Why-cakes-sink-in-the-middle

You’ve been waiting all week for the weekend to go and spend some alone time in the kitchen to bake your favorite cake.

-You take out all the ingredients and start preparing.

-You follow the instructions on the recipe to the letter and pre-heat your oven and pop your cake in.

-You are too exited to walk away while it bakes so you camp in front of the oven to watch the magic happen.

Your cake starts to rise and the smell of happiness fills up your kitchen and your whole house. The timer goes off and you can’t wait to pull that cake out of the oven, place it on a rack and wait for it to cool. Only minutes later your heart starts to sink, and the middle of your cake sinks with it; and what looked like an amazing cake, now looks like a horrifying well. So, you either dump it in the bin, or go for a plan B to make cake pops from it. Not the cake you have been waiting for all week!Why-cakes-sink-in-the-middle

So why did this happen?

You followed the instructions to the t, you scaled all your ingredients, the temperature of the oven was spot on. So, what the hell happened?

Believe it or not, this is probably the most common cake disaster that happens while people bake their cakes. So, lift your spirits high, you are not the only one and there could be more than one reason for the cake sinking.

Here are the nine most common reasons

why your cake sank:

  1. You used too much baking powder/ baking soda.

    Too much baking powder can make your cake rise too fast without getting thoroughly cooked in the center. So, although it rises nicely in the oven, the center will sink once the cake starts to cool. Also note that baking powder and baking soda are not substitutes, so make sure you follow the recipe and measure correctly.

 

  1. Your baking powder has expired.

    If your baking powder has expired, it will not do its job correctly, so make sure you check the date before using it.

 

  1. Your cake was not cooked enough.

    Perhaps you pulled out your cake way too soon thinking that it has cooked and having seen it rise nicely while inside the oven. Pulling your cake too soon means that the edges have cooked but the center has not cooked at the same level even if the tooth pick came out clean. So, you might want to use water baths to stope the edges cooking faster than the center.

 

  1. You opened the door early.

    Some recipes will ask you to rotate your cake about two thirds into the cooking time, so if you do that before the center has cooked at least 80% then your cake will sink in the middle. So, make sure you only open the oven door around 80% into the baking time.

 

  1. You slammed the over door

    If you need to open the oven door after 80% baking time, do not slam the door shut, this will cause the cake to shake and release some air. The cake needs this air to rise evenly. Make sure you close the door gently.

 

  1. You used a different size baking tin

    We all do this when we don’t have the exact same tin size that the recipe calls for. So, we use whatever we have. Don’t do that, if you use a bigger tin size the baking time will need to be adjusted, so try your best to buy at least three or four most common cake tin sizes.

 

  1. Over mixing/ under mixing your batter

    Over mixing means you allow way too much air to get in, so your cake will seem to be rising but wont cook evenly in the middle. Under mixing means there won’t be enough air in your cake to help it rise. So, stick to the recipe, especially if you are a beginner when it comes to mixing time.

 

  1. Your oven temperature was wrong

    The wrong temperature will definitely not work. Some ovens will not come to the right temperature despite the settings. If your oven is too hot, the edges will bake faster than the centre and might even burn while the centre is still trying to rise. If your oven is not hot enough, the cake will need more time to rise. The best way to check the correct temperature is to buy an oven safe thermometer that will help you maintain the required temperature throughout the baking time.

 

  1. The recipe is wrong

    If you have ensured all the above and tried the same recipe time and time again and your cake is still sinking, then unfortunately there is something wrong with the ratios of that recipe. Sadly, some accounts or websites or even baking books might have typos or simply the wrong measurements. So, ditch it and try another one.

 

I hope you found these tips useful and what every you do, don’t stop baking, don’t stop the happiness.

 

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