Ok More Help Please!!!!
Decorating By imaginecakes Updated 24 Apr 2007 , 10:55pm by playingwithsugar
Ok, so I am so tired on baking cakes and having the middles sinking on me!!!! I live about 5000 feet up, and I have tried making various adjustments to the recipe for high altitude baking, but I am beginning to think that that is not the problem!!! I need some suggestions on why this usually happens and how to fix it PLEASE!!!!! 
Is the cake coming out doughy after it is cooled?
Um, well maybe the middle is alittle...but the rest of it is very well done!! I usually end up leaving them in too lonf waiting the the middle to "cook"
But...But...But... I'm drowning here!!!! Please help me help myself!!!! 
This may help you
http://www.ochef.com/327.htm
http://www.highaltitudebaking.com/
Do you have a copy of the Cake Bible?
I'm at work so I don't have it here, but there is a chapter on the size of the cake and the amount of baking powdered used which explains why scratch cake recipes can't just be doubled to make them bigger.
Are you talking about larger cakes falling or regular sized cakes?
Are you baking in 3" pans or 2" high pans? Are you opening the door prematurely? When I open the oven door (slowly and gently) too soon to check on the cake, the center of make cake will fall... even if it's 10 minutes from the end of baking time. I find that at this stage, the center is soft but not jiggly (definitely not firm/springy to the touch). If you touch/test the cake at this stage, the center will fall.
It may not be the altitude that is doing this. Are you underbeating the batter? This will cause a cake to sink in the middle.
So will an oven that is running hotter than it's setting - it will bake on the outside and not through the middle. Have you checked your oven temperature with an oven thermometer? If you do not have one, please do not buy one in a department store. Go to a kitchen store, Linens & Things, or a gourmet cooking shop and spend the extra money on a good one. I got a Wally-World special once, it worked 3 times, then died. When I took it apart, the coil snapped.
You may need to use the rose nail in the center, to conduct heat through.
Have you tried using the rose nail as a heating core, to compensate?
Theresa
Do you have a copy of the Cake Bible?
I'm at work so I don't have it here, but there is a chapter on the size of the cake and the amount of baking powdered used which explains why scratch cake recipes can't just be doubled to make them bigger.
Are you talking about larger cakes falling or regular sized cakes?
I acually do not have that book, but it definitely is not just large cakes...it's all cakes!!
Overbeating also causes air "tunnels" in the cake which can sink a cake.
Mixing cake is a science... you can't overbeat or underbeat it.
Do you have the book called High Altitude Baking? Here is their website. There is a chart included with the sample chocolate cake recipe that might help.
http://www.highaltitudebaking.com/recipes.htm
Theresa
Are you baking in 3" pans or 2" high pans? Are you opening the door prematurely? When I open the oven door (slowly and gently) too soon to check on the cake, the center of make cake will fall... even if it's 10 minutes from the end of baking time. I find that at this stage, the center is soft but not jiggly (definitely not firm/springy to the touch). If you touch/test the cake at this stage, the center will fall.
I definitely do this, usually more than once. Because the baking times can be diiferent with high altitudes than those listed in the recipes I usually take about 10 or 15 minutes off of the original time and then check every five minutes or so after that untill it's done. Could this really be the culprit? 
That stinks, cuz I don't want to overbake them either!
[quote="fooby"]This may help you
http://www.ochef.com/327.htm
http://www.highaltitudebaking.com/[/quote
Thanks for the links...I will check them out! 
It may not be the altitude that is doing this. Are you underbeating the batter? This will cause a cake to sink in the middle.
So will an oven that is running hotter than it's setting - it will bake on the outside and not through the middle. Have you checked your oven temperature with an oven thermometer? If you do not have one, please do not buy one in a department store. Go to a kitchen store, Linens & Things, or a gourmet cooking shop and spend the extra money on a good one. I got a Wally-World special once, it worked 3 times, then died. When I took it apart, the coil snapped.
You may need to use the rose nail in the center, to conduct heat through.
Have you tried using the rose nail as a heating core, to compensate?
Theresa
How do you know if you are overbeating the batter? Man I hope it's not my oven...what a pain in the rear!! I have yet to try the flower nail trick, I thought that was for preventing the "dome" in the middle, I WISH I had that problem right now!!!
Are you using heating strips?
Acually, no 
maybe I should give those a shot!!
Do you have the book called High Altitude Baking? Here is their website. There is a chart included with the sample chocolate cake recipe that might help.
http://www.highaltitudebaking.com/recipes.htm
Theresa
No I don't!! I should invest in that book!
I do not know what type of batter you use, but the standard for boxed mixes is 30 seconds on low, just to combine the ingredients, then 2 minutes on medium to aerate the batter. It once was 3 minutes at medium speed. I don't see a difference in the way the mixes react to the different beating times.
I would try using the standard above for your mixing. For a scratch cake, unless the instructions specifically say so, you should always combine your dry ingredients in one bowl, your wet in another, then stir the two together, then beat for the time listed above, unless a different time is otherwise noted.
Theresa
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