What to Do if You Have a Sunken Cake
If you tested the cake’s doneness with a toothpick that came out with just a few moist crumbs attached, chances are you baked a nice moist cake. If your cake is undercooked and raw in the middle, you can still use the edges that are baked through. Use one of these sunken cake fixes that will still impress everyone with your dessert skills.
1. Add Extra Frosting
When you’re cake sinks in the middle, grab an extra can of frosting to disguise the low spot. Simply add a bit more frosting or whipped cream and smooth to an even level. You can also fill a pastry bag ($5, Walmart) fitted with a specialized tip to create a unique frosting design for your sunken cake.
2. Make Cake Pops
If you don’t like the idea of serving a cake with a dip in the middle or wound up with a partially underbaked cake, use the baked portion to make cake pops. Mixing the crumbled cake with frosting and dipping it in chocolate or candy melts will give you an entirely new dessert. If you don’t have any candy sticks ($10 for ten, Walmart), serve them without, and you’ve got cake truffles.
3. Make a Shake
There are all kinds of fun shake creations these days featuring everything from pumpkin pie to your favorite breakfast cereal. Our Test Kitchen recommends making your favorite milkshake and adding crumbled cake pieces to yourblender ($35, Target) to create a cake shake.
4. Add a Filling
Have candy and sprinkles handy? Remove the entire portion of the cake that sunk and make a surprise-inside cake (pictured above) by filling it with candy and then topping it with frosting. Pie fillings or fruit jams would make a tasty addition to a sunken cake. If you made a chocolate cake, try creating our black forest cake topper by adding a bit of cherry pie filling to the sunken cake spot before adding the whipped topping and finishing with more cherries.
Why Did My Cake Sink in the Middle?
The most common reasons a cake sunk in the middle include the following:
The pan is too smallThere’s too much liquidOpening the oven or moving pans during bakingOven temperature is too low, or cake not baked long enough.
You can’t rebake a cake to fix it, but you might be able to save your cake if it’s still in the oven. If you look through the oven window and the middle of the cake is sinking, give it some extra time before opening the door or removing the cake. Follow these additional steps to ensure the cake doesn’t fall.
