Help! My Cakes Are Rising And Then Falling In The Middle...
Decorating By Tracyj Updated 23 Oct 2008 , 12:57pm by bethola
They rise beautifully in the oven. And as soon as they are almost done they sink in the middle. I use a heating core and don't open the oven before time.
My cakes are doctored mixes.
Also, often times the cake will pull away from the sides of the pan around the top of the cake. So when it is turned out I don't have straight sides they are angled in at the top.
PLEASE HELP!!!
What temp are you using to bake? Could it be your oven needs servicing? If electric you could have one of the elements out so it seems like it is working right. How long are you baking them?
Also, it does sound like possibly too much liquid in the batter. Is it really thin when you pour into the pan? It should be somewhere between thin & mud thick
Have you tried using bake even strips - wet toweling around the outside of the pan?
Really grasping at straws here for now.
Try not greasing the pan and use parchment on the bottom so it climbs and adheres to the sides better. But it does sound like a ratio in your emulsion is off like Kakeladi said. Also sounds like the oven is maybe too hot or you are overbaking, or leaving it in there too long. Too much moisture lost too fast for some reason. How long you leaving it in there? Do you have an oven thermometer?
I had this issue and found that the problem with most of the doctored cake recipes is that you increase the fat and sugar content, but not the levening. So I started adding 1 tsp baking powder to my doctored mixes and have not had a problem with sinking. The cakes always rise nicely. The only issue that I have is shrinkage (cake pulling away from pan and compressing slightly after cooking) Anyone know why that happens?
Try the BP, I am sure it will help!
Stephanie
I use self rising flour. (omit measuring & adding the salt)
My were doing that and I raised the temp 5 degrees each time. Eventually I had to raise it a full 15 degrees.
My also used to shrink from the sides. The i switched from spraying sides to using parchment on bottom and just running a spatula around sides before I go to release.
Julia
I have this problem too, but only when I use the Wilton 8x3 pan. I use the same recipes (boxes, doctored boxes, and scratch) and they do perfectly in every other pan, but always fall in this pan. And it cant be the height, because I have a 10x3 and that works just fine???
Cake troubleshooting charts:
http://tinyurl.com/2p5bdu
http://tinyurl.com/32goqe
http://tinyurl.com/6c745g
HTH
I seem to have the "cake pulling away from the sides of the pan" problem when I overbake the cake. Sometimes the timer goes off and I don't get to it immediately, or when I insert a toothpick it's a little "moist" and I leave it for another minute or two. I find if I leave it past that minute or two, the cake starts pulling away from the sides.
I have much better luck taking the cake out of the oven even if the toothpick is a little more "crumb coated" than I'd like. Don't forget the cake is still cooking while it is "cooling" in the pan for 10 minutes or so. I leave the bake even strips ON the pan for 5 minutes after I take it out of the oven and than remove the strips and cool in the pan another 5 minutes (longer for larger cakes).
I do this with muffins, cupcakes and cookies as well, take them out a little "underdone" they continue to cook after you take them out of the oven.
Try decreasing your cooking time by a few minutes, hopefully that will help.
I am having a cake nightmare at the moment!!! I never have trouble with sinking cakes when I use a standard round or square tin....my trouble begins when I use a shaped pan. Just pulled out of the oven a perfect looking soccer ball (Wilton soccer pan) and within 10 minutes of cooling the centre had totally sunken in... the same thing happened when I used the football tin. Would love some help on this 
I had the same problem and took time to find out why.
It's funnny but contrary to some people here, I decreased oven temperature once the cake begins to rise, and added another 15 minutes to baking time.
If I raise temperature, the outside will get really drak brown and overcooked whilst the inside is still soggy.
Like Dkelly27, I do take it out of the oven before my toothpick comes out all clean - I feel my cakes are more moist.
However, sometimes it does still shrink on the sides, sometimes not. Although I have sorted out how to stop it from sinking in the middle, I can't work out how to get my sides really straight...
not sure if my contribution will help but i experienced the same problem (rising in the oven and then sinking once i took it out) with my chocolate cake.
after a while, i realised that i was forgetting to lightly tap the pan with the mixture (to release the air bubbles) before putting it into the oven and it worked
HTH
I had this issue and found that the problem with most of the doctored cake recipes is that you increase the fat and sugar content, but not the levening. So I started adding 1 tsp baking powder to my doctored mixes and have not had a problem with sinking. The cakes always rise nicely. The only issue that I have is shrinkage (cake pulling away from pan and compressing slightly after cooking) Anyone know why that happens?
Try the BP, I am sure it will help!
Stephanie
I agree with this post! But, instead of adding BP (which I WILL definitely try) I kinda do an Alton Brown Chemistry Kinda Thang. For instance, if I'm using sour cream I either don't use oil or I cut the oil in half. If I use liquid creamer I substitute only 1/2 the water and cut back on the oil. This is what works best for me.
Beth in KY
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%