What are You Baking the Week of June 28, 2020?

[aaronatthedoublef]

I made three chocolate cake layers and they all collapsed in the middle. I'm wondering if I over-filled the pans. It will probably still taste good. I never make cakes anymore. Need to practice!

[Mike Nolan]

The usual reasons for a cake collapsing in the middle:

Old baking powder/soda
Too much baking powder/soda
Overbeating
Wrong oven temperature
Letting the batter sit too long before it goes in the oven

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks Mike. Definitely old baking soda. I didn't realize baking soda had a shelf life. I almost threw away the box and opened a new one. Once I open the new pack I'll date it and make sure to use it quickly. More cookies and cakes I guess.

No baking powder in the cake and I opened my current can last Sunday. I don't think I over beat it but could be.

Oven temp is weird. It is 345 which I cannot guarantee without a thermometer and mine bit the dust and I haven't replaced it.

Violet thanked me for making the cake and I apologized to Violet for the way it looked. Violet said "I don't care as long as it tastes good."

The layers are freezing and I'll put the ice cream in and frost it tomorrow. I should be able to hide the fallen center.

[Mike Nolan]

I rely on my infrared gun to check oven temperature, more precise and you can check a half dozen spots in the oven in under 30 seconds rather than just one.

I buy baking soda in large bags at Sams, it takes me a couple of years to go through a bag, I've never noticed a problem with old baking soda as long as it stays dry and powdery. Old double-acting baking soda is a different matter.

My money would be on over-beating, some types of recipes are more sensitive than others to that.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Maybe I'll have to spring for an infrared.

Could be over beating. I usually do the final mix after adding the melted chocolate by hand. My mixer does not do a great job stirring up from the bottom. But I mixed it by some with the mixer then up from the bottom by hand.

Just have to try again next week.

[BakerAunt]

Oh, the horror, Aaron! Your family will HAVE to eat cake two weeks in a row! 🙂

It is possible that the pans were too full.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks BA. The pans might have been too full. I have a tendency to do that.

Too many thinks to try. Lots of cake to bake. as you say, the horrors!

[Mike Nolan]

Cakes and breads collapse in the middle because their structure cannot sustain them. They may have risen too much or too fast.

Having too much batter could lead to a cake rising beyond the height that batter will sustain. Some types of cake batters are able to sustain much more height than others. (Think angel food, chiffon or bundt cakes, though the absence of a center might make them able to sustain greater heights.)

[RiversideLen]

Another possibility is that they were under baked. I've done that.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Well, it was not under done and the center was not particularly dense. The toothpick came out clean and I thought if anything it might be over baked. But it wasn't.

Just my day for a bad bake.

But Violet was very happy. She said it was everything she wanted plus 10. And at the end of the day that's what matters. I made a ganache for icing/frosting (not sure what the difference is). But it was reversed from the way I usually make ganache. I melted the chocolate then added it to the milk. This used evaporated milk instead of cream. It also calls for using unsweetened chocolate and adding sugar. I've mixed in some semi sweet chocolate and reduced the sugar. I think it gives it a better mouth feel.

I did not make an ice cream layer but I'll do that another time.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 4 months ago by aaronatthedoublef.

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