make sure. On the last 2 I think I had to let them cook a little bit longer after seeing the toothpick was not clean.
Is it an egg white recipe calling for egg whites only?
If so, overbeating will cause it to sink but usually after it comes out. I always bake at 325 so try that. i only use convection oven at 325 so it sets at 300 and have never had a problem. I have baked 8 cakes today. Only one was a 9x13 and I didn't use a heating core and it had 2 mixes and did just fine; no problems. But I did use the flower nail for all the 1/2 sheet cakes
I too had this problem. I make mud cakes that are 3" deep in 3" deep pans. I like them to rise above the pan and when they are cooked, they are actually about 3.5" deep, so I can trim the dome and have a full 3" height cake. Anyway, I have always used parchment paper above the rim etc, but only one thickness. I have recently started using a double thickness and it works for the smaller pans.
I was still having problems with the larger pans. So I tried putting the whole pan in the next pan up. Eg/ for a 10" cake, I put the mixture in the 10" tin with a double thickness of parchment paper, then I put that whole pan in an 11" pan, pop it in the oven and cook. This works EVERY time. It doesn't seem to be good for smaller ones - 7" and smaller, but bigger ones is fantastic. I think it helps to cook the outside slower so the middle gets a chance.
My cakes also cook faster too. The 11" mudcake used to take 4 hours to cook, now it comes out beautifully after 3 hours and no more extra crusty bits round the edges!! 
KoryAK, sorry, you are quite right. I was getting my baking problems mixed up, I have had a few along the way which I have had help getting fixed. So thank you for putting me straight. Still the advice I originally gave regarding getting oven thermometers is a good idea, will identify if there is a problem with the baking temperature.
I also found while double checking my facts that a fallen cake can be result of overmixing the batter. This is probably more unlikely in a cakemix as it is more forgiving, but if it is a scratch cake this could be true. But confusingly undermixing can also result in a fallen cake so maybe the moral of the story is to stick to the times given.
Yes, I did use an egg-white only recipe for my cakes. I probably over-mixed, too. I don't like all of those little lumps, but maybe I should be more easy-going about that. Should the batter be a little "lumpy" or a lot?
I have one of those smooth-top ovens that I just bought 2 years ago and now I'm thinking it is probably hotter than it should be because things are cooking faster than they used to when I had my old stove. Took me 2 years to figure that out! 
Well, just now thinking about it like that. I am baking another 9x13 this week so I will turn the temperature down.
I don't know what a smooth-top oven is. What is that? Anyways, of course overmixing any recipe will cause sinking; but i find that with egg whites only; it happens much easier and much bigger sinking. Most only mix for 2 min. Once I mixed for 4 just like my other mix; and guess what; a huge sink after it came out of the oven.
Well, mainly the stovetop is smooth-you know, not like your old types with the "eyes" sticking up. Basically just smooth and flat on top. I'm sure you've seen them. It is very nice and easy to clean. Anyway, I think I did overmix. I'll remember not to do that again. Thanks, CakesWithAttitude!!
Oh ok sorry; I just considered that a smooth top stove; I guess
I'm just used to them being seperate! 
No problem; hope you get it figured out and solve the problem!
I started having this problem with some of my cakes so I asked my pastry chef "what I was doing wrong" and his conclusion also was I was beating the mixture to long. After our conversation I really paid attention to what I was doing and haven't had a problem since. As I really don't care for baking but I love decorating this saved me 
Interesting topic. I had this problem when I was making my brother's wedding cake. My top tier and bottom tiers baked fine. I baked the middle tier, which was a lemon cake, in an 8" square pan and the cake sank on all three attempts. I use doctored cake mixes and it's pillsbury brand. The oven temp was set for 350 and I was baking them right after I made the first layer of chocolate cakes.
I'm dumb founded I thought maybe I put to much liquid into the cake batter.
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%