Why did my cake do that



V

Vince Poroke

Guest
My cake sunk down in the center and formed a crust on the edge. What would cause this to happen? The
flavor was wonderful and the cake was moist but it just didn't have the consistancy that I was
hoping for. Here is the recipe. I didn't use pastry flour.

Cake Butter and flour, for spring form pan 2 cups pastry flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
4/2 teaspoons baking soda
5/2 teaspoon salt 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature 2 cups sugar 4 eggs
6/2 cup plus 2 ounces buttermilk
7/2 cup plus 2 ounces espresso coffee 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract Milk Chocolate Ganache,
recipe follows

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter and flour a 10-inch springform pan. Sift the flour, cocoa,
baking soda, and salt 3 times, set aside. Cream the butter with the sugar until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs 1 at a time beating well after each addition. Combine the buttermilk, coffee and
vanilla extract. Mix in 1/3 of the dry ingredients, then half the wet ingredients. Repeat with the
remaining dry and wet ingredients, finishing with dry. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan.
Bake for 1 hour, until a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. remove the cake
from the pan after 15 minutes. Cool completely. Cut the cake into 2 layers. Sandwich whipped ganache
between the 2 layers and spread more ganache on the top and sides of the cake. Wrap the chocolate
covered acetate around the cake, chocolate side in, overlapping the ends slightly. Refrigerate the
cake until the chocolate in the ribbon has set. Carefully remove the acetate before serving.
 
Vince Poroke wrote:
> My cake sunk down in the center and formed a crust on the edge. What would cause this to happen?
> The flavor was wonderful and the cake was moist but it just didn't have the consistancy that I
> was hoping for.

I can't critique the recipe, but I had some other thoughts:

1) Did you open the oven too many times to peek in? (Air comes in, cools, cake batter sinks, but
outer rim is already baked, etc.)

2) Did you use a dark interior pan? (Dark holds more heat, cooks the outside too quickly,
forms a crust)

A suggestion or two - Divide the batter into two pans, which will decrease your bake time. Also, use
Magic Cake Strips next time for an even, level cake.

-j.
 
(Vince Poroke) writes:

>My cake sunk down in the center and formed a crust on the edge. What would cause this to happen?
>The flavor was wonderful and the cake was moist but it just didn't have the consistancy that I was
>hoping for. Here is the recipe. I didn't use pastry flour.
>
>
>Cake Butter and flour, for spring form pan 2 cups pastry flour
> 3/4 cup cocoa powder
>11/2 teaspoons baking soda
> 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature 2 cups sugar 4 eggs
> 1/2 cup plus 2 ounces buttermilk
> 1/2 cup plus 2 ounces espresso coffee 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Looks like way to much sugar (I mean you have equal parts sugar to flour) and too much liquid to dry
ingredients (in baking sugar and fat are considered liquids). Your recipe is definitely fercockt.

