My first batch of cupcakes order time ago sunk -pretty low too -pun intended 
Anyways, I learned that opening the oven often or too early will do that to them.
I shake my stove to see if center moves (for cakes )
Not over beat my batter
and the best way of checking on them is follow your nose - once I start smelling the delicious cake/cupcakes -that's when I start keeping a close eye on them because it won't be very long before they are ready.
i Had the same thing happen last night to 2 dozen red velvet cupcakes ( I was using it for cake balls so it didn' tmatter.........but still)
my toothpick tested clean and then they all sunk in!! I mean, they had big beautiful domes and then 5 min. later........they looked like someone has squashed a ball in the center of them and then removed the ball.........they were totally caved in!
i really hope this thread gets a definite answer. i've just searched through years of threads trying to find why cupcakes cave in. i've tried everything suggested. high temps, higher temps then dropping to a lower temp, i don't open the door until i'm affraid they are going to burn, shorter mixing time, using a hand mixer, threatening them.
i have tried everything!!! i have yet to get two of my cake recipes to have even a flat top - forget the pretty dome!!! the closest i came was last night. i put in two 1 dozen pans (from the same batter). i ended up with a dozen flat cupcakes and a dozen cupcakes pathetically sunk in.
my mom used to say, "baking is a science." well, calling all baking scientists!!! i've seen a few of you on the boards...please tell us what is going on!
When I bake cupcakes or cakes, I always open the oven half way through the baking process and rotate my pans because I'm always nervous they will be uneven if I don't do this. I try to be so careful to make sure they don't cave in. Does anyone else do this or am I just wasting my time?
I have to do it too redsox , if i dont one side will brown cripsy or burn, but ive never had much issue with sunken tops from doing that
Cath, I haven't had one sink yet either but believe me it's the only thing I'm thinking of when I am rotating them! Haha
That always happened to me. Now I look at the cake without opening the oven. If the cake looks moist in the middle I let it bake for 5-10 min more. I'll also bump the oven to see if the middle jiggles -- ha ha . It's a goofy method, but it works great for me.
Thanks everyone. I never had a problem with my cc's sinking in the middle and I never open my oven until the baking time is up. I think I figured out my problem.
It was a cake mix that I added yogart to and with mixes, you get 2 dz. cc's. It was my first time making rainbow cc's; and I seperated the batter and made five colors. I poured the first color but really didn't fill the bottom I let the second color push the first out to the edge and so on. I wound up filling 30 cc liners (a few didn't have all the colors) . When I finished, I noticed that the batter didn't fill the liners like thet were supposed to. The cc's rose to a decent height but while resting they started to sink; and were only about 3/4" high, there were more liner than cc.
I did another 2 seperate batches with a better understanding on how to fill the liners (some were filled to the perfect amount and some hit the top of the liner causing those to overflow, which I leveled off after collong), and I wound up with a total of about 30 cc's but six of them were only 2 to 3 colors instead of 5. The cc's didn't sink in the middle.
So MY problem is to learn how to properly distribute all the colors to fill the liner to the right height.
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