Help My Cake Has Fallen And It Can't Up

[Chrissyb]

Not funny I know I made a Strawberry cake from stratch and it fell. I made a bundt cake a couple of weeks ago and the came out great, so what did I do wrong. It is the frist time I have used this recipe and it is a gluten free recipe not one that I converted. I actually got it from this site. I am not sure how to adjust for altitude since I do live above 7000ft.

It taste great and I just fill the space in with cream cheese frosting. I used almond milk instead of reagular milk, would that make a difference?

[RiceGuy]

My first thought is that the acid from the strawberries made the baking powder fizzle out too early. Although I haven't looked into high altitude baking, since there's less air pressure, I suppose the CO2 gas from the leavening might have a greater propensity to escape early. Especially if the batter is thin. So I think I'd make the batter a bit thicker. Extra baking powder might also be a good idea in some cases. Usually, a recipe also calls for baking soda when dairy is an ingredient, because dairy is acidic. It helps balance the pH so the baking powder can do its job right. So you may need to change the amount of baking soda, if subbing ingredients which make a difference in pH. Generally, the more acid in the recipe, the more soda is needed to balance it out. But too much will inhibit the baking powder, so it's a balancing act of sorts.

Other than that, if it had risen well, but just fell once the oven was turned off, then perhaps it wasn't fully baked.

Incidentally, if you're not already using a baking powder based on Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, I'd recommend trying that. It doesn't begin to fizz until it is exposed to the heat of the oven. Bob's Red Mill baking powder is of this type.

[purple]

Just saw this:

https://www.celiac.com/gluten-free/index.php?showtopic=54784