I develop lots of baking recipes and am constantly in need of help.  I have a few recipes for chocolate cupcakes that are much like brownies as they are low flour.  When they are baking in the oven they rise nicely.  But when they are cooling, they sink in the middle badly.  What’s up?  Any ideas?  Lorraine

I suspect the low amount of flour isn’t providing enough structure to hold up the cupcakes once they are baked.  Most low-flour cakes have this quality: they rise high when baking, then sink as they cool.  You can try to bump up the amount of flour or add some ground nuts to your recipe (which will also provide some structure).  Or just camouflage the whole thing with icing or whipped cream ... these kinds of cakes are almost fudgy and taste delicious because they are more dense than regular cakes

Lorrainesfav - 18 November 2007 08:32 AM

I develop lots of baking recipes and am constantly in need of help.  I have a few recipes for chocolate cupcakes that are much like brownies as they are low flour.  When they are baking in the oven they rise nicely.  But when they are cooling, they sink in the middle badly.  What’s up?  Any ideas?  Lorraine

Hi Lorraine - you definitely have a lack of internal structure problem.  If you’re sure the cupcakes are not underbaked, there are a few possibilities (cake bible pg 476).  Oven too cold, batter undermixed, or too much baking powder.