Glutenfree Cake Sunk In Middle-Help!!
Decorating By swillshaz Updated 4 Dec 2006 , 6:53am by swillshaz
was wondering if anyone can help me with this query. I made a cake for a friend's beau who is wheat intolerant so the cake had to be gluten free. She wanted fondant covering and 49 hearts which I did. SHe also wanted the cake to have two different fillings: custard and hazelnut cream- which I did. The cake was a choc mud cake and with the gluten free flour (which took forever to cook!!!) came out very moist.
I thot I did a pretty decent job with the covering etc and the cake prep. but she said when they cut it the cake had sunk in the middle. it became detached from the fondant and sunk. Fondant covering was perfect though as in there was no evidence of cake sinking. Has anyone experienced this and do you have any suggestions how to prevent this from happening? They loved the cake despite the sunken bits tho so that was good news.
Thanks.
Shaz
Hi Shaz,
Sinking cake after baking can be attributed to any of the following:
1. Over-creaming the butter (or shortening) and sugar.
2. Too much baking soda/powder.
3. Over-mixing after egg was addded.
4. Cake too moist or undercooked.
5. The filling was too liquidy or heavy for the cake to support.
6. Too much sugar used. The lifting properties of the sugar have been too much for the strength of the mixture. (This tip came from http://www.shsweb.co.uk/metabolic/pat/recipes/basic/6.htm)
I hope that helps a bit. Getting gluten-free goods to come out perfectly has been a challenge for me. I finding that measuring ingredients by weight is helping somewhat. Good luck!
I made a gluten-free cake from a mix and it sunk right out of the oven. Had to use a ton of icing on the top to make it level. Thank goodness it was just for a friend. Maybe it needs the gluten to rise properly?
Beachcakes, if you go here> http://www.joyofbaking.com/ChocolateTorte.html it will explain that making a cake with no flour will cause sinking in the middle, it is perfectly normal. If you do gluten free again, just explain to your customer that it will sink in the middle and it has nothing to do with your skills or recipe.
Just as a side note re: gluten free cooking/baking-it's essential that all items used in the baking, prep, etc be gluten free too, meaning they can never have been used for anything containing gluten, which usually means 2 sets of everything. Even cleaning, sanitizing the items wouldn't solve the "contamination" problem. 
Depending on the amount of gluten-free cake you need to make, there is a mix out in the stores (at least where I live - MA). My friend's son cannot have gluten or casien (milk product) because he is autistic and I make a small cake for him for birthdays and any other celebration that we are having cakes. It believe it is Gluten-Free Pantry, I buy it in the all-natural section of my grocery store. The variety that I buy is Danielle's Chocolate Cake Mix. To make an entire cake for all to eat it would become expensive, but when I bake for him, I bake either round or square cakes and freeze what I am not decorating for another time. Hope this helps!
~Chelle
I have done quite a few gluten-free cakes, and only a couple of times have they sunk. It took a while to figure out the problem because I was making regular cakes as well.
Anyway,...my problem was the baking powder. The baking powder that is labeled gluten-free did not work well. When I use baking soda only, the cakes come out fine.
If you used a mix, the only thing I can think of is it might have been a little aged. I could be wrong. That wouldn't be a surprise since I know pretty much nothing about box mixes. I'm not against them, I bake from scratch because that's how I was taught by my mom.
Good luck to you and good job for trying to help those will allergies.
Michele
Thanks for the link HellieOH! I generally bake from scratch, but opted to go with a box for this one. Turns out my friend is not gluten-intolerant but dairy... Last year it was gluten... 
Well at least dairy free is easier than gluten-free.
M.
thanks for all your advise. I make my cakes from scratch too and I used gluten free flour. I did gluten free banana cupcakes once and they didnt sink. That was a trial one and I used an organic gluten free flour.. havent had the need to do another gluten free one but will definitely tell clients from now on that there is a highly possibility of middle sinkage with these cakes!
Thanks again.
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