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.
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.
Usually set at: fermentingCake 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.
Usually set at: bakingCookies spread too much
What went on the tray as neat balls came out as thin, wide, often lacy discs with over-browned edges.
Usually set at: bakingDense 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.
Usually set at: shapingSoggy 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.
Usually set at: bakingCookies 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.
Usually set at: bakingSourdough 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.
Usually set at: fermentingSourdough 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.
Usually set at: fermentingSourdough 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.
Usually set at: bakingGluten-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.
Usually set at: bakingGluten-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.
Usually set at: bakingGluten-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.
Usually set at: bakingPastry 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.
Usually set at: bakingChoux 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.
Usually set at: bakingIt 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.
Usually set at: bakingAn 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.
Usually set at: bakingMuffins came out dense, tunnelled or peaked
The muffins are heavier and chewier than expected. There may be vertical tunnels through the crumb, a sharply peaked and cracked top, or a sunken centre.
Usually set at: mixingButtercream is runny, split or grainy
The buttercream is soupy and will not hold a shape, has separated into a curdled-looking mess, or is smooth to look at and gritty to eat.
Usually set at: finishingThe 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.
Usually set at: bakingThe 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.
Usually set at: bakingThe bread is crumbly and falls apart
The loaf breaks or shears when sliced, crumbles at the crust, or will not hold together enough to be sandwiched.
Usually set at: mixingPastry cream is lumpy, runny or grainy
The cream has lumps in it, will not set, sets and then goes runny again after chilling, or feels grainy rather than smooth.
Usually set at: finishingMeringue is weeping, chewy or will not whip
Syrupy droplets appear on or under the meringue, it is chewy rather than crisp, or the whites never whipped to a foam in the first place.
Usually set at: finishingThe dough is too sticky to handle
The dough clings to hands, bench and bowl, will not hold a shape, and spreads out rather than staying where it is put.
Usually set at: mixingThe 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.
Usually set at: fermentingLittle 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.
Usually set at: bakingThe 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.
Usually set at: fermentingThe cake is dense and did not rise
The cake is short, heavy for its size and close-textured, with little of the open, tender crumb it was meant to have.
Usually set at: mixingThe 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.
Usually set at: bakingThe cake is raw, wet or gummy in the middle
The outside is baked, sometimes overbaked, and the centre is wet, dense or visibly uncooked.
Usually set at: bakingThe 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.
Usually set at: shapingA quick bread is heavy or stodgy
The loaf is short and close-textured, heavier than it should be for its size, and often slightly damp or claggy in the middle rather than light and open.
Usually set at: mixing
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