Why sponge cake not rise

Now that you've got the basics for how to prevent the cake from sinking, give your new baking knowledge a try with our double chocolate cake or champagne cake with strawberries. By Katlyn Moncada Updated June 28, Each product we feature has been independently selected and reviewed by our editorial team. If you make a purchase using the links included, we may earn commission.

Save Pin FB More. Credit: Andy Lyons. Yellow Cake with Chocolate Butter Frosting. Credit: Kritsada Panichgul. Comments Add Comment. Back to story Comment on this project. Tell us what you think Thanks for adding your feedback. All rights reserved. Close Sign in. But when I want to make a layer cake I actually have to bake two cakes just to get the height. Is it humidity? Sea level? What can I do to get my box mix to rise? Is there a trick with a box cake mix that I missed out in learning?

In the beginning they turned out perfect but now the cake is very thin and looks good when it comes out of oven but then falls. It taste really good but they use to be higher layers. Thank you Barbara Butler. Of course this happens when company is coming. Just dripping slowly off the whisk.

I have my gas oven at gas mk 1 to 2 for an hour checking at about 40 minish. Hope this works for you. I just took to 9in cakes out of the same oven, same rack and one rose perfectly, the other at a horrible slant.

Everything was mixed correctly and both pans were sitting even during the baking process. It immediately invokes memories of baking chocolate cakes with my sister, and fighting over who would get to lick the beaters.

Ah, nostalgia! Adding too much baking powder can result in your cake having a distinct peak on the top as a result of too many air bubbles in the mix.

Always measure carefully. Using old or stale baking powder, or baking powder that has been improperly stored, can result in not enough rise, and flat dense cakes.

If your cakes have a dip in the middle, that is most likely the result of not baking long enough in the oven, causing the middle not to set completely and the middle to dip down once the cake has been removed from the oven. As soon as the water is added to the baking powder the air bubbles are released, so leaving your batter to stand after mixing can also result in flatter, denser cakes. How does a raising agent actually work? Raising agents are the magical chemistry that makes cakes and other baked goodies rise.

With the addition of water, the baking powder makes tiny bubbles of air. As the cake bakes, the heat from the oven makes the air bubbles expand and causes the cake to rise.

What about yeast? Yeast is classified as a leavening agent, and is actually a biological agent a type of fungus that feeds off the sugars in the dough and lets off carbon dioxide gas bubbles. These bubbles work in a similar way, causing the bread to rise. The major difference between baking powder and yeast is that yeast brings its own distinct yeasty flavour, which is not always desirable in cakes. Old baking powder Baking powder can lose its effectiveness after a long time. This is easy enough to test.

Just mix some baking powder with warm water and if it bubbles actively it's good. Old oven My oven recently started struggling to keep temperature. I had to recalibrate many of my recipes until I fixed it. Some things like sponge cake are very sensitive to this because they rely on the initial blast of heat to produce the steam that blows up the bubbles in the batter before the eggs set. This is also easy to test with a cheap oven thermometer. Opening the oven early If the oven is opened when the cake is just starting to puff up then that high heat will be lost and the steam will escape from the unset eggs and the cake will fall, never to rise again.

I realize this would be a change in your behavior which may be unlikely but it is a common reason for sponge cakes to fail. Improve this answer. Sobachatina Sobachatina Sign up or log in Sign up using Google. Sign up using Facebook. Sign up using Email and Password.