Alright all you master cake bakers this girl needs some help I am trying to bake 1/2 recipe or just one layer of this cake. It falls every time ( 2x today). I think it is the leaveners. I used 1 tsp baking soda & 1/2 tsp baking powder & cut all other ingredents in half. Baked in a 9" round pan. I know there must be chemistry behind this mystery. Would someone be kind enough to help me out? I would be sincerely greatful!
2 c cake flour
2 c sugar
3/4 c coco power
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 c buttermilk
1/2 c oil
3 large eggs
1 tsp real vanilla
1 c good strong coffee

Is your baking soda fresh? Pour some vinegar on a bit of it and see if it bubbles.

u have 2 full cups of liquid? that can't be right!

Agreed - WAY too much liquid. Looks like a very flawed recipe. Have you made it successfully before?

It is similar to the Hershey's cake. The cake flour seems too delicate. Also, many of us have adjusted the recipe by subbing sour cream for the milk and changing the leaveners to 1 tsp each. Without these changes, that cake can sink.

http://www.hersheys.com/pure-recipes/details.aspx?id=184&name=HERSHEY'S

Try this cake or try applying some of the adjustments and ingredients to your cake. Hope this helps.

A Big thanks to all of you. Yes I have been baking this cake for a couple of years now with great success until I tried to half the recipe. I will certainly try the recommendations today and see how it goes. Its a beautiful day in Tennessee to be baking! ( its rainning ) !!

I recently made the Hershey's perfect chocolate cake for the first time. It called for a cup of buttermilk and a cup of coffee. The batter was as thin as water! I baked it anyway, b/c it had such good reviews. Well, it took forever to set up, then domed quite a bit, then sunk in the middle when it came out of the oven. Also, when I was torting it, it wanted to just crumble up and fall apart! I managed to save it and I have to admit the scraps tasted really good, but I'm afraid to make it again. I made it in a 10 inch pan.

So, are you guys saying you Decrease the leavening? That seems backward to me. Also, I just checked the Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate cake recipe and it calls for 1 cup milk, 1 cup boiling water, still 2 cups of liquid, just different from the one I used, which was Hershey's Special Dark or something. The recipe is almost identical, though.[/u]

Sinking chocolate cake always happened to me too. I read to decrease the sugar-and that is what worked for me. I'd decrease your recipe by 1/2 cup at least.

Makes no sense, when there are a billion great chocolate cake recipes out there that people mess with the Hershey's. Try this, it's 1000000% perfect:

http://www.marthastewart.com/282243/one-bowl-chocolate-cupcakes

Makes great cake and cupcakes.

You're welcome.