After my fair share of sunken cake layers, I took to researching why exactly a cake recipe (even one you’ve had success with in the past!) would deflate in the center. Without further ado, here are the top 9 reasons I could gather: 

1: Your Baking Powder is Expired

Baking powder is one of the ingredients that gives your cake a beautiful rise. Unlike baking soda, which pretty much lasts forever, baking powder will expire between 6 months and one year. It’s especially sensitive to humidity and moisture, so to preserve it for as long as possible, you need to ensure it’s well stored in a cool, dry pantry.   

I always write the date that I open a new can of baking powder on the lid just to remember how long I have until it expires. If you’re not sure how long it’s been, you can test your baking powder by adding ½ teaspoon into a cup and adding ¼ cup of boiling water. If it bubbles up immediately, it’s still good. If not, it’s important that you get a new tin before baking a cake recipe. Sadly, expired baking powder won’t allow for the chemical reaction that a cake needs to rise. 

2: Too Much Leavening Agent 

If there’s too much baking powder or baking soda in a cake recipe, it can cause your cake to rise too rapidly, then sink shortly thereafter. The amount really depends on the other ingredients of the recipe.

A general rule of thumb for the amount of leavening agent in a cake recipe is one teaspoon of baking powder and/or ¼ teaspoon of baking soda per cup of flour. There are exceptions to this for sure, as not all cake recipes have both leavening agents. Some cake recipes that are ultra acidic (like a lemon cake) will require less baking powder to rise because the acidity of lemons cancels it out. See? So much science. 

3: Over-Creaming the Butter and Sugar 

The process of creaming the butter and sugar in a cake recipe is super important to the rise (or fall) of the cake. The majority of gas bubbles are created in the creaming process, and those are responsible for creating both texture and rise. A good rule of thumb is to cream the butter and sugar at a moderate speed for 2-3 minutes. Any more than that and you can end up either losing those precious gas bubbles or creating so many that the cake will rise too quickly and then sink immediately thereafter. 

I tested this theory with my vanilla cake recipe and creamed the mixture for a little bit longer (four minutes) and it’s true – any more than 2-3 minutes, or any higher power on your mixer than medium, will whip too much air into the mixture and cause your cake to fall in the oven. Be sure to follow the recipe exactly when it comes to creaming the butter and sugar, and if you’re ever curious about the time it takes for this to occur (because sometimes recipes don’t specify a time), just cream the room temperature butter with the sugar for 2-3 minutes on medium and you should be good to go. It should be “light and fluffy” after that amount of time, which looks like this: 

4: Your Butter is Too Soft 

Baking involves quite a bit of patience, and bringing the butter to room temperature is no exception. But what exactly is “room temperature”? According to the internet, perfectly room temperature butter will be 68ºF, which means it’ll be a little soft when you press into it, but not so soft that it’s easy to indent with your finger or on the verge of melting. 

If your environment is especially hot, you need to keep an eye on your butter and make sure you don’t leave it out too long before starting on the cake batter. And on the flipside, attempting to soften your butter in the microwave often results in too-soft butter. Regardless of how you ended up with butter that is over-softened, creaming it with the sugar will result in air bubbles that are frothy, hence destroying your chances of a light and fluffy rise. 

5: Over-Beating the Batter 

The process of mixing up cake batter requires beating in just the right amount of air. The air that you beat in is partly responsible for the rise in your cake, and if you beat in too much, your cake will rise too rapidly in the oven and then sink. Over-beating will also overdevelop the gluten in the batter, which will make the texture of your cake more dense. This common problem typically happens at the end of a cake recipe, when you’re adding in the final dry and wet ingredients. 

At the end of most of my cake recipes, I have the mixer on low and add all of the dry ingredients at once and wait until they just start to come together before adding all of the liquid at once. I specify to wait no more than fifteen seconds after adding the liquid, and this is specifically to make sure the batter doesn’t get overmixed. Each cake recipe will require a different process, but just know that the longer you mix the final batter, the more problematic air you’re whipping into it.  

6: Your Oven is Too Hot 

Have you ever checked your internal oven temperature? Sometimes your oven display will read one temperature, while the actual temperature is different. If an oven is too hot, it can cause the cake to rise too rapidly and thus, sink in the remainder of the baking process.

Typically, the resulting cake will have over-baked edges and will be runny in the middle. If you’re ever concerned about your oven temperature, you can purchase a thermometer to place inside your oven to ensure that it’s the right temp. 

7: Opening the Oven Door Prematurely 

I know it can be tempting to want to see what’s going on inside of the oven, but if you open the door during the baking process it lets too much air escape, even if it’s just for a second.

So as to not disturb the oven environment, you can just flip on the oven light to see your cake through the glass and be sure to only open the oven door after the specified baking time to check for doneness. 

