Why have my fairy cakes sunk ?

Bella79

Hoping some of you bakers could help me, ive always used the bero recipe for my buns/fairycakes and never had a problem, however ive today used the nigella recipe for fairycakes they cooked lovely in the oven but now ive taken them out and put on my rack to cool there no sunk in the middle ?

they taste lovely jst dont look very nice, no idea why never had this b4 :rolleyes:

recipe was 225g s/r flour
225g caster sugar
2 eggs
225g stork
1/2 tsp vaniila extract

put all in processor blitz then add about 3 tbsp milk untill a dropping consitency

jennihen

Could you have taken them out a bit too soon? My cookery teacher made us 'listen' to them rather than use a skewer to test if they are ready.
If you can hear a crackling noise when you hold the tray close to your ear then they aren't ready. Its the sugar apparently. If the cakes look brown enough just turn down the oven slightly and whack them in for another five minutes.
Good luck
JH

zippychick

Hmm that recipe seems out of kilter. Fairy cakes are equal quantities of Egg, sugar butter/fat and flour. I made fairy cakes last night and weighed my eggs in the beginning to let me know how much flour sugar and fat to use.

3 of my quite large free range eggs weighed 220g, so to me it looks like there isn't enough eggs in your recipe.

of course, what do I know.

i also add a teaspoon of baking powder, teaspoon of vanilla and a splish of milk to bring it to "runny-ish" consistency. Never fails . In fact my brother asked last night could we have those cakes on christmas day (fairy cakes with jam in the middle )

So here's what I would do. Weigh eggs - measure out same amount of sugar flour and butter. Cream sugar and butter well - white and fluffy. Add egg at a time - ensuring mixed well before adding th enext. Add flour/baking powder/vanilla and milk to desired consistency. Bake 15mins in 180 oven.

Bronnie

Do you always use the food processor to make this type of cake? Personally I prefer to use a hand mixer or a wooden spoon, never found the food processor method incorporates enough air IME! (Might just be me though).

Also the all-in-one method, usually includes a little baking powder so maybe lack of air in the mixture

Maybe the mix was a little too wet??

Rush of cold air when the oven door is opened too early or too quickly??

**SIGH**............so many variables! Who knows!!

zippychick

I wouldn't use a food processor either. Good old fashioned elbow grease

coldstreamalways

I know I know!! I recently had to cook some cupcakes for a hen do and I tried five times before success and now they are fine every time. I started with the nigella recipe and they rose beautifully then sunk to the floor!

Weigh your eggs, then = amounts of butter, sugar and flour. Get as much air in as poss, you then add about a tsp of milk to get the right consistency.

Bake them (hot oven) at about 190 for 25min. If you take them out too soon they will sink. I always leave them in for 2min longer than I think because if they are a bit dark on top it doesn't matter (mmm, icing) but if they sink then it's a disaster!

Bella79

Thankyou so you weigh the eggs out of shell ? lol

zippychick

Owens, I use the eggs weight in their shell x

Bella79

zippychick wrote: »

Owens, I use the eggs weight in their shell x

thankyou ! lol (felt a bit thick asking that)

zippychick

not at all! it's a valid question! I find that recipe easier and failsafe as you can't really "forget" the recipe. Sure if you try let us know how you get on. It's also the mix for Victoria sponge - which i brought into work today and has been devoured!

Cooking times may largely depend on your oven - i find a cocktail stick stuck in - if it has mix on it, do for another couple of minutes xx

Bella79

Just one more q on this, do you use unsalted butter or stork ?