"Why did my cake sink in the middle?" The question may suddenly concern you when you have spent a full hour preparing a precious cake and your cake deflated after rising.
So why do cakes fall in the middle? In this article, you can learn the various possibilities so you can prevent them from happening in the future.
Disclaimer: I´ve tested 3 sunken sponge cakes and made every possible mistake on the cake below. It is actually very hard to achieve such a baking disaster:)
Jump to:
- 📖 Why did my cake sink in the middle?
- 1. The cake is not fully baked
- 2. The ingredients not measured correctly
- 3. The baking powder is expired
- 4. The baking powder is too much
- 5. The ingredients are not at room temperature
- 6. The butter is too soft
- 7. The butter and sugar are over whipped
- 8. The batter is overmixed
- 9. The cake pan is incorrect
- 10. The oven is too hot
- 11. The oven is not hot enough
- 12. The oven door is shut too quickly or slowly
- 13. The oven door is opened too soon
- 14. The cake recipe is simply unreliable
- 👩🍳 How to use a cake that sunk in the middle
- ❓FAQs
- ✨ Conclusions
- 🎂 Cake recipes
- 🎂 More Baking Guides
📖 Why did my cake sink in the middle?
Baking is a science. And just like scientific experiments in the lab, every step must be done carefully and correctly. A little difference in a process can greatly affect the result.
When your cake sinks in the middle, it means that something was wrong in the process, it may be a small yet crucial thing. Learn the different reasons below and try your best to avoid these mistakes in the future.
1. The cake is not fully baked
You spent pending your precious afternoon baking a delicious Marble loaf cake recipe from my blog only to find out that the cake loaf cake sunk in the middle. So you might wonder why does my cake sink after rising?
Taking out a cake from the oven before it gets fully baked is the most common reason for a sunken cake. Underbaking is a common way to make brownies fudge, but does not result in an appealing result when it comes to sponge cakes.
The cake batter receives heat on the outer part first, then the heat is transferred to the inner part. It means that the middle part is the last part that gets the heat. It also means that the middle interior of the cake will be the last part to cook.
When the cake is removed from the oven too soon, there is a chance that the inner side of the cake isn't fully baked. It can vary from semi-liquid to half-baked, either way, it's not strong enough to function as a supportive structure of the cake. As a result, the cake sank in the middle.
How to fix it;
Before it gets too late, put the cake back in the oven for several minutes.
Then, grab a toothpick and insert it into the cake in the middle part (make sure it touches the middle part of the cake interior). If the toothpick comes out with some moist cake batter, let the cake bake for a little more time. If the toothpick comes out clean, you can take the cake out.
How to prevent it in the future;
How to prevent cake from sinking after baking? Check the recommended baking time of the recipe but please do not follow any recipe blindly as each oven is different. During the final minute, insert a toothpick into the middle of the cake. If it comes out with some gooey, moist batter, you may need to bake your cake for several more minutes.
Repeat this process one or two more times during the final minutes until the toothpick comes out clean, which means that the cake is ready.
This tip alone won't guarantee that the cake will rise properly. There are other common things that cause a cake to sink and you want to avoid them completely. Continue reading.
2. The ingredients not measured correctly
Baking is science as we mentioned several times on this blog, and incorrectly measuring your ingredients is the most common reason for baking fails incl. cakes sinking in the middle.
Cup measurements are simply inaccurate when it comes to consistent happy baking as a small imbalance in the wet and dry ingredients can cause underbaked cakes or even the opposite, too dry texture.
How to prevent it in the future;
You must invest in an inexpensive Digital scale if want consistent results in baking. It cost literally 10USD and will save 90% of baking failures you might experience today.
Digital scale not only prevents imbalance in recipes but also makes fewer dirty dishes! Win-win!
3. The baking powder is expired
You might ask yourself, "What's wrong? Why did my cake not rise? I have added enough baking powder and made this cake before several times"
Maybe the baking powder (or baking soda) is not working. An expired baking powder won't give too many benefits to the cake batter so your cake might not rise well.
In some cases, maybe your baking powder is supposed to be still good. It's not too close to the expiration date. Yet, every cake baked using that baking powder refuses to rise. Maybe your baking powder has actually expired before the real expiration date. This can happen when the baking powder is exposed to too much moisture and humidity during storage.
