I was trying to make a scratch version of the Dreamcicle cake recipe that is posted in the Gourmet Ideas thread. I used my favorite Orange Butter Cake recipe from Whimsical Bakehouse, subbing Vanilla creamer for the milk and adding vanilla and orange oil instead of zest. When I peeked at it in the oven, it was totally sunk in the middle! The flavor was out-of-this world, and it was super moist, though. Do you think it sunk because it was too moist? Any ideas on how to make this a success? TIA!

I needed the cake for a family get-together so I ended up redoing it using the original version with the cake mix, and of course it came out beautifully but I think the scratch version tasted better!

I don't know why cakes sometimes fall in the middle, it happens sometimes with me on a recipe that i have used a lot with no problem, but here is a bump. good luck

I love the orange butter cake from the whimsical bakehouse and I have used it for a dreamsicle cake. It has never sunk on me so far. I have not subbed out the milk for creamer though........I wonder if that changed the fat content? I wouldn't think it would change it enough to cause a problem, but then I have never read the label on a creamer, so I don't know exactly what is in there......... Maybe someone else can help more.

Perhaps taking out some of the sugar may have helped since the creamer has sugar in it. I stay far away from the creamers though so I have no clue how they effect a scratch cake's chemistry. I say just make the cake per the recipe and add an extra measure of vanilla and the orange zest... the flavor should be comparable. You could even take out 2 TBSP's of the milk and replace it with vanilla and use that for the liquid to punch up the vanilla flavor, or scrape some vanilla seeds in.

Thanks, yeah, that's what I was thinking, too. Messing with chemistry is a dangerous business when it comes to scratch cakes. Just a ton of extra vanilla and I added orange oil for extra orange flavor should do the trick.