Why did my cake sink?

[milkmoustache]

I found a great recipe in Red Magazine (October) for ginger cake, the first time I made it sank catastrophically - though it was cooked all the way through with great texture and flavour. i thought it was my fault as I had stupidly opened the oven, so I made it again as my mum adores ginger and needs cheering up - and exactly the same thing happened! It is in a loaf tin which has always worked perfectly in the past, oven is a fan one, and I am baffled as the mix doesn't seem too wet or anything - it has a massive dip in it but is cooked through... What could be wrong??

I would say oven temp. I have a choc cake recipe that always does this - I either decorate it with somthing chunky like nuts, or I cook it in a ring tin. HTH

eggs~?? or maybe temperature?

this often happens to my dad, when he does victoria sponge. He must have tried all sorts, different recipes, oven temps, to no avail. We came to the conclusion that his oven doesn't like him! (It's a fan oven)
We just add filling, ice it and eat it anyway - like yours, it tastes ok even when it's sunk in the middle! :)

According to Mary Berry, either:

too much baking powder
oven door opened too soon
under-baking

Obviously, if the oven temp is dodgy, this would also have an effect. Says she whose cake sank yesterday because I took it out too soon cos I was impatient to go to lunch with my friend

Agree with oxocube. Over mixing?

Always turn off fan assisted until you are experienced. Oven temp just beow gas4 180 as what can happen is the outside tin heats up too quick.

I always get my receipes from goodfood/BBC/uktv websites. The BBC GoodFood websites allows for feedback so you can see how sucessful the receipe has been to us home cooks.

Some of these magazine receipes havent been tries and tested properly. Best avoid these.

Would a different shape of tin work? I've always made ginger cake in a shallow(ish) rectangular tin, bit like the sort of tin you would use for lasagne or bakewell tart. The cooked cake is about 4-5cm in thickness.

Can you use your fan oven like a conventional one ie without the fan and on a higher temperature? The ones I've had worked like that.

Hope that helps, good luck!