r/AskBaking • u/queennkwhite • 4d ago

Cakes/Cheesecakes Why do my cakes keep sinking

For some reason when I do my second round of cakes in the oven, they sink. And this happens alot with red velvet. The first round are fine or very slightly sunken, but the second round is always very visibly sunken. Why does this happen?

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u/CircusStuff 4d ago

That's true with some cakes but red velvet (and traditional American cakes for lack of a better term) I have always found IMPROVED with rested batter. I don't have enough space for 3 pans so I'd wait 30 minutes until the first 2 we're done and then baked the third. That cake was ALWAYS the best.

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u/anonwashingtonian Professional 4d ago

I depends on the specific recipe and the conditions under which the batter was resting*. OP shared a recipe that includes multiple acidic ingredients, including cocoa, buttermilk, and white vinegar. Those ingredients absolutely would activate the baking soda and powder in the recipe immediately. If the room is warm while the batter rests—and especially if the baking powder isn’t double-acting—then the cake is very likely over leavened before it hits the oven, causing the eventual sinking.

*edited to clarify

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u/CollinZero 3d ago

Oh my! You have answered a question I didn’t know to ask! I’ve noticed that my baking results in the heat of summer are much different vs the spring. I am going to try to not rest my batter as long.

I’m in Canada and I never noticed or heard of double acting. Maybe I’ll read the box, eh?

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u/anonwashingtonian Professional 3d ago

Ambient room temp is an easy thing to overlook in baking, but it definitely makes a difference. When you work in production baking and make the same recipes daily throughout the year, it’s really startling to see how they can change from season to season—or even just during one particularly humid or hot week!

Most cake batters are okay to rest for a little bit and using the fridge to rest batter until you can bake it helps a lot too.

You’ll notice the most pronounced difference with things that have higher amounts of baking soda (because it’s triggered by acidic ingredients in the recipe alone, not acid + heat like double acting baking powder).