I have used the WASC for a couple years now and have always had issues with a slight sinking in the middle. But today, the cakes are sinking by at least an inch.

I am at a loss as to what is causing the problem since I am making the recipe as I always have.

Please, I am looking for any advise, suggestions or answers as to why its sinking and how to fix it.

TIA,
Kim

This is not something I can give you a concrete answer to, but I can give you some ideas to think about.

If you do not have an oven thermometer, you may want to invest in one. One possibility is that your cakes did not cook long enough. Thermostats kind of have minds of their own when the start getting older. If the thermostat on your oven is getting older, it could actually be cooking foods 25-50 degrees cooler then what you think. I simple $8;00 oven thermometer might be the fix.

Something else to think about is this: Did you use a box mix in your WASC? Have you realized that box mixes have been reduced by weight by about 2-4 ounces each box? What used to be 18 ozs has become 15 ozs. If you are adding the same wet ingredients to a smaller amount of dry ingredients, this would make the cake batter more moist and require a longer baking time. (I have tried to remedy this by adding 1/4 cup of self rising flour per box of cake mix.

If you are using a scratch mix, you may want to check the age of your baking powder.(Usually a use by date can be found on the bottom of the container) The older baking powder gets, the lazier it gets and it doesn't want to do it's job correctly.

Finally, the only other thing I can think of which would cause a cake to sink would be setting the cake in a direct draft immediately after you took it out of the oven. (Ceiling fan?)

Everything else aside, did you change anything in the whole baking process? Usually, if you change one thing, that may be the factor which caused the sink hole in your cake.

I hope I have helped give you some ideas as to why this happened. Good Luck!

I am using a box mix, and the same one always. I do have a thermometer in my oven and watch it closely. The cakes are actually sinking before coming out of the oven, so its not a draft.

I haven't made any changes to the recipe with the new weights of the mixes as I had read several posts that other people weren't needing to make any changes, that the recipes were working good. I have had this sinking problem since I started using the recipe, a couple years ago, but the sinking is just getting worse.

Thanks for the suggestions, unforatunately I am doing these, except for the change due to the decreased amount of box mixes.

Anyone else have any more suggestions?

Thanks

Are you using Duncan Hines? If so, change to another brand. They were having a terrible problem with their mixes for about 3 months. You may have gotten a batch of them. I've been able to keep cakes from sinking by adding more flour - making the batter thicker.

It's the reduced mix size. I had the same problem so I buy an extra box and add the extra necessary to get the mix size to 18.25 oz each. It's about a third cup you need to add per box. Trust me, being shorted that much mix makes a big difference!

It's the reduced mix size. I had the same problem so I buy an extra box and add the extra necessary to get the mix size to 18.25 oz each. It's about a third cup you need to add per box. Trust me, being shorted that much mix makes a big difference!

It is the new size of duncan hines cake mixes. They have reduced their mixes from 18.25 to 16.5 ozs which will make a difference in your cake.

You can buy Duncan Hines cake mix in bulk. Pinnacle Foods and BakeMark USA have launched a new line called Duncan Hines Professional, which offers cake mixes in 50# bags. The cake mix is available in white , yellow and devil's food flavors. More information is on www.DuncanHinesProfessional.com. A fifty pound bag makes 45 cakes so you have to be a serious baker for this maount.

I disagree about the new mix size being the culprit. I do a lot of free cakes so I use WASC frequently, and I have used both the new DH and new BC mixes with no issues. I do use Kakeladi's version (the original WASC) but increase the whole milk or coffee (if I'm doing chocolate) to about 1 1/4 cup, and use two tablespoons of oil. I also reduce the sugar by 1/2 cup. Flour and eggs stay the same.