Every time I make the WASC cake it sinks in the middle. I love the taste of this cake, but it's very frustrating when I have to cut so much off to make it level. I've tried changing the baking temps and times but it always turns out the same. Any ideas?

It is a fairly moist, dense cake batter. It will help if you use an inverted flower nail as a heating core. it will help cook the center even with the outsides. You can also use bake even strips (wet strips around the cake pan, or even both.

I've never had a problem with any flavor of WASC cake sinking; I use DH cake mixes and use both flower nails and bake-even strips as JoAnn recommended.

Here are some cake trouble shooting charts which might be helpful:

http://tinyurl.com/2p5bdu

http://tinyurl.com/32goqe

http://tinyurl.com/6c745g

HTH

I used to have that problem with sinking. Do not open the oven door while it is cooking. I finally have a good idea of how long it takes them to cook. I set my timer for 1 hr. 10 min at 325 degrees and don't open until it's done. Also, I usually use a flower nail for anything over 10 inches but this weekend I cooked a 12 inch with no nail and had no problems.

Joanne

Thanks for all the replies. I actually do use a heating core or flower nail and the bake even strips. When I use a core, it cooks up fine in the middle, but then there's a sunken ring all the way around. I've tried baking at 325, 350, and 375 and it's the same every time. Just happened again yesterday. I may just have to give up on this one - I really HATE to do that since everybody loves this cake.

I wonder if the problem is that I live at a fairly high elevation. How would I compensate for that?