Cakes that fall after being removed from the oven

I don't know if it's my oven or cake mixes have changed in recent years, but anytime I bake a cake from a cake mix, particularly Betty Crocker, it deflates to half its height and has that dark line at the bottom of the cake. Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Butter

well, when i make the Betty Crocker cakes, i usually place them in a long rectanuglar tin. the brownies dont deflate and the cake havent done such a thing for me. Let it cool down before you do anything to it.

Ill make sure what i do next time so i can tell you for sure

My first question would be, do you flour your pan? If you do, try skipping that step. It sucks the moisture out of the cake and can cause it to fall. Another thing is basically, make sure it's totally done before you remove it. Sometimes that unbaked center will fall.

I think i've read that it has to do with slamming the oven door when it's halfway through cooking? Maybe that's an old wives tale though...

Our oven is old so sometimes it leaves a little gap. That's probably why i never cook frozen fruit pies properly.

Raquelita said:

I think i've read that it has to do with slamming the oven door when it's halfway through cooking? Maybe that's an old wives tale though...

Click to expand...

Slamming the door while cooking WILL make it fall. So will little boys running through the house... and husbands who feel the need to lean on the oven and give it a little jostle while removing themselves once they realize it's hot.

When you check to see if the cake's done, do you poke it? Like with a knife or toothpick? Sometimes when I do that, it seems to release alot of air from the inside of the cake and when I take it out, it's always got that fallen dent in the middle. I've found that rather than poking it, it's better to touch it with your finger and see if it's springy. Sticky bad, springy good. Also, once it's started to pull itself away from the side of the pan, this usually means it's pretty well done.

Do you have an oven thermometer? If you set your oven to 350 - is it really 350 during the baking process? All ovens should be calibrated - especially as they age or get constant use.

When your oven temperature is too low the structure of your cake may not set as it should - even though you cooked your cake the proper amount of time.

Do you test your cake with a wooden toothpick?? Insert in the middle and if there is any "batter" on the toothpick - your cake is not done and needs to cook longer.

Cakes do not always cook in the same amount of time.

When making a cake, playing around with the sugar and fat in the recipe to save on calories will do it too. Old baking powder does that too - but this is for homemade cake recipes.

Most likely - I would say it's your actual oven temperature versus what your oven dial is set to. A cheapo oven thermometer will help you to get your oven to the right temp before you put your cake in to bake.

Ya know, this is a good idea Mama. I need to go buy one and test my oven. I swear that I can cook something for 10 minutes longer than the recipe says and it STILL won't be done. Like biscuits... 8-10 minutes? Not in my oven! Try 15 and they're still not always brown at that point.

I never knew the running through the house thing could really make a cake flop. I always thought my mom was just trying to get us to settle down when she'd tell us to knock it off. haha.

I use the tooth pick test on mine. My oven is usually pretty acurate within a few minutes +/- of what the recipe says.

The first pancakes

Whenever I make pancakes the first set always doens't turn out right. I've tried to let the pan heat up first, but it didn't work. Anyone else have this problem, any advice?

Try heating your pan slowly, greasing and heating longer. Then adjust your flame/heat. Even heat works best. Grease and heat between batches. Sometimes cheaper pans make lousy ones.

I agree that sometimes cheaper pans don't do the job you want. And it seems to me that my first batch of pancakes never comes out right either. I'm thinking it's because I use the first as a temp tester. And usually it's way to hot and I end up with a burnt mess. We can most likely attribute that to my lack of patience in waiting for a pan to heat, so I blast the fire. Yeah I know... wrong way to cook.

But I've found that I can use my electric griddle and they never seem to burn. We can most likely attribute this to my impatience also. The griddle doesn't heat up very quickly... so the pancakes are dropped before it's hot. *laughs*

A good pancake hint is to remember not to mix your batter to much. It's suppose to have some lumps in it. Also, you could try letting it sit for 10 minutes or so. Maybe the 2nd batch is better because the batter has been sitting there waiting. And remember to flip them with you've got popped bubbles on top. And now... I think I shall go make some pancakes.