Need help troubleshooting a cake that collapses after baking - Page 2

Well just how oily were the other batches. Basically what you described was you used your tried and true recipe but added 1 ingredient more. Was it so much more? Place some of your 1st batch (if you didn't already throw it out) on a paper towel for 30 seconds. See how much of an oil spot it leaves. If its really soggy then you will need to adjust the butter/shortening.

The adjustments should only have been be to offset the new ingredient not reinvent the wheel.

You added a WHOLE CUP of jimmies to one cake layer???? Yeah, that's a HUGE ommission of information. Follow auntginn's instructions. I'm out.

The jimmies don't need to be balanced with butter or anything else because they don't dissolve in the batter. They are FYI just sugar and colour. I can't see anything to change in the original cake recipe except that I personally would use 1/2 cup jimmies.

The other alternative is to use small chips of the candy melts in different colours--chill them and buzz in a FP with a little flour. Again, no need to re-balance the recipe because they do not dissolve in the batter.

Your baking time in the 14" pan is more or less what I get with cake strips--no core.

So here's what you do need to check--your local buttermilk. It sounds way too acid. Try mixing half buttermilk and half milk next time you bake this recipe. Or else you can use buttermilk powder (sifted with your flour) and the same volume of water.

Sorry you wasted so much time and ingredients today. I hope you can make cake balls with the fallen cakes. Your owl cake pops are adorable.

I didn't think it was foolishness. Just stress which we have all been there. Call it Murphey's Law even. We're all guilty of trying to make things work out perfect but when things a wrong we can't see it clearly. It helps to have another opinion to help think it thru.

I for one and I'm sure the others will say they were glad to be there for you during your delimma. It's what this site is all about.

I wish you all the best with your cake and pray your customer is equally pleased.

I was having problems with cakes collapsing after years of no problem with my scratch recipes. Like you, I couldn't figure out what was wrong. i kept buying what i thought was fresh tins of baking powder for each cake but that didn't solve the problem either. Then my elderly neighbor suggested that I make my own baking powder from scratch (2 parts cream of tartar to one part baking soda) and that solved the problem. I don't know if that will help you but it sure helped me.

Did you test the oven temperature?

Actually, having thought this over during the night, if you want to add jimmies to this specific cake batter, you could try using slightly stronger flour.

Depending on what flour you are using now, how to make "stronger" flour will vary. I am used to baking with KAF (AP and bread machine flour). I would use 1/3 KAF AP and 2/3 your current cake/pastry flour to get the batter right to hold up the jimmies. The buttermilk will tenderize the gluten so don't worry. I would also premix the jimmies with 1/4 cup of your cake flour per cup of jimmies.

I think your oven temp is close to being right, maybe try 25'F higher for the first 15 minutes and then lower it back to the setting you are using now. I bake up to 15" pans without a heating core, just the magic cake strips. FYI the strips have a coating that keeps them wet longer than just strips of towels--well worth the investment if you get them on sale. Mine last for a couple of years of constant use.

I use the "nutritional info" on labels to see just how much of the jimmies might be sugar and how much would be oil. I think the oil is used to waterproof and to help coat with the food coloring, rather than being an integral part of the mass. When you get them really wet, they look just like white balls of sugar.

I have found that baking larger cakes is a good way to magnify any problems like the buttermilk etc. You baked a testing layer that turned out just fine---it's the biggie that is in need of a little help. Or else the buttermilk culture has become more sour at the dairy.

I had asked a question about leavening in the recipe forum.

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