I use the white velvet cake recipe.
not matter what i do, its always SINKS in the middle. I am very frustrated. I've tried cookign at a higher temp. ive tried lettign the batter mix longer to develop gluten. but it still sinks. please help me. i love the taste of this cake.

try a lower temp and baking longer; can you back off on some of the fat in the recipe?

i have tried a lower temp. I started at 325 aas i use to bake cake mix cakes at this temp when i first started. but then i was advised that the recipe that i use suggested i bake at 350, so i've tried it!!!
what would lowerign the fat content do????

Try adding another egg - eggs add stability. How is the texture inside? I know that when I add Hero compounds to my scratch recipe it sometimes comes out looking like that and the texture inside is off... like uniformly large bubbles and kind of firmer. I add more fat to fix this. You can also try reducing your leavening by a little.

Is the cake done in the middle? Have you tried adding a flower nail to your pan? This happens to me if I pull a cake out too soon.. sorry I can't be of more help.

I always seem to have sinking problems, too. I think part of it is because I use 3-inch high pans, and fill them almost 2/3 of the way up. I use two flower nails, baking strips, and 325. Still had problems. What I'm experimenting with now is shutting the oven off, but leaving the cake in for about 20 minutes, then cracking the door open for anothere 2o minutes. It seems to have solved the sinking problem, but I've only done it once. I shut the oven off about 15 minutes before I normally would.
If you have too much oil in your recipe, it can cause sinking. Also, if you overbeat the batter, it will sink. I use 325 even if the recipe calls for 350. Hope this helps.

a flower nail or heating core may be just the thing you need. ( I like heating cores). sometimes a lot of fat in a recipe causes sinking.... just a thought. try a heating core and bake longer....

Is the recipe you're using from the website? The White velvet cake II that was changed from red velvet?

What size pan is that ? Did you "toothpick" test it before you took it out ?

First thing I would do is check your oven temperature. Make sure it's not baking too hot. That can make a cake sink - I had this problem a lot when my thermostat was on the blink - took me 12 cake layers to figure it out, too, and not even all the same cake.

Also, sometimes when you double a recipe (which I assume you're doing with a 3" pan) sometimes you need to back off on the leavener a little bit. If the cake is even a bit dense, the full amount of leavening won't give it enough structure to hold itself up and then it can collapse a bit.

That's the reason for using less oil/shortening. The shortening makes the cake heavier.

Good luck!

I've always had this problem myself everytime I use my 8 x 3 inch pans. No other problems with my 2-inch high pans though. So last weekend I tried the flower nail trick and the cake came out perfectly! I also noticed that using parchment paper for the bottom and sides of the pan helps alot. I don't use toothpicks to check if the cake is ready (used to do that but it has failed me several times). I give the pan a little shake. If it moves in the center, that means it's not ready and I'll give it another 10-15 minutes in the oven. HTH.

bump

this is happening to me frequently too, most always with a yellow cake.

Specifically the Whimsical Bakehouse recipe, and just last night, Toba's recipe. I swear I'm following directions exactly, but maybe I'm mis-interpreting something?

thanks for all the tips. however. I always check the cake with a tooth pick. for my cake recipe at the quanity i am making (which makes 60 medium cupcakes, to give you an idea) uses 39g baking powder. this recipes only uses egg whites. at 225g. so its a fair amount. the fat it uses is 298g. maybe its too much leavening...???
i am constantly baking... so i can't turn off the oven at any point.

any other tips???
thanks

Does it have baking soda or buttermilk or sour cream? It looks like you could reduce your baking powder by about 1/3. Did you multiply the recipe from a smaller original?

no baking soda, no buttermilk, no sourcream.
i doubled a smaller recipe. yes.

Reducing the baking powder should help because it seems very high compared to the other ingredients.
I'm not sure if you were going to make the recipe again, but maybe try making the original recipe and reduce the baking powder by about 1/3 in that one before making the double size again. (Normally doubling a recipe does not make a difference in leaveners, it affects it more wen you multiply recipes by larger amaounts.

You're not at a high altitude, are you?

Jesika

i am only 3000 feet above sealevel.
also my oven is cliabrated!!!

thanks for all the tips. i will first try cutting back on the baking powder.
then perhaps the fat.

another question, what is the flower nail thing you do??? yuou put it in the cake pan???

you can put a flower nail upside-down in the middle of the cake pan and pour the batter in around it. (grease it good).

It transmits heat up the center of the cake to help it bake more evenly.

Add 20 minutes to the cooking time. Your cake is thick. I'm baking a 10-inch, 3-inch high vanilla cake now, and I'm going to let that baby go for 2 hours at 325. I filled the pan about 2/3 full. I'm using 2 flower nails and the magic strips around the pan. The internal temp should be 195-200 when it's done. I've tried 1 hour and 50 minutes, and it's still a bit raw----and it sank. I'm so sick of this. If it's too dry, I'll use a simple syrup, but I don't think I'll have to. This is soooooo frustrating!

Isawyer,
What is the recipe you are using?

i don't know, but baking for 2 hours seems like a long time to me.
i have to same frustrations, i would like to also backe a 3" high cake and be able to torte it and get 3 layers.
i really don't know what else to suggest.
sorry

Here's s something i found on the net:

http://www.greatknives.com/Pastryfolder/cake_faults.htm

my first thought was that your over mixing it?
good luck.

Well, after 2 hours and 9 minutes, the cake reached an internal temp of 198 degrees. It sank just a tiny, tiny bit after I first took it out of the oven after baking for 1 hr., 57 minutes. The top is very brown, but it exends just a tad over the top, so I have to remove it anyway. I'm decorating it today, so I'll get to see what it looks like and tastes like.

I read what ishynooshy mentioned on the link. And it supports my first thought when seeing your recipe...it seems like a lot of sugar that you can not control because of the ice cream and the box mix. Is this something you've used successfully? I've never heard of a recipe like that (but I must say I'm seeing new and interesting things everyday on this site). (I am an experienced baker, though).
Anyhow, if that is a recipe that you really love and have used before without a problem then perhaps you could use a reduced ice cream quantity or add cake flour.
Yours is tough because the exact amounts of ingredients ca not be gauged. You'd have to play with it and reduce, see if it works and go frm there.
Jesika

Thanks, Jesaltuve.
I have used the recipe before, but not in a 3-inch high pan. I got the recipe from a book written by the Cake Mix Doctor.
The cake came out good, but I still couldn't torte 3 layers because of the small amount of sinking in the middle. Next time, I won't open the oven door at all. If all fails, I'll return to using 3 pans. I sure do wish there were a way to have this be perfect!

Ishynooshy, that link is great! Thank you!

(I think I've over-beat the fats before adding the flour - the recipes say beat, so I BEAT! I'm going to ease off the whipping time with the butter)

Thanks!