Why don't my cakes rise?

MysticalT

I don't eat cake but my daughter likes to bake and no matter what recipe we use, the cakes don't rise. The oven is gas and gets to the temperature it should do so what are we doing wrong?

I could never get Yorkshire puddings to rise in it either until someone suggested using an extra egg and now they rise fine, will this work for the cakes?

Sorry if I made you think of cake lol.

Brin1956

Baking powder too old?

Ruatine

goodtoknow.co.uk/recipes/538495/whats-wrong-with-my-cake-10-common-baking-problems-fixed#cakerise

I find that it's usually a case of not adding the proper amount of baking powder. It could also be that you're using the wrong size cake pan for the recipe you're using.

MamaFunky

Make sure you do not over stir. This can take the air out of the batter and make it not rise properly, as well.

caroldavison332

It sounds like your leavening agent is not working. It could be baking powder, soda, yeast, etc. If you make substitues in recipes such as leaving out buttermilk whose acid causes raising it could negatively impact your cakes ability to rise. If you don't preheat your oven, and the cake sits around waiting for it to heat up, that could negatively impact it. If the oven is not hot that could impact it as well. Your oven's temperature could be off too. Are these home made cakes, or cakes from a box? If they are cakes from a box, they can't all be messed up. In that case I would check the oven temperature.

jgnatca

Elevation (feet above sea level) can affect the leavening as well.

Try a cake that doesn't rely on baking soda, like an angel food cake. See if you get the same problem.

MysticalT

Thanks for the replies.

All the ingredients are bought recently and I've even tried adding a little extra baking powder just in case. I've tried packet cakes but get the same result. I always preheat the oven and have tried cooking on the next gas mark up from what it says.

Maybe I'm just crap at baking haha. Meals I can make, baking has never been a skill of mine.

Ultima_Morpha

Do you grease AND flour the baking pans? Some recipes need the coating of flour to hang onto as they rise until the batter cooks enough to hold the structure on its own.

ClairShingfield

You could be using too much mixture for the tin, or the tin could just be very large, which makes it difficult.

If the tin is really large it's very difficult to get the cake to rise in the middle... Some people use metal things, a bit like a massive nail, you put them in the middle of the tin, it draws heat and helps the cake rise... I've also heard of wrapping a wet tea towel around the outside of a large tin while baking it.
I use less mixture per tin, then cook the cake for more time on a lower temperature

There are web sites that give you the ideal number of eggs mixture for the size and shape of a tin...
The ideal basic sponge is where all ingredients weigh the same... So you could weigh your eggs, then add the exact same weight in butter, sugar and flour... Then add a teaspoon of baking powder per egg.

Can't think of anything else, apart from playing around with the temperature of the oven

MistressPi

Test the temperature of your oven to ensure it is accurate.