My first sponge cake that fell flat as a pancake

I was in my home kitchen about 10 years ago, trying to make a genoise sponge for my sister's birthday. I whipped the eggs and sugar for 15 minutes, folded in the flour gently, but I opened the oven door after just 20 minutes to check. The whole thing sank in the middle and turned into a dense, rubbery disk. I learned that day to never peek until the timer goes off, and now I always set a timer and resist the urge. Has anyone else ruined a cake by opening the oven too early?

3 comments

3 Comments

josephbutler7d agoTop Commenter

Opened the oven after 15 minutes and watched my birthday cake deflate like a sad balloon.

emma_clark7d ago

That "sad balloon" line gave me a good laugh, but I think the real issue is you opened the door too early. You really should wait until the cake is mostly done before checking, since opening the oven lets the heat escape and causes that sudden drop.

nathanj567d ago

Yeah, that "sad balloon" line got me too. Josephbutler I had the exact same thing happen with my first sourdough loaf. What finally worked for me was getting a cheap oven thermometer. Turns out my oven runs 25 degrees hotter than the dial says, so I was basically cooking the outside way too fast while the middle was still raw. I started lowering the temperature by 25 degrees and adding 5-10 minutes to the bake time. Also stopped peeking through the door entirely for the first 30 minutes. That combo fixed the collapse problem for me.