I need some advice please.....

I seem to always have the problem of my mud cakes, around the top once they've risen, shrinking away from the tin.

The bottom of the cake stays firm against the sides.

So when I take the cake out of the tin it's narrower at the top then at the bottom.
Then I have the hassle of having to try to cut the bottom edges off to make a nice straight side. I just want to be able to cake the cakes out, plonk them on top of each other and them all be perfectly the same size.

I've tried baking with and without paper and cover with foil to prevent it from rising too much, and it does it every time.

Could it be because I'm using a mix rather than from scratch and maybe they use too much rising agent?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

Ive never used a mud cake mix so no idea if thats how they usually turn out but maybe lowering the oven temp or changing racks on the oven might help.

AI occasionally have the same problem with my vanilla scratch cake. No idea as yet why it happens (fortunately not all the time). I lowered my baking temp too. It's a mystery.

I also had the same problem with scratch cakes.  Summer over at Cake Paper Party has the solution - it's called thwacking.  You can find the article here:

http://www.cakepaperparty.com/2014/08/big-bang-theory/

I haven't had a problem since.

Thanks everyone, I'll try baking a a lower temp, even though I'm only doing it at 150C not fan forced, maybe my oven is a bit off in the temp.

So this 'thwacking', I assume this is after it's taken out of the oven? I do bang the cake on the counter before I put it in the oven to get some of the air out so it rises less, but I'll try after it comes out too, I just would have thought the shrinking would have happened by then thats all, but I'll definitely give it a go.

Yes, you thwack the cake before it goes in the oven and again when it comes out.

But to be clear, I thwack it immediately after I pull it from the oven.  I hope this works for you.

Nancy