How to prevent it in the future;
Baking powder usually lasts for about a year or less. If it has passed the expiration date, you probably need to get a new one.
If it's close to the expiration date and you're not sure whether it's still good because eg. you live in a very hot, moist climate, it is better to use a fresh bag of baking powder than risk your dessert.
Store your baking powder well and keep it away from too much moisture or it will expire sooner.
4. The baking powder is too much
"Why did my cake sink in the middle? I thought I have added a huge amount of baking powder to the batter?"
Well, that might be the problem.
Normally, you will only need a certain amount of baking powder for a cake batter. A little goes a long way. This wonderful ingredient has a significant function to help a cake rise well even when it's added in a small, yet proper amount.
A leavening agent such as baking powder is important to help the cake rise. However, it needs to be added to the right amount. Not too little and not too much.
Adding too much amount of leavening agents might be counter-productive. There is a high risk of the cake rising too much and deflating afterward.
How to prevent it in the future;
Make sure that the amount of leavening agent is correctly measured. Follow the recipe carefully. Is it 2 tablespoons or 2 teaspoons? When the recipe requires a leavening agent in a gram measurement, use a digital kitchen scale to avoid inaccuracy.
Also, mix it well with other dry ingredients (flour+salt) before incorporating it into the batter.
5. The ingredients are not at room temperature
Everything including the egg, butter, and milk must be prepared at room temperature when preparing a typical cake batter. Not too cold and not too warm. Otherwise, it's difficult to emulsify or mix them properly. This can terribly affect the cake structure and make it sink.
How to avoid it in the future;
Gather your ingredients and make sure that everything is not too cold or too warm, but at room temperature. If you plan to bake today, be sure to take out the milk, egg, and butter from the fridge about 1 hour before the baking starts. Let them achieve room temperature before whisking them.
6. The butter is too soft
Yes, it's important to whip room temperature butter along with the sugar. However, the butter should be still firm enough instead of soft or liquid. It needs to be soft, not melted. Creaming sugar with too soft butter may result in frothy bubbles which may collapse soon and greatly affect the texture and structure of the cake.
How to prevent it in the future;
Check the temperature of the butter before creaming it with the sugar. Ideally, the butter temperature should be 23 C / 73 F. If it's above that or it feels too soft, refrigerate it for several minutes before creaming it.
7. The butter and sugar are over whipped
Cake recipes usually start with creaming the butter and sugar. Don't underestimate this process as it's super important and it greatly affects the structure of the cake. Not creaming butter and sugar properly is one of the most common reasons why do cakes fall when cooling.
Beating the butter and sugar needs to be done using the right equipment and within the right amount of time.
During the creaming process, gas bubbles happen. They help with the structure of the cake. You will need these air bubbles but at the right amount. Overcreaming will result in too many air bubbles that can cause the cake to rise too quickly and deflate shortly.
How to prevent it in the future;
Follow the recommended creaming time in the recipe, usually, it only takes about 2-3 minutes. Beat the room-temperature butter and sugar using a mixer at a moderate speed. The result should be light and fluffy cream.
8. The batter is overmixed
Combining the wet ingredients and dry ingredients is one of the final steps before baking the cake. In this process, there is a good amount of air incorporated into the batter. This help with building the cake structure.
Mix the ingredients well until they look just combined. Stop your mixer right away when you see that the batter looks very well mixed.
Beating the batter for too long or too much is called overmixing. It can trap too much air in the batter. If this happens, the cake may rise too fast during the baking and quickly sink.
How to prevent it in the future;
Don't walk away from the oven when you're mixing the wet ingredients and dry ingredients. It will only take about a minute until they're fully combined. Stop mixing when the ingredients look just combined, best if you are using a rubber spatula, instead of a stand mixer.
9. The cake pan is incorrect
Check the recipe carefully, does it suggest a specific baking pan? If so, try your best to find the exact cake pan.
A baking pan supports the cake batter during the baking process. It helps the cake butter develop its best structure. Hence, it's super important to use the right kind of baking pan particularly when it comes to the size.
For example, when the baking pan is too small, you might need to overfill the baking pan with the batter. In this case, it's very likely that the cake isn't fully baked after the recommended baking duration. And as you have learned at the beginning of this post, when the cake is underbaked it may sink.
