Lengthy explanation but I started a wedding cake for Saturday last night and baked the 8" layer. The first time I baked it, I used a butter cake mix and french vanilla pudding in the cake. It rose BEAUTIFULLY, then when I went to take it out/check for doneness after the 50 minutes, the middle was still wiggly. So I put in back in and placed aluminum foil on top so it didn't burn. When I took the foil off a few minutes later, the whole cake did a nose dive in the middle. So I thought OKay, I'll just put in a regular cake mix and go exactly by the recipe so I don't have any problems. That one had no foil, no heavy footed DH's or me walking around and when I went into the kitchen to get the 2nd one out, it looked like the edges had risen wonderfully but looked like somebody had dropped a baseball into the middle of it!
I have to finish this cake tonight and am really losing my mind! Any help or suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated!
Have you calibrated your oven lately (make sure the temperature is correct??) What temp are you baking it at? Are you using a name brand mix? (Just trying to come up with something here, I have never had that happen - knock on wood!) That has to be extremely frustrating....wish I could be of more help.
I just got off the phone with my Wilton instructor and he told me to go buy a oven thermometer and make sure everything is baking the way it's supposed to. So I'm going to try that and see what happens. I'm using the Duncan Hines cake mixes that are Wilton stamped at 325 like the Wilton wedding cake instructions say. I've never had this problem in the past. Thanks for the bumps guys! What is that exactly? I'm REALLY new to the boards!
Not Squirrelly--but it sounds to me like your oven is running too hot. Your pans could also be over-filled or your batter (for some reason) could be wet.
These are the only things I can think of. You could maybe try lowering your temp a bit or using a flower nail as a heating core.
Lisa
Thanks everybody for all the input! I'll report back after the wedding and hopefully, be able to post my 1st pic!!
I hope all turned out well for your wedding cake!
It sounds like your oven temp may be off. However...I have noticed lots of improvement when using a flower nail as a heating core.
Inaccurate oven temperatures are the reasons for the majority of our baking problems. It is not something that we did wrong, but something is wrong with our oven. I always check my oven with an oven thermometer before I bake a Wedding cake. I have never lower my oven to 325 for a small cake like an 8". I lower only for larger cakes. Starting with a 12' I know that it says inside of the box to preheat oven to 325".but it reads at the top of box: Tier/large Layer cake instructions. I wonder if your oven was really heating to 325", if it was lower then 325", this would cause it to fall. There are so many reasons for a cake falling. If you put to much water or oil, or excessive overbeating. I forgot, even underbeating. I bet you did nothing wrong, but what is wrong is your oven. Don't you just love it when you get those cakes all baked, then the fun begins, DECORATING! Good Luck
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