5 Top reasons for sunken cakes

It can be heart breaking to see the cake that you’ve baked with so much love and effort sink in the center. Are you wondering why that happened?

Here are some of most likely causes of the sunken cake:

Too Much leavening agent

  1. You might think that adding a little extra baking powder or leavening agent will cause your cakes to fluff up. But that’s where you are wrong.
  2. Adding too much baking powder, soda or other leavening agent will result in the creation of too much air, which is more than the actual structure can support.
  3. The ideal ratio for a leavening agent is 1 teaspoon or agent for one cup of flour.

Old Baking Powder

  1. The shelf life of baking powder is very less. Don’t hesitate to toss in the dustbin if you have it lying around for more than 6 months.
  2. You should also store baking powder properly if you want it to work properly.
  3. You can even test the baking powder by adding it to hot water. If it bubbles then the baking powder is good to use.
  4. The success of a good cake depends on this ingredient for which very little is required.

Over beating

  1. The temperature of the oven should be just right. Remember to always preheat the oven at the right temperature if you want the cake to rise right.
  2. The leavening agent will work only at the right temperature.
  3. Also try to keep opening the oven door in between as it results in the oven temperature to drop, which in turn results in a sunken cake.

Over beating

  1. The batter should be beaten right to get it to be fluffy, especially the eggs. But once you add the dry ingredients, do not over beat the mixture as it can lead to the sinking of the mixture. Folding the mixture is the ideal way to get the dry ingredients incorporated in the cake batter.

Time of baking

  1. Do not take too much time in placing the cake in oven to bake once the batter has been made completely.
  2. Once the wet ingredients mix with the dry ingredients, a chemical reaction takes place. We then place the cake in the oven to bake to seal in the air that is caused by the chemical reaction.

So if you want to land up with a fluffy cake, try to avoid the above mistakes.