Help,


I am new to the cake world. I took one baking class and found this site and now I am slowly going broke supporting my hobby. I have been baking from scratch for 3 months now. Nothing professional yet just testing the waters and getting my cakes out there; I am finishing course 2 of Wilton. I have made over 10 cakes using the same recipe and no problems till last night.

I volunteer to make a cake for my nephews classes as well as 2 co-worker, brakes down to 6 cakes in 3 days. So I decide to do two per night. I am using an 8X3 and it takes 1 hr to bake at 350. Since I only have 1 mixer and 1 stove I have to bake in two parts. So while the first cake was in the oven I opened it to put the second cake. Then 30 minutes later I opened the over to take out the fist cake. Well they both dropped (the cake raised but the centers didnt)

As I said I have been doing this for 3 months and have been doing the 30 minutes oven opening and this has never happened before. So my question is do you think it was opening the oven that make the cake center drop? Or could it be the baking powder that I used? These two cakes were the first time I used this new brand of baking powder. (The side rose and quite high it was just the middle that didnt) Or could over creaming the butter and sugar effect the cake rising?

Now for the good news, after wanting to cry last night tonight I am turning my cakes into cake balls. Hope I have better luck with that.

If you're using the same recipe and techiques, and opening the oven door at 30 minutes didn't affect your previous cakes - then all things being the same except for the baking powder - I'd say it was the baking powder.

However, I don't check my cakes until the minimum baking time has elapsed, in order to prevent this situation.

What baking powder does:

Butter Cakes - Contain fat (butter, margarine, shortening) and rely on a chemical leavener (baking powder/baking soda) for their rise. They are flavorful, and have a good texture and volume. The American-style butter cake evolved from the English pound cake recipe of 1 pound of flour, 1 pound of sugar, 1 pound of butter, and 1 pound of eggs. The French called the pound cake "quatre-quarts" which translates to four-quarters, meaning 1/4 of the recipe is flour, 1/4 sugar, 1/4 butter and 1/4 eggs. The first pound cakes had no artificial leavener and volume was obtained through the mixing (aeration) of the batter. Other examples of butter cakes are the white and yellow cake, coffee cakes, teacakes, and fruitcakes. Some butter cakes are rich and flavorful enough to stand alone (fruitcakes, teacakes) or with a sifting of confectioners sugar or drizzled with a glaze. Others, layer or sheet butter cakes, taste even better with a layer of frosting, lemon curd, jam and preserves, nuts, or even ice cream.....More on Butter Cakes

Here's a chart of common baking problems:

http://www.joyofbaking.com/ButterCakes.html

HTH