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Sinking Crumb Topping
Kim Question:
I have a rather perplexing problem. Every time I make a cake with a streusel topping, the topping ends up sinking inside the cake, rather than sitting on top as it's supposed to. I'm beginning to think that my oven is cursed. I find it very hard to believe that every recipe I've tried is flawed, and I know that the batters were prepared correctly... Any ideas what could be causing this? Thanks for any help you can give me,
Rose Reply:
i had this happen when filming a t.v. show. the prep person made my streusel or crumb topped coffee cake and when i saw it there was NO crumb topping at all. the batter had swallowed up the entire amount. it turned out the oven was way off and the baking time was too long. the structure of the cake has to set quickly to hold the crumb topping up. my coffee cake uses sourcream which makes a more acidic batter which also helps to set the structure.
but for absolutely perfection, i now add the crumb topping after 30 minutes of baking. i lift the cake out of the oven and quickly strew the crumbs on top. then gently place it back in the oven.
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Celia:
There are charts in The Cake Bible with the conversions that you are looking for...they are toward the back (I don't have my book with me now)...but there are pages and pages of information on the weights and volumetric measures of many, many ingredients. Rose has done amazing research to be sure that they are accurate. I always use these charts when baking from a recipe that is given in Cups only. Not completely sure why your cake is sticking to the paper...are you greasing and flouring it?...or spraying with Baker's Joy?
Reply to this Posted by: Bill | September 30, 2007 7:21 AM #
Hello it is Celia from England again. Since speaking to you a long time ago about the sponge cakes I have had huge success but I am now puzzled by a few other things which I wondered whether you could help me with?
First off I was in the USA in the summer and a relative gave me a cookery book but everything is in cupfuls and I was wondering if you had any conversions into grams or onzes? Over here we use weight not cupfuls and I find it hard when a recipe say cupfuls to know how much to use.
Secondly my main question, I have reecently been making swiss rolls, and they rise beautifully but then when I come to take off the baking paper/parchment it ends up ripping off half of the sponge at the same time because it is stuck to it! People have given me tips like, use a damp dishcloth,but it doesn't help. It is really annoying, also how do you know when it is cooked because if it is cooked for to long it cracks when you rolls it. I really want to be able to make these successfully because they are light cake which look good. Thank you, Celia
Reply to this Posted by: Celia Bentley | September 30, 2007 2:45 AM #
Annemarie - you might not have used enough butter in your crumb topping, but I think you more than likely used a food processor to mix your crumb topping and "processed" it too much. The next time this happens to you, just use your hand to squeeze some of the mixture back into pea sized bits (the heat of your hand will help the bits to clump up). Or better yet, use a fork or pasty blender to mix your crumb topping ingredients and stop mixing when you start to see those pea sized bits.
Reply to this Posted by: Patrincia | April 17, 2007 11:56 AM #
I baked a blueberry boy bait cake, yesterday and the streusel didn't come out right. It was supposed to end up pea sized, but it was much finer. Do you have a good recipe for a streusel topping that I could use next time I make this cake?
Reply to this Posted by: Annemarie Bercier | April 17, 2007 7:31 AM #
Thank you so much for your response! We'll try it!
Reply to this Posted by: Anne Heap | August 16, 2006 8:43 AM #
if it's just dipping a little reduce by 1/4 teaspoon (to 5 t) but if it's dipping a lot reduce by 1/2 t. the worst that can happen is you'll need to level the domed portion if you reduce it too much.
Reply to this Posted by: Rose Levy Beranbaum | August 15, 2006 7:27 PM #
Thanks Rose - So should we reduce it by a tsp? 1/2 tsp? or just trial and error?
Reply to this Posted by: Anne Heap | August 15, 2006 6:21 PM #
it's not a good idea to weigh the leavening unless you have a super accurate scale desiged for such small amounts. the bottom line here is if it's sinking you don't have enough structure and need to decrease the leavening whether you're weighing or measuring. measuring spoons vary as well!
Reply to this Posted by: Rose Levy Beranbaum | August 15, 2006 4:48 PM #
We are having trouble with the cake sinking in the center of our 6 and 8 inch cakes. We realized for the 6 inch that if we measured the baking powder in teaspoons rather than weighed it in grams, it came out ok (The weight seems heavier than when you measure it out w/a teaspoon). So we did the same w/the 8 inch. According the the chart - the rose factor is 3.5 for the 8 inch. Which equals 5 1/4 tsps of baking pwder but it still sunk. Help! It seems we are putting too much leavener.?
