why oh why do my cakes keep sinking!!

[mothersmilk]

iv always been able to bake well but recently my cakes have all sunk why is this? first i thort perhaps my crap oven but i now have a new one and my first attempt has sunk again! can anyone help mw?

If your experienced then I would question the receipe you are using. Try BBC good food website all the receipes are rated and comments are added.

Adding too much baking powder, too hot oven ie rising too quick with the heat then flopping when cool. I turn off fan assisted and always turn down a little from what is quoted. Test oven with oven therometer.

I have also noticed that the quicker and less effort I put in the better. Over beating and over mixing kills the gas.

You havent said what receipes you are using so we cant answer on whether the receipe is flawed???

Could your baking powder or sf flour be out of date? It does make a difference...

I've just made the infamous MN Lemon Drizzle cake and that's sunk in the middle as per usual.

It was baked in a silicon flat square tray in a fan assisted oven.

Are fan ovens bad for cakes then?

could be the silcone tray? i gave up using as didnt have such good results ...

Fan ovens do seem to be bad. My mum spent years thinking she couldn't bake cakes till she decided to use her top oven instead of the main, fan one and voila, perfect cakes.

I have given up trying and feel so much better now.

My soups, stews, pasta dishes and veggie roast dinners are amazing. My cakes are shite. I wouldn't give them to the dog.

I have happily given up and DD does the baking now (it's the grandma gene that bypassed me)

She does great poached eggs too. Another failing of mine.

No fan assisted isnt rubbish but you need to know your oven and receipe well so best start off with non-fan assisted. Once you are confident then you can use the fan - by turning down temp. Fan cuts down cooking time and what can happen is the the edges do not rise as they cook too quick and the centre dooms.

Best to keep it simple, middle shelve, when it says 180/gas 4 turn it down a tiny tiny bit. You want the cake moist not dry, dry so slow is better.

Never open door. Ive used the silicon for fairy cakes and they have been fine so I would blame them.