Why Your Cake Sank in the Middle—Plus How to Fix It (2024)

FAQs

Why Your Cake Sank in the Middle—Plus How to Fix It? ›

Overbeating, Overmixing, or Undermixing Your Cake Batter

Too much air and your cake will collapse because it simply can't hold onto all that air. Overbeating can add too much additional air and/or large air bubbles which the cake can't support, causing it to collapse in the oven.

Overbeating, Overmixing, or Undermixing Your Cake Batter

Too much air and your cake will collapse because it simply can't hold onto all that air. Overbeating can add too much additional air and/or large air bubbles which the cake can't support, causing it to collapse in the oven.

The best way to avoid sinking fruit is to toss the fruit in a couple of tablespoons of the flour (just use some from the measured amount for the recipe) to coat it lightly. Once added to the cake mixture the flour coating will thicken the batter immediately surrounding the fruit and help suspend the fruit.

To stop your cake from doming, line the outsides of your cake tin with a double layer of foil. Simply take long strips of foil, fold them to the height of your cake pan and wrap around the outside. The extra foil slows down the heating of the pan, so the cake batter at the edges won't cook as quickly.

Use Cake Strips to Prevent your Cake from Doming

Simply soak them in water, squeeze out the excess, and wrap them around the outside of your tin. This simple step is a game-changer for achieving a perfectly level cake.

Depending on how your cake broke, your best option might be to “glue” it back together. Think of the frosting as mortar and spread it in and around the crack to get the cake to hold. Then frost all around it to cover the mistake, chill, and voila! Nobody will know (or care) when you slice it up and serve it.

The oven temperature is too high. If the top crust forms and sets before the cake has finished rising, the middle will try to push through the crust as it continues to bake, causing it to crack and possibly dome. Check your oven with an oven thermometer and reduce the temperature accordingly if it is running hot.

If the cake is still hot or warm, you can return it to the oven to bake it until it's done. Once an underbaked cake has cooled, you cannot salvage it as a proper cake. However, you can bake it and then use it for other purposes, such as cake crumbles to sprinkle over ice cream or smoothies.

If your cake has a soggy middle, the first thing to try is bringing the temperature down a little and baking for slightly longer. I'd suggest reducing the temperature by 20 degrees and increasing the baking time for 7 minutes.

The cold cake layers cause the buttercream to stiffen up a bit, which makes your cake more stable once it's assembled. If you make your cake layers in advance and freeze them, just take them out of the freezer and unwrap them about 20 minutes before you plan to use them.

What happens when your cake sinks? ›

A cake bakes from the outside in, so if the cake is not baking for a long enough time, it can cause a dip in the middle. This is because the center of the cake is not cooked enough, and it can cause cakes to sink once they are removed from the oven and has time to set and rest.

Conventional wisdom is that excessive heat causes a peaked, cracked “volcano” center as the leavening explodes quicky and the cake sets in a peak (like muffins, which are usually baked at a higher temperature to create a peak).

In order to bake cake evenly, you have to insulate its edges. Preventing the temperature of batter at the edge from increasing quickly allows the cake to rise longer before it sets. A cake whose edges rise at nearly the same rate as its center will remain flat across the top — no dome, perfect for stacking and icing.

Most cakes will call for a leavening agent like baking powder or baking soda. These create the bubbles you need for the cake to rise. If the flour you use is self-raising, it already has a leavening agent in it. Make sure your butter is room temperature, and beat the butter and sugar together until properly creamed.

Depending on how your cake broke, your best option might be to “glue” it back together. Think of the frosting as mortar and spread it in and around the crack to get the cake to hold. Then frost all around it to cover the mistake, chill, and voila! Nobody will know (or care) when you slice it up and serve it.

If you add too much batter to the cupcake cavities, the batter will rise too much and will consequently fall and deflate, which will leave the middle of the cupcakes looking sad and sunken. How to fix: fill up each cavity with up to 2/3 of the way with batter.