cake sunken in the middle

[ashley0323]

Can anyone explain to me why this happens? Better yet, what can I do to prevent this? It has to be an error im making, as I don't think its a common issue. I used a boxed cake mix and the middle of the cake was sunken in after it had been baked and cooled. I still frosted and served it, and it had no other issues, tasted great!

 

[Missy789]

It could've be undercooked, or the oven temperature may have varied too much, generally caused by opening the oven door too often. There are other possibilities but generally wouldn't apply to boxed cake mixes.

 

[Winterybella]

I am no expert here. Where is @ChesterV ? I know it can happen if you open the oven too early and take a peep before the cake is ready. I think it has happened to me where I used too big of a pan for my mixed cakes but I was just guessing that was the problem. I hope some of the others will be along to help you out. I'll probably Google it when I have some more time.

 

[ChesterV]

Yes, there are all sorts of issues that can cause this--

*Over mixing the batter
*Under mixing the batter
*Oven not hot enough
*Oven too hot
*Opened oven door before the first 10-15 minutes has passed
*Expired ingredients
*Wrong kind of flour
*Pan too thick for the kind of batter being baked

 

[Winterybella]

I knew the expert @ChesterV would be along to help us out and I am sure he did not have to Google it like I would have had to do. Thank you @ChesterV. At least I got half of one right with the opening of the oven. I did not realise it had a time frame attached to it.