Luckily this particular issue happened on a cake I was making for my own birthday so I could try out new icing recipes and decorating styles...

The cakes baked wonderfully and looked nice and fluffy when removing from the oven but within 10 minutes of cooling, if that, they had pulled away from the sides of the pans and shrunk 1/2 inch at least in height. Both cakes (2 6" rounds) did this but I'm not sure why... They didn't FALL due to noise or banging but I'm wondering if maybe the temperature in my house caused issues with the cooling process? Or was this a recipe issue?

Any tips to help me solve this issue would be appreciated! I don't want it to happen again when it's a cake I need to deliver to someone.

THANK YOU!

Scratch recipe or Mix?

I think it might be the heat difference that the cakes are suddenly exposed to... if ur kitchen is too cold, this will happen (or at least happens with me )

Interesting... are they sunken in the middle at all? I wonder if they were slightly underbaked or if there just isn't enough structural elements in the cake (ie: eggs and flour?)

I asked which kind of cake it is because it does make a difference in how it works in and out of the oven. My scratch cakes will rise in the oven, but when they come out they sink til they are totally flat, not sunken in the middle. If it is a scratch recipe it may have just acted normal. If it is a mix, it might not be the same. Either way if it sinks to a totally flat topped cake, then it is a good thing.

Thanks for the hints - This recipe was scratch. And they did shrink to a completely, uniformly flat top. Which made it very nice for stacking purposes but then cake was then very dense so it worried me that something may have been wrong since all reviews of this particular recipe mentioned how nice and "fluffy" it was.

AThis happened to me a.few.times now.i think.when.i added eztra flavoring that is liquid or.food coloring that is liquid it changed the cakw.chemisrty.i needed to add more flour or i tried another egg. I also noticed if my air conditioner was.on when.i took them.out.of the oven they quickly shrank hitting.the cool.air seems best.to.not.mess with the batter recipe.adding more liquid.and the kitchen should.be.warm and even i let cake.cool.in.oven turned off.with door.open

Sounds a bit overbaked.  Take the cake out of the oven maybe 5 minutes earlier.  Cakes continue to bake even after they are out of the oven, until they cool.