Why does a cake sink

[Lisa]

Using flour that is a little bit old. When I bake a cake, I buy a new flour everytime.

[Bathsheba]

I always thought is was because the air pockets collapsed due to the mixture being too heavy with either moisture or sugar. Maybe the flour had lost it's absorbency by being too stale like another member has said. Delia Smith has an excellent chapter about why cakes fail in one of her books that I have... if I can find it I'll post.

[Rouge]

If it's only one recipe, try covering it with foil. This is a tip I was given by a home economist to prevent a cake from burning around the edges if it's a big pan. But I imagine it would work well with a cake that dips too.

That flour one is a great tip too! I don't have that problem in my house

[Astrid]

Just wondering about the addition of vinegar. You have two lots of raising agents there, one in the flour and the other with the bicarb and vinegar. Be very careful with measurements, weighing is better if you can do so for thing like flour.

[jaspen]

thanks for everyones advise - the flour was relatively new (doesn't mean it hadn't been sitting on the shelf at the shops for while given we are in the bush).

MD - this is the first time I can definitely say the oven was well preheated (so often I don't do this when cooking but in this particular instance I did for a change) and didn't open the door.

The house is a rental and we haven't been here too long so maybe it is the oven as this is the second time here with the cake - both times have flopped but the first time I thought it was cause I opened the oven door

It is a very moist mix and I just mixed with a spatula not an electric mixer but because the recipe has said beat for 2 mins at each stage I gave it a good going over with the spatula - maybe too much.

There are a few things there I need to check so plenty of choc cake coming up I think while I test to see what works.

Good tip with the foil thanks Rouge (especially when I'm trying to make a bigger cake cause I've done that before and had the edges over cook while waiting for the centre)

Bath - look forward to reading if you find it Bath cause I've googled and not found too much - they generally focus on the its not cooked and you've taken it out too early scenario.

Anyway thanks again everyone - will update the thread as I go through the testing process.

[Rouge]

Check the seals on the oven because loose seals can cause cakes to sink too.

I know it sounds silly, but test with a few different cheap packet mixes (like the 99c no brand cake mixes) and see how it goes...

[jaspen]

thanks for the tip rouge - will do - i've been making plenty of vanilla cupcakes with no problem - although they probably aren't as suspect to sinking as this bigger denser chocolate cake or even a big cake in general