How to prevent it in the future;
Make sure to follow the recipe and the recommended pan sizes. If you do not own that particular size of baking pan, you want to consider increasing/decreasing the amount of ingredients and align them to the size of your available baking pan.
10. The oven is too hot
Before the actual baking process, make sure that the oven has been preheated to the correct temperature as suggested by the cake recipe as don´t wnt your favorite loaf cake sunk in middle.
Keep in mind that some ovens might display the wrong temperature. For example, the oven might say it's 180 C / 360 F while in fact, it's 193 C / 380 F. Use a digital oven thermometer for the best result.
When the oven temperature is too hot, the cake batter may rise too fast and then sink. In this case, usually, the outer part will look almost burnt and the middle part is still too moist and under-baked after the baking process.
How to prevent it in the future;
First of all, always check what the recipe suggests and try your best to follow the instruction. At what degrees should you preheat your oven? Is it in Celsius or in Fahrenheit?
Secondly, invest in an oven thermometer and use it to check the oven temperature.
Thirdly, for delicate large sponge cakes, I recommend using a cake pan strip - either store-bought or homemade - that ensures even baking. Check sponge cake recipe for more details and the science behind it.
11. The oven is not hot enough
The best investment that you can make to avoid cake sinking in the middle is a digital oven thermometer.
Most home ovens are either over or under heat resulting in unreliable baking processes that make your life very difficult when it comes to making delicate desserts such as sponge cakes.
When the oven temperature is not hot enough, the cake batter might rise but would require much more time in the oven, than you might think. So, as a result, you will take out the cake too soon, when in fact, it is not yet baked.
How to fix it;
Apply the toothpick check always baking taking the cake out of the oven. If your oven underheats, you might be able to save the cake by putting it back in the oven and baking it longer.
How to prevent it in the future;
Just as with the previous point (when the oven is too hot), always check what degrees should you preheat your oven. I always recommend slightly overheating your oven because when you open the oven door to place the cake in, the oven temperature always drops slightly.
But most importantly, invest in an oven thermometer and use it to check the oven temperature during the whole baking process.
12. The oven door is shut too quickly or slowly
After the batter is poured into the cake pan, it's time to actually bake the cake.
You will need to close the oven door after placing the baking pan in and if this is done carelessly, it can terribly affect the texture of the cake.
Here's the thing. When you shut the oven door too quickly, there is a high chance that the oven will experience a little shocking jolt. This can shake the cake batter as well, which can make it sink after the baking process.
Closing the oven door too slowly? The oven temperature will drop resulting, meaning you will need to bake the cake much longer and might take it out too soon while it is still under-baked.
How to avoid it in the future:
Always close your oven door gently. Yes, the oven is hot and you want to get away from the hot air as soon as possible, but please do it carefully so you don't shake the oven and pan. In the meantime, do not wander around the oven with its door open either.
13. The oven door is opened too soon
It's so tempting, right?
When you can't wait to see the final result, it can be hard to resist the urge of checking the cake layer in the oven. Sometimes, looking at them through the oven glass isn't enough and you really want to touch the cake during the baking process.
But please, don't do that. Opening your oven door means letting the hot air out. As a result, it's common to see the cakes sink after the oven is opened too prematurely or too many times.
Some recipes state to rotate the cake halfway through the baking time. Unless your oven heats extremely unevenly, I do not recommend rotating delicate desserts such as sponge cake, macaron, etc. as you are doing more harm than good.
How to avoid it in the future;
Let the cake bake with peace in the oven. Don't open the oven door only to watch the wonderful look of the batter. The only valid reasons to open your oven door during the baking process are when you need to rotate the pan (but do it only towards the end) and when something emergency happens.
If you find it's too hard to resist the temptation of opening the oven door to check the cake batter prematurely, distract yourself with something else. For example, while waiting for the cake to bake, prepare the frosting.
14. The cake recipe is simply unreliable
So, you have added the high-quality, right amount of ingredients required by the recipe and you have followed the instructions super carefully, closed the oven door carefully, and baked the cake at the required temperature, but the cake still sinks?
Maybe the problem is the recipe itself. Today, it's super easy to find a cake recipe, especially on the internet. However, not all of them are high-quality. Some recipes are not tested or developed professionally in regards to the ingredient quantities and ratios or are simply not explained well. If you try it, you may find your cake sink or taste awful.