Reply to this Posted by: Anne Heap | August 15, 2006 4:12 PM #
celia, the left hand side of this blog at the top has "my most recent blog entries" and there you will find the new one to which i referred: crossing the atlantic by cookbook. it will answer most of your questions about flour. you can also do a search on the blog to see other entries about flour.
re flap jacks, we call them pancakes. the ones in the cake bible are loved by many but they are not chewy--they are light and delicious and will work with plain flour and be a little more chewy than with cake flour. they'd probably work with self raising too if you don't add the baking powder or salt.
call books for cooks in london and try to find the UK edition of "the cake bible." if they don't have it they may be able to direct you to an antique dealer. or search the web. i did an enormous amount of work revising the recipes and they really work with the uk flour so you won't be sorry you did!
Reply to this Posted by: Rose Levy Beranbaum | July 8, 2006 9:53 AM #
Ok so you have solved one of my problems so I am going to pick your brains again! My families favourite recipe is flap jacks. Now, I have tried many recipes but the end result is always hard, crispy, thin flap jacks, that are only good enough for the birds. Instead I would love to get a chewy thick reult. Again maybe it is down to the fan oven we have? The recipes I use have oats, golden syrup, marg and brown sugar in. I don't know if flap jacks over there are common but I would really like to make a successful batch! Any answers?
Reply to this Posted by: Celia Bentley | July 8, 2006 8:42 AM #
Hello again. I have just made a successful sponge cake. I used plain flour with baking powder like in your blog you had suggested. I have never have thought of this as the answer. I just hope it does not change the texture of the cake. I have been using self raising flour and baking powder up until now as that is what all english recipes say. So I am still a bit confused why they say this if this is not true. Anyway I am very happy and it is all down to you, thank you!
Reply to this Posted by: Celia Bentley | July 8, 2006 8:37 AM #
I only came across your website by acident but it is great but I am only just getting the hang of it. So are you sayning I should buy your book?Because I would love to but is there one in England? If not when will it be out? The new postings? Sorry to sound dumb!
Reply to this Posted by: Celia Bentley | July 8, 2006 1:32 AM #
oh my prophetic soul--i KNEW it had to be the flour but i had no idea it was UK flour! celia, thanks to your question i'm going to post the intro to the UK edition of the cake bible in which i described the flour situation as "culinary tower of babel"! in will explain further the difference between bleached and unbleached. so please check out new postings--i'll probably have it done by the time you wake up tomorrow what with the time change. but for a short answer right now: when layer cakes fall it is almost always bc the structure is too weak. this can be caused by a pan that is too small so that the cake rises above the sides and then collapses or more usually by too much leavening which will be the case with the self-raising flour. i actually revised every butter cake in the book for the UK edition using part plain flour which sadly is not bleached but at least doesn't have any leavining, and part self raising. maybe you can find a used copy--check out books for cooks in london.
any way, the good news is that this is critical only when the cake has butter in the solid form, i.e. sponge cakes that have melted butter don't have this problem.
i am happy to support your interest in cake baking--never to early to start! my dearest friend david shamah started as a little boy with a betty crocker oven that was heated from the light of an electric bulb. this was enough to "spark" his interest.
Reply to this Posted by: Rose Levy Beranbaum | July 7, 2006 2:47 PM #
I use a sefl raising supreme flour made by McDougalls I used to use all purpose self raising flour but I changed thinking that the cakes sunk due to that. I have never heard of bleached and unbleached flour, can you tell me more? I am only 14 living in England and I love baking. I know it is a unusual for people at my age to be into this hobbhy but I would really like to become an expert so all your tips and suggestions are great. Thank you
Reply to this Posted by: Celia Bentley | July 7, 2006 8:10 AM #
what kind of flour are you using? is it cake flour? is it all purpose? if it's all purpose is it bleached or unbleached?
Reply to this Posted by: Rose Levy Beranbaum | July 6, 2006 1:30 PM #
I am puzzled to why my cakes sink. When they first go into the oven they rise nicely as I can see through the oven (I don't open the door) but by the end of the cooking time they have sunk. Usually not too much but enough for it too frustrate me! I have asked a few people about this and they have suggested different things like try a different margarine or use butter, which I have done and at first it worked. The other thing I wonder about is that we have a fan oven, now I drop the heat 20 degrees to compensate but maybe I should use the side oven? Anyway I would love to hear what you think.
Reply to this Posted by: Celia Bentley | July 6, 2006 12:21 PM #