I have had several of my chocolate cakes and cupcakes collapse while baking. This has not happened with any other flavor. They are collapsing while still in the oven. Any help, suggestions, tips?

Without more info it's hard to give specific advice.

Handy cake troubleshooting charts:

http://tinyurl.com/2p5bdu

http://tinyurl.com/32goqe

http://tinyurl.com/6c745g

http://tinyurl.com/6lpjww

http://tinyurl.com/yay22w

HTH

Thank you for the response and all of the links. I think I need to keep searching for trusty chocolate cake recipes. And practice, practice, practice.

It sounds like it may be over-leavened. As a general rule, you need 1 tsp baking powder or 1/4 tsp baking soda per cup of flour. What is the recipe you used? How much flour, leavening, etc.? More details about the recipe are needed to really be able to tell what is going on.

I've had it happen with 2 chocolate recipes, ingredients below. They collapse completely while still in the oven, not when cooling. I have not had this happen with any other flavor of cake I've made. Is there a trick to chocolate?

First one's ingredients
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
1-1/4 cups sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
3/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoons vanilla
2/3 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Second one's ingredients
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons cocoa powder  
1/2 cup boiling water   
1 cup buttermilk   
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour   
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda   
1/4 teaspoon baking powder     
1/4 teaspoon salt   
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened   
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar   
2 large eggs, at room temperature   
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Thanks for the responses. It is very appreciated.

The first looks light on the flour from other recipes I've used and seen; that might affect the structure of the cake. I would try using a little less leavening. I'm not an expert but I do a lot of scratch baking and have read a lot about it. Maybe someone else will jump in to confirm what I'm saying! But I think a lot of chocolate cake recipes use baking soda in addition to baking powder in order to make the batter less acidic. I personally use only baking powder in my chocolate cake because an acidic batter will help the cake set faster and allow me to use a little more sugar or chocolate. So, you could try omitting the baking soda and using only the baking powder in an amount equal to 1 teaspoon per cup of flour in the recipe and see how that works. I hope that helps!

Wow, you seem very knowledgable. I also thought the first one seemed low on flour after looking at some of my other recipes, that's when I tried the second one, but got the same result. I will try your suggestions. Thanks again.