BakeHQ

Troubleshooting

Structured diagnosis: what you can observe that tells the possible causes apart.

How this works

A list of eight things that might have caused a sunken cake is not help — it is what a search engine already gave you. Each fault here asks what you can observe that tells those eight apart, and rules causes out as you answer.

It can say it does not know

If your answers eliminate every cause in the model, the page says so rather than picking the least-bad option. That means the model has a gap, which is a more useful thing to know than a confident wrong answer.

Decided in the mixing bowl

Set before anything was baked, and usually invisible until it is far too late to change. Most of them are a proportion or a temperature rather than a mistake in technique.

Decided during fermentation

Under, over, or on a schedule that belonged to a different kitchen. Fermentation is judged by what the dough is doing, which is why almost every clock-based instruction eventually fails.

  • Bread did not rise

    The dough looked much the same after several hours as it did after mixing, and the finished loaf is squat, heavy and tight-crumbed.

  • Sourdough starter is not rising

    After feeding, the culture sits flat: no doming, few or no bubbles through the side of the jar, and no measurable rise against the level it was fed at.

  • Sourdough starter has mould

    Raised, fuzzy or hairy growth on the surface or up the sides of the jar, often green, black, pink or orange, and visibly different in texture from the culture itself.

  • The loaf collapsed or sank

    The loaf lost height — dropping as it entered the oven, sinking in the middle during the bake, or caving in as it cooled.

  • The bread smells or tastes of alcohol, yeast or vinegar

    The loaf smells or tastes strongly of beer, raw yeast or vinegar, in a way that is not the pleasant sourness of a deliberately long fermentation.

  • Bagels deflated, sank or would not float

    The bagels lost their puffed shape when they hit the water, or stayed at the bottom of the pan, and baked flat with a wrinkled surface.

  • The loaf burst or split at the side

    The loaf opened along an unplanned line during baking — commonly where a braid or seam ran, or around the base where the crust met the tin — leaving a ragged tear paler than the crust around it.

Decided at shaping

Gas knocked out, tension never built, or a dough stretched into a tin rather than lifted into it. Quick to fix once you know it was the shaping.

  • Dense bread crumb

    The loaf is a reasonable size but heavy for its volume, with small, uniform cells and sometimes a denser layer near the base.

  • The laminated pastry did not puff

    The pastry rose barely or not at all, the layers are indistinct or absent, and it may be greasy or sitting in fat that ran out during baking.

  • The dough springs back and will not stretch

    Every attempt to open the dough out is undone within a few seconds, and pushing harder tears a hole in the middle rather than thinning the edge.

Decided in the oven

Heat that arrived too fast, too slow, or from the wrong direction. The oven is the least standardised thing in any kitchen and the hardest to blame, because it looks the same every time.

  • Cake sank in the middle

    The cake looked good through the oven door and then dropped in the centre, either before it came out or shortly after.

  • Cookies spread too much

    What went on the tray as neat balls came out as thin, wide, often lacy discs with over-browned edges.

  • Soggy pastry base

    The rim is crisp and coloured, and the base under the filling is pale, soft and sometimes visibly wet when the tart is lifted out.

  • Cookies did not spread

    What went on the tray as balls came out as balls: tall, rounded, often pale on top with an undercooked-looking centre and a dry, scone-like crumb.

  • Sourdough crumb is gummy

    The crumb drags on the knife, compresses into a paste under a finger rather than springing back, and looks translucent or wet compared with the rest of the loaf.

  • Gluten-free bread is dense

    A short, heavy loaf with a tight crumb — often one that visibly rose in the tin and sank back during or shortly after baking.

  • Gluten-free bake is crumbly

    The bake will not hold together: it crumbles under the knife, breaks when lifted, and often feels dry in the mouth even when freshly made.

  • Gluten-free bake is gummy or rubbery

    The crumb is close and damp, springs back in a rubbery way, drags on the knife, and can leave a slight coating in the mouth.

  • Pastry shrank in the tin

    The pastry was pressed up the sides of the tin and came out of the oven noticeably shorter, thicker at the rim, and sometimes slumped into the base.

  • Choux pastry did not rise

    The piped paste spread rather than inflating, or it rose in the oven and deflated either in the oven or shortly after coming out.

  • It baked unevenly

    The bake is noticeably more done in one place than another — front to back, side to side, or top versus base — rather than being uniformly over- or under-baked.

  • An egg-free bake came out dense or gummy

    An egg-free version of a bake that normally works came out short, heavy, damp or gummy — often sinking, often wet near the base.

  • The cake is dry or crumbly

    The cake eats dry, crumbles when cut or lifted, or does both. It may be dry throughout or noticeably drier at the edges.

  • The crust is too hard, too thick or not crisp

    The crust is thick and hard enough to be unpleasant to cut or eat, or it came out crisp and went soft and leathery within an hour.

  • Little or no oven spring

    The proved loaf went into the oven at a reasonable size and came out at about the same size, without the sudden expansion of the first ten minutes.

  • The cake domed and cracked on top

    The cake rose to a pronounced dome and split along the top, often down the centre line, sometimes with a paler seam showing through the crack.

  • The cake is raw, wet or gummy in the middle

    The outside is baked, sometimes overbaked, and the centre is wet, dense or visibly uncooked.

  • Biscuits fall apart

    The baked biscuits break when lifted, crumble when cut, or fall apart in the tin rather than holding together.

  • Macarons cracked on top

    The shells looked right going in and came out with a fissure across the top, sometimes a single split and sometimes a shattered surface.

  • Macarons are hollow inside

    The shell lifted and formed a foot, and biting into it finds a large gap between the top and the base.

  • Quiche is watery or did not set

    Cutting a slice releases liquid, or the middle of the filling is still runny while the edges look cooked.

  • Cheesecake did not set

    A cut slice will not hold its edge, and the centre runs or slumps onto the plate.

  • Cheesecake cracked or sank in the middle

    The top rose and then dropped, with a crack running across it or around the edge where it pulled away from the tin.

Decided after the bake

Fillings, icings and creams, plus the faults caused by cutting, moving or wrapping something before it was ready. Nothing here is about the bake at all.

No page in this section carries a commercial recommendation, and none ever will. A reader with a problem is receptive, and the honest answer to most faults is a change of technique rather than a purchase — so monetising this section would create a standing incentive to say otherwise.

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