I have been using the above recipe for a while now, which was originally published in Southern Living.
WHen it works, it always gets RAVE reviews, but its SOO unpredicatble. Either it forms a crust at the top of hte pan or cupcake cup with a gap between the cake underneath, or its collapses immediately as i remove it from the oven. We are talking serious devstating throw it out collapse, kinda like an inverted cupcake. AS though the mixture evaporated!
Any thoughts?WHy does my chocolate cake recipe collapse and always produce inconsistent results?
This is the basic batter mix, not the cake per se. It depends upon which cake you are making what the directions are. You have to click on one of the links in the description...ie This recipe goes with Praline cake, peppermint cake, etc.
Sometimes they use square 8'; pans, sometimes square 9'; pans, sometimes two round deep 8'; or 9'; pans, sometimes three shallower 8'; or 9' pans.
And the baking temps and times vary with the actual recipe too. I was reading the reviews and one person said they baked it at 350F for 20 to 35 mins, one baked it in a sunflower bundt pan with teff flour at 350F for 1 hour, and one said they baked at 325F for 45 minutes (and never had a problem). One of the reviewers said to go very slowly with the alternating mix of sour cream and flour. One of the reviewers remarked that they thought that a full box of brown sugar seemed to be too much and might be a misprint. A few people had the collapsing problem too. But baking time would depend upon the number/size of cake pans and the temp.
You want to make sure that your baking soda is not expired, but I don't think it ever expires....WHy does my chocolate cake recipe collapse and always produce inconsistent results?
I checked out the recipe. Often times, it can be that the eggs and butter were not at room temperature prior to adding to mixing bowl - also, over-mixing is key. Try this - when you get to the end and it says to alternate the sour cream and flour mix, try blending the sour cream on the lowest stir setting of your mixer and then add the flour mix all at once. Again, turn mixer on the lowest setting and blend until just mixed, even if you have to hand stir it a bit at the end. I think those two items will fix the issue. Also, I am thinking that maybe your oven may not be exact with what the temp shows? I am thinking it is not cooking quickly enough. (try buying a thermometer that hangs in the oven and test it out to make sure it is right)
I think these things will really help. : )
When you take the cake out of the oven shut all windows and doors so you have a constant temperature. Also dont keep opening the oven door when it is cooking as the temperature will keep dropping. Is the thermastat on your oven working? Try getting a thermometer attached onto your oven so you can check the temperature is accuate. I've also found that if I put the cake tin in the preheated oven before i put the mixture in helps as it startts cooking straight away and doesnt bring the temperature down. Hope this helps.
I fit collapses, it's undercooked. Test it for doneness with a toothpick or broomstraw--don't merely rely on the time given in the recipe.
make sure all ingredients are at room temperature (unless it is said to keep chilled in recipe) and also make sure that you are measuring all your ingredients accurately.
have the oven preheated and ready to go.
also when you are baking this cake: notice what you do when the cake comes out fine and also notice what you do when the cake falls.
thats really all i can think of. i went to baking school for 2 years and these where the things we did and out cakes always turned out great (well unless we make a mistake)
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