How to avoid it in the future;
Use recipes from trusted baking resources. If you're using a recipe from the internet, try to look at the reviews, what do people say about the recipe?
Also, try to apply the knowledge you have learned in this article and troubleshoot possible mistakes or problems that occur on the way. Baking is a science and even with the best intention, the recipe might work differently using your ingredients and your oven, then for the creator of the recipe.
👩🍳 How to use a cake that sunk in the middle
So, what to do if your cake has sunk in the middle? Don't worry too much about it because most probably you can still save the cake!
Can you eat a cake that has sunk in the middle?
If the cake is not burnt and not totally liquid, there's a chance that it's edible, at least part of it. However, you need to check that the flavor is normal. If the cake sinks because it has too much leavening agent, the taste might go awry and you might not want to eat it.
If the sunken cake is indeed edible, proceed to save it. You can use a knife to level up the cake so it looks flat. Yes, you can decorate it!
How to decorate a sunken cake? You can simply cover the sunken area with extra frosting. If you want to do this in cake layers, make sure that the sunken part is facing the top and placed at the top of the cake to avoid the cake being wobbly.
You can also get super creative and replace the sunken part with a hole filled with jam or something delicious related to the theme of the cake.
If you don't want to use it as a layer, you can turn the cake into small cubes and make something else with it. For example, you can make an ice cream cake, cake pops, parfaits, cake trifles, or even cake parfaits! They are all attractive desserts!
❓FAQs
It depends on the cause of the sunken cake. If the cake sinks due to over creaming or overmixing, putting the cake back in the oven might not give any benefit.
If it's sunk because it's being underbaked, you can immediately put the cake back in the oven while it's hot.
The issue is that the sinking might not happen straight after you take the cake out of the oven, but minutes before. If this is the case, don't bother placing it back in the oven as the baking process has finished and the leavening agents might have stopped working.
As long as the cake isn't burnt, isn't row, and is made with the right amount of ingredients (eg. not too much baking powder), and the batter has walked through the correct process, a sunken cake should still taste good. The texture might be a bit denser or unpleasant, but the flavor should be nice.
Once the baking process is completed, a sunken cake is irreversible. It means that once it sinks, you can't make it rise again. However, you can cover this mistake using extra frosting to conceal the sunken part.
The cupcake batter and cake batter are very similar, if not the same. So, the reasons for a sunken cupcake are also similar to the sunken cake. It can be over-creaming, overmixing, too much baking powder, incorrect oven temperature, or the cupcake cups being overfilled.
Some recipes suggest rotating the baking pans in the oven during the cake baking process. This process includes opening the oven door, so this should be done at the right time. If this is done prematurely, the cake may sink. Avoid rotating your cake pan too early. Also, avoid rotating it in general unless your oven is really badly unevenly baking the cakes.
The cake that looks normal in the oven and falls once it cools down may happen due to too much or unstable air bubbles incorporated in the batter. Hence, it's important to avoid over-creaming and over-mixing when preparing the batter as well as taking out the cake too soon, before it has actually baked.
First, try your best to gather the correct ingredients and follow the instructions in the cake recipe carefully. Then, after pouring the batter into the baking pan, bang the pans on the kitchen countertop to release extra bubbles. You can also use a cake strip to surround the cake pan. I explain in more detail how the cake strip works in my sponge cake recipe.
Yes. Adding too much baking powder or baking soda can make a cake sink. When too much amount of leavening agents are added, there can be too many air bubbles develop in the batter and the cake may rise too much without enough support, then it sinks.
As long as it's not burnt and not raw, and the taste is normal, you can proceed to decorate your cake with frosting. Use additional frosting to conceal the sunken part and decorate the rest of the cake as usual.
You can also crush the cake into small crumbles and mix it with your ice cream to make an ice cream cake.
✨ Conclusions
"Why did my cake sink in the middle?"
Baking a cake requires quite some steps and they must be done carefully with precision. Practice makes perfect, so never give up! As covered in this article you must pay attention to the quality of ingredients, the temperature, and quantity of the ingredients, and how you cream the ingredients.
Besides, try your best to use the right baking tin and invest in a digital oven thermometer to avoid under-baked cakes, which is the most common reason for sunken cakes.
Yet, if something mistakenly happened that causes your cake to sink, don't worry too much about it. You can still make an impressive dessert with the sunken cake as long as the taste is good.
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