---= BOYCOTT FRENCH--GERMAN (belgium) =--- ---= Move UNITED NATIONS To Paris =--- Sheldon
```````````` "Life would be devoid of all meaning were it without tribulation."
 
Magic Cake Strips?

"June Oshiro" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]
berlin.de...
> Vince Poroke wrote:
> > My cake sunk down in the center and formed a crust on the edge. What would cause this to
> > happen? The flavor was wonderful and the cake was moist but it just didn't have the consistancy
> > that I was hoping for.
>
> I can't critique the recipe, but I had some other thoughts:
>
> 1) Did you open the oven too many times to peek in? (Air comes in, cools, cake batter sinks, but
> outer rim is already baked, etc.)
>
> 2) Did you use a dark interior pan? (Dark holds more heat, cooks the outside too quickly, forms a
> crust)
>
> A suggestion or two - Divide the batter into two pans, which will decrease your bake time. Also,
> use Magic Cake Strips next time for an even, level cake.
>
> -j.
 
"PENMART01" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> >
> >Cake Butter and flour, for spring form pan 2 cups pastry flour
> > 3/4 cup cocoa powder
> >11/2 teaspoons baking soda
> > 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature 2 cups sugar 4 eggs
> > 1/2 cup plus 2 ounces buttermilk
> > 1/2 cup plus 2 ounces espresso coffee 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
>
> Looks like way to much sugar (I mean you have equal parts sugar to flour)

If you look at in terms of weight it's a lot more sugar than flour. I'm not a much of a pastry maker
but that seems a bit odd.

-Mike
 
"Vince Poroke" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> My cake sunk down in the center and formed a crust on the edge. What would cause this to happen?
> The flavor was wonderful and the cake was moist but it just didn't have the consistancy that I was
> hoping for. Here is the recipe. I didn't use pastry flour.
>
>
> Cake Butter and flour, for spring form pan 2 cups pastry flour
> 3/4 cup cocoa powder
> 11/2 teaspoons baking soda
> 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature 2 cups sugar 4 eggs
> 1/2 cup plus 2 ounces buttermilk
> 1/2 cup plus 2 ounces espresso coffee 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract Milk Chocolate Ganache, recipe
> follows

If the formula is well balance and your oven is properly calibrated, the reason that cakes form an
outer crust is that the temperature is too high. When cakes fall in the middle it is because they
are under-baked. You should get an oven thermometer and verify that your oven is calibrated. You
also need to test for doneness before removing the cake from the oven.

I see a couple of issues with the formula. First, as others have mentioned, there is more sugar by
weight than flour. Unless you are using a "hi ratio" shortening with emulsifiers, then you should
have the same weight or less of sugar as you do flour. In this case you have 400 grams of sugar and
250 grams of flour. The small amount of cocoa isn't enough to offset the excess sugar and has no
structure forming proteins

The second issue is the leavening. The general rule is that you need 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda for
each cup of flour. You also need enough acid ingredients to react with the soda. It looks like you
have too much baking soda. If it all reacted, that would account, in part, for the collapse. Too
much leavening causes a cake to rise beyond the limits of the structure and then it collapses.
 
"PENMART01" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

> "Mike Pearce" writes:

> >I'm not a much of a pastry maker but that seems a bit odd.
>
> That? That WHAT? What seems odd, that by volume sugar weighs more than flour... why is that odd?
>
> What's really odd is that I haven't called you a functionally illiterate *******, yet... so just
> keep critiquing my posts with your assinine
comments...
>

Now that you mention it, given my admittedly poor writing skills, I find it odd as well.

Do you really think I've been critiquing your posts? Negatively?

I hope you are having a wonderful holiday season.

Take care, -Mike
 
June Oshiro <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> Vince Poroke wrote:
> > My cake sunk down in the center and formed a crust on the edge. What would cause this to
> > happen? The flavor was wonderful and the cake was moist but it just didn't have the consistancy
> > that I was hoping for.
>
> I can't critique the recipe, but I had some other thoughts:
>
> 1) Did you open the oven too many times to peek in? (Air comes in, cools, cake batter sinks, but
> outer rim is already baked, etc.)
>
> 2) Did you use a dark interior pan? (Dark holds more heat, cooks the outside too quickly, forms a
> crust)
>
> A suggestion or two - Divide the batter into two pans, which will decrease your bake time. Also,
> use Magic Cake Strips next time for an even, level cake.
>
> -j.

Sorry I haven't had access to my computer. That is a good rememdy, split it between two pans.
 
"Vox Humana" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> "Vince Poroke" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > My cake sunk down in the center and formed a crust on the edge. What would cause this to happen?
> > The flavor was wonderful and the cake was moist but it just didn't have the consistancy that I
> > was hoping for. Here is the recipe. I didn't use pastry flour.
> >
> >
> > Cake Butter and flour, for spring form pan 2 cups pastry flour
> > 3/4 cup cocoa powder
> > 11/2 teaspoons baking soda
> > 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature 2 cups sugar 4 eggs
> > 1/2 cup plus 2 ounces buttermilk
> > 1/2 cup plus 2 ounces espresso coffee 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract Milk Chocolate Ganache,
> > recipe follows
>
> If the formula is well balance and your oven is properly calibrated, the reason that cakes form an
> outer crust is that the temperature is too high. When cakes fall in the middle it is because they
> are under-baked. You should get an oven thermometer and verify that your oven is calibrated. You
> also need to test for doneness before removing the cake from the oven.
>
> I see a couple of issues with the formula. First, as others have mentioned, there is more sugar by
> weight than flour. Unless you are using a "hi ratio" shortening with emulsifiers, then you should
> have the same weight or less of sugar as you do flour. In this case you have 400 grams of sugar
> and 250 grams of flour. The small amount of cocoa isn't enough to offset the excess sugar and has
> no structure forming proteins
>
> The second issue is the leavening. The general rule is that you need 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda
> for each cup of flour. You also need enough acid ingredients to react with the soda. It looks like
> you have too much baking soda. If it all reacted, that would account, in part, for the collapse.
> Too much leavening causes a cake to rise beyond the limits of the structure and then it collapses.

Thank you very much for the scientific approach to answering this. I pulled this recipe off of
Foodnetwork.com. I would have thought that they would know what they are doing.
 
"Vince Poroke" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> "Vox Humana" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> > "Vince Poroke" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> > news:[email protected]...
> > > My cake sunk down in the center and formed a crust on the edge. What would cause this to
> > > happen? The flavor was wonderful and the cake was moist but it just didn't have the
> > > consistancy that I was hoping for. Here is the recipe. I didn't use pastry flour.
> > >
> > >
> > > Cake Butter and flour, for spring form pan 2 cups pastry flour
> > > 3/4 cup cocoa powder
> > > 11/2 teaspoons baking soda
> > > 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature 2 cups sugar 4 eggs
> > > 1/2 cup plus 2 ounces buttermilk
> > > 1/2 cup plus 2 ounces espresso coffee 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract Milk Chocolate Ganache,
> > > recipe follows
> >
> > If the formula is well balance and your oven is properly calibrated, the reason that cakes form
> > an outer crust is that the temperature is too
high.
> > When cakes fall in the middle it is because they are under-baked. You should get an oven
> > thermometer and verify that your oven is calibrated.
You
> > also need to test for doneness before removing the cake from the oven.
> >
> > I see a couple of issues with the formula. First, as others have
mentioned,
> > there is more sugar by weight than flour. Unless you are using a "hi
ratio"
> > shortening with emulsifiers, then you should have the same weight or
less of
> > sugar as you do flour. In this case you have 400 grams of sugar and 250 grams of flour. The
> > small amount of cocoa isn't enough to offset the
excess
> > sugar and has no structure forming proteins
> >
> > The second issue is the leavening. The general rule is that you need
1/4
> > teaspoon of baking soda for each cup of flour. You also need enough
acid
> > ingredients to react with the soda. It looks like you have too much
baking
> > soda. If it all reacted, that would account, in part, for the collapse. Too much leavening
> > causes a cake to rise beyond the limits of the
structure
> > and then it collapses.
>
>
> Thank you very much for the scientific approach to answering this. I pulled this recipe off of
> Foodnetwork.com. I would have thought that they would know what they are doing.

I have concluded that Food Network is all about entertainment and very little about cooking.