8: Your Ingredients Aren’t Room Temperature

It’s ultra important that all of your ingredients are room temperature before you mix up your batter.

This means that your eggs, butter, and all other dairy and liquids need to be room temperature, not any colder or warmer unless the recipe specifies otherwise.

9: It’s Just an Unreliable Recipe 

There are TONS of cake recipes on the internet, and surprise, not all of them are written properly or go through extensive testing. Some common reasons why cakes sink are too much liquid in the recipe, an incorrect amount of leavening agent, or other ingredients with off measurements. Recipe writing requires lots of testing, and I thoroughly test all of my recipes before publishing them for the world to see, but not all bloggers have the time (or ambition) for that. 

Finding the right cake recipe for you means trying out a few to see which ones you love. As long as you follow the detailed instructions and spend a little time comparing, I’m sure you’ll end up with a cake you love! 

Although it’s frustrating to end up with a sunken cake, remember that you might be able to salvage it by leveling off the cake layers. And if all else fails, you can always stress eat your cake layers (like I’ve done many a time), turn them into cake balls, or just dust yourself off and try again!

Want more Cake Basics? Head here to see all of the posts and learn the methods of caking I’ve come to love over the years. I’m cheering you on every step of the way!

The post Common Reasons Why Cakes Sink appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

Cake Basics is just what it sounds like: the very basics of cake making. It’s everything you need to know about making perfect cake layers, timelines for making and storing cakes, filling and stacking cakes (without said filling bulging out of the sides), tinting buttercream, and so much more! And to teach you, I’ve filmed a series of in-depth videos to serve as a guide for all of it. They’ll be coming to my blog and YouTube channel very soon, so consider this post your official teaser trailer! 

Everything in this Cake Basics series stems from my own cake journey – years of bumbling around the kitchen, learning from my own cake catastrophes, and researching different methods of making and decorating cakes. While I know there are a thousand methods for building a cake from start to finish, this series will give you an in depth look at how I do it. I’m hoping that above all else, these videos and blog posts will help build your confidence in the kitchen and answer any questions you might have about the fundamentals of cake making. 

I’ll be releasing new Cake Basics videos and blog posts as frequently as I can edit them, which is hopefully every week. My goal is to get them all out into the world before baby boy gets here, but since I am about 31 weeks pregnant (and a bit slower with everything these days!) I may need a little grace with the timeline. It’s my passion to teach you this stuff, so just know that it’s in the works and be sure to follow along on my Instagram and subscribe to my YouTube for all the updates! 

In the meantime, I do have my favorite basic recipes and tutorials here for you to learn and enjoy.

And one last thing: if you have any requests for Cake Basics topics, I would love to know them! Leave a comment below with your topic suggestions and I’ll add them to the list if they’re not already there. So excited for this!

The post Coming Soon: Cake Basics appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

Sheet cakes are very nostalgic for me because they’re what I was raised on. Every year for my childhood birthdays, my mom would bake a single layer cake in a casserole dish, add canned frosting with a butter knife, and top it all with simple birthday candles. It was glorious! 

The sheet cake in this photo looks really similar, but it’s all homemade. I baked my Yellow Cake Recipe in a 9 x 13 casserole dish and frosted it with my Favorite Chocolate Buttercream. You don’t need a ton of cake tools or fancy techniques to make a sheet cake (I frosted this one with a spoon to get those swoops) but if you want to get creative with a non-traditional design, go crazy!

Making the Right Amount of Batter

To bake my layer cake recipes in a 9 x 13 dish or pan, you’ll want to fill it only halfway full. My cake recipes have a bit of rise to them, and filling the pan more full will result in either 1) a really tall single layer of cake or 2) an overflow disaster. Since I know ingredients are semi-scarce right now, I don’t want you to make a big batch of cake batter when you aren’t going to use it all. So here’s a list of my layer cake recipes that you can convert following the instructions below:

For cake recipes that yield four 6-inch cakes or three 8-inch cakes, like the ones listed below, you’ll need to half the recipe to make the right amount of batter: 

• Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake
• Milk & Cookies Cake
• Funfetti Cake
• S’mores Cake with Toasted Marshmallow Buttercream
• Milk & Cereal Cake
• Lemon Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
• Coffee Cake with Vanilla-Espresso Buttercream
• Favorite Matcha Cake 
• Salted Caramel Apple Cake
• Almond Joy Cake (Coconut Almond Cake)

The cakes listed below can be made as-is, but fill the 9 x 13 pan no more than half full. OR, if you really want to do the math, you can make 2/3 of the cake portion of the recipe to make just the right amount: 

• Perfect Vanilla Cake 
• One-Bowl Chocolate Cake
• Yellow Cake 
• Chocolate Oreo Cake 
• Thin Mint Chocolate Cake
• Pretzel Nutella Cake
• Ruby Chocolate Cake
• Spiced Vanilla Chai Cake
• Pumpkin Cake 
• Churro Cake 
• Strawberry Lemonade Cake

Preparing the Sheet Cake Pan 

Once you’ve found the perfect recipe, you’ll need to prepare the pan you’re using for best results. You can use a 9 x 13 inch glass or ceramic casserole dish, or a metal pan of the same dimensions. I tend to use glass or ceramic dishes (especially love this one that came as part of a set from Crate & Barrel) just because I love the way they look right out of the oven, but you can use whatever you have on hand.

