I did a cupcake wedding yesterday. Needed 200 cupcakes and couldn't start baking until Saturday because of other cakes. So, Sat am I wake up and get ready to knock out the cupcakes...that's when disaster hit! I can't figure out what happened!!! I used a cake recipe that I always use for my white cupcakes. Never had a problem with it before, but this weekend, they would not rise right. They normally bake up beautifully with such pretty peaks on them. This weekend, they were spreading out to a flat top with a rim hanging over the cupcake wrapper. AND, they weren't baking right - they were browning! If I didn't let them brown to the point of almost looking burnt around the edges, they caved in when I took them out. I spent all day Saturday trying to figure out what the problem was. I had to throw away at least 4 cupcakes out of every pan, and the cupcakes I kept looked awful. I opened a new can of baking powder, changed the oven temp, changed from AP flour to cake flour, changed butter, etc. Everytime I pulled another terrible batch out of the oven, I would change something else to see if it helped. I did double the recipe, but I've done that in the past without any problems. This is such an easy recipe using the muffin method, so I didn't over beat the batter. I just can't figure out what went wrong, and it's driving me crazy. The cakes tasted normal - they just looked horrible. If any of you have any ideas, please let me know. Thank you!
What a bummer! I am sorry this happened. It seems like all variables were constant other than the only one you couldn't control...the oven. I am also guessing it's something with the element.
This is probably too late and if it is, I hope you solved the problem but here are some things that came to mind:
*The bottom of your oven needed to be cleaned
*Either your flour/soda/powder had gone bad.
Usually when things don't rise, that's the culprit.
If you have a computerized oven, the relay that controls the temp can go out and wreak havoc on your baking. It's hard to detect. You have to watch closely and register the swing of the temp range with an independent thermometer. Also, unlike a regular oven, there is no fixed way that the temp changes. Not just 10 degrees off, but different all the time up and down.
as someone else has said this reply is most prob too late but this happened to me also and it turned out it was the element in the cooker.
Hubby replaced it and is it now fine. I was in the middle of baking a 3 tier wedding cake also, so I had to 'borrow' friends and family cookers, which meant not being used to how they cooked etc so all a bit stressful but successful in the end.
Hope you got it sorted ok. x
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