AI have a birthday cake to make for Saturday but needs to be finished and delivered for tomorrow.

Everything's been going smoothly so far. Have done all the icing decorations ready but I made the cakes last night and they came out looking perfect but as they cooled they are no more than an inch thick. They have shrunk in size. I'm attempting a topsy turvey cake so need them both to be thick enough for me to cut, fill and shape.

I'm doing a sponge cake 10" round and 6" round

Can anyone help me? Starting to panic. I'm thinking if I make another 10" tonight that comes up lovely and thick I can just use the two I've already made for the top tier if I shape them and put them together??

I'm only just starting with all this so any help would be great

If anyone has a good receipe for me to use that would be amazing! Need measurements in uk

AWhat type of cake is it? Are you sure it is cooked through? Did you keep opening the oven door whilst cooking?

I never use a cake I am not happy with. Bad cake =bad reputation. If it is sponge it won't take long to whip up a new cake, as for cost, put it down to experience and learn from it.

I tend to use a Victoria mix for my vanilla sponge, but if you're carving you may be better with a heavier Madeira cake. Don't panic! You will get there x x

A

I'd guess that it isn't cooked through. I messed up on timing once and my beautiful risen cake collapsed to a pancake when I took it out of the oven. I would re-do it, the last thing you want is for someone to cut into the cake and find one of the layers is raw in the centre. 

Is this a new recipe or have you used it before?

ANo it's a recipe I've used before and it's worked out perfect. I think the issue I had this time was that I'd doubled up on the ingredients so ended up over beating the mixture. I never open the oven door once the cakes in only near the end of the cooking time to check if its done. I use a skewer to insert and check if it comes out clean.

I'm funny with making sure it's cooked so I tend to test a skewer I'm a few random places on the cake

I've made two more but I decided to sandwich the two together to get the height I needed. Now in the process of icing however I came across another problem where my kirchen was to hot so the buttercream started to melt of the cake!! hey ho I'm persisting with this sure ill get the eventually

I would honestly re-bake the cake. An inserted skewer came out clean with that cake I was talking about above, but when I cut into it after it collapsed (trying to work out what had gone wrong with it) it looked like this on the inside. I swear the skewer came out clean. 

AI find taking the temperature with a probe is a more reliable method of telling if the cake is cooked than the skewer method. I got an electronic probe for about £15. I use it all the time. I use it for sugar work too.

The temperature you need to reach will depend on the cake. Lighter cakes will be a lower temperature 195 upwards, whereas something like a dense fruit cake could be about 212 (it is in my oven).

AOh thankyou I'll look into one of those temperature probes.

Well the cakes for a friend so she's aware I'm beginning at this.

My cake didn't sink in the middle it just didn't stay as thick. Did yours sink in the middle as well?