Either way, prepare the pan or dish by spraying the sides and bottom generously with cooking spray (I love Baker’s Joy for this). You can alternatively grease the pan generously with vegetable oil, or just grease the sides and place a piece of parchment paper on the bottom.

Baking the Sheet Cake 

Once you’ve filled your prepared pan or dish with cake batter (remember, no more than ½ full!) bake it at the oven temperature the recipe instructs. For my cake recipes, I always bake at 350ºF. Add 5 minutes to the baking time in the original recipe and check for doneness then by inserting a toothpick into the center of the cake. It’s done when the toothpick comes out clean.

If it seems to need more time, add an additional 3-5 minutes to the baking time and check again. 

Frosting and Decorating the Sheet Cake 

You can use any of my frosting recipes to decorate your sheet cake, and if the cake recipe you chose calls for a specific buttercream recipe, be sure to half that portion of the recipe to make just enough for your sheet cake. To create the look pictured, use a spoon or butter knife to swirl the frosting around on top of the cake, then add some sprinkles to tie it all together. Totally quick and failproof!

If you’d rather get more elaborate with your sheet cake decorating, feel free to use piping tips and creative cake decorating techniques to create what you’re imagining! This floral sheet cake tutorial shows how to create one of my favorite sheet cake looks: 

Make Ahead and Storage Tips

You can bake the sheet cake ahead of time and store it in its dish at room temperature, covered tightly with plastic wrap, a day or two ahead of frosting. Once it’s frosted, the buttercream will preserve the cake underneath and keep it moist. I still recommend covering it with plastic wrap while you’re storing it (especially after cutting into it) because the extra protection helps keep it fresh for 3-4 days. 

You can keep your cake in the refrigerator as an alternative to room temperature, but I only recommend that if your kitchen environment is warmer than 70ºF. If you do refrigerate your cake, be sure to bring it back to room temperature before serving it because cake tastes best at room temp!

I’m so excited to provide you with lots of fun cake recipes for you to try as sheet cakes! Let me know which ones you try in the comments section, and be sure to tag @sugarandsparrowco on Instagram to show me how you decorated. I love to see what you’re caking. Stay safe and healthy out there, everyone! 

The post How to Convert My Layer Cake Recipes into Sheet Cakes appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

To spare you from such a common cake-tastrophe as this, allow me to tell you about my method for preparing cake pans that I’ve found to work every time, no matter the recipe. I’ve tried the whole grease-and-flour deal, but honestly, I feel like every time I prepare my pans that way the cake edges end up baking inward and away from the pan, making the sides look crooked. Since I like a nice, straight edge on my cakes, here’s what I do:

You will need:

• Cake pans
• Baker’s Joy (preferred) or another type of baking spray, like Pam
• Wax paper
• Pencil
• Scissors
• Cake batter of choice
• Paring knife
• Two plates or cardboard cake circles  

Step 1: Make Some Wax Paper Circles

Placing your cake pan over a clean sheet of wax paper, use a pencil to trace the edge. Cut out your circle and you’ll have a perfectly-sized barrier for the bottom of your cake pan.

Step 2: Spray

Over a sink, spray the sides of your cake pan so they’re lightly coated.

Baker’s Joy is my favorite, but you can use canola oil, Pam, or any sort of oil/spray designed for greasing a cake pan.

Step 3: Assemble

After your sides are sprayed, place your wax paper circle on the bottom of the cake pan before pouring your batter in. Depending on the recipe, I usually fill my cake pans ⅔ of the way full to ensure a nice, tall layer that doesn’t overflow during the baking process.

Step 4: Release

After you’ve baked your cake and confirmed that it’s thoroughly baked by inserting a toothpick into the center, remove it from the oven and let it cool in the pan for about five minutes. Using a paring knife, gently wedge between the cake and the side of the cake pan and carve around, making sure you don’t puncture the sides of the cake.

Place something flat, like a plate or a cardboard cake circle, over the top of the cake and flip the whole pan so that it’s upside down. Make sure you’re wearing oven mits so you don’t burn your fingers on the pan!

Gently slide the pan away from the upside-down cake layer. Place another plate or cardboard cake circle on the bottom of the cake layer and flip it upright. From here, continue to cool the cake until it’s room temperature before torting, frosting, or whatever you’d like to do next!

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