Why Don't Cakes Fall Anymore?

Who still makes cakes at home?

What does being at home have to do with the reason cakes don't fall anymore?

[quote]Who still makes cakes at home?

Where do you make them?

Are you looking for them to fall on TV? They don't fall for professionals. Since people don't really make cakes at home anymore, that activity is rarely, if ever, shown on TV anymore.

I think they do still fall, though.

Cakes fall all the time for those who don't know what they're doing.

My grandmother’s cakes always fell when we were at the beach house they owned. We always had a good laugh at grandmas cakes. They tasted good but they were always oddly shaped.

Even fewer people make soufflé at home.

Or Veal Prince Orloff.

r7 = Sue Ann Nivens

I lost my soufflé dish in a move. I always made the nicest soufflés, using the recipe from the 1975 trade paperback of Joy of Cooking. I never had one fall.

My cakes fell at some point after my fortieth birthday. They will never rise again.

Why do people call asses "cakes"? I've never seen a cake that looks like an ass in my entire life.

My grandfather would not eat a cake that had not fallen. He loved how compressed and moist a fallen pound cake was. So whenever a pound cake was baked they always had to bake 2 and make one of them fall just for him.

I loved it on the Beverly Hillbillies when Pearl and Granny are both making cakes.

Pearl is stomping around the kitchen and Granny says to stop it or her cake will fall.

So Pearl walks over to the oven and deliberately slams the oven door, causing the cake to fall.

Granny goes over to Pearl's oven door and slams it. And Pearl laughs and says "Ha, my cake can't fall."

And Granny takes it out of the oven, drops it on the floor and says "Oh yeah?"

I loved The Beverly Hillbillies

Granny Clampett: "Who's that goomer"? LOL

The cakes only fall when they are leavened with eggs. These types of sponge cakes are rarely baked at home in the US anymore. We favor butter cakes, which are higher in fat and leavened with chemical leavening agents such as baking soda and baking powder, which are much more stable.

r17

You couldn't be more wrong

Why don't you explain why, r18?

So why don't cakes fall anymore?

Baking has become a popular past time, with the popularity of cooking shows, so people are definitely still baking cakes at home.

R17, you seemed to know about this, so why is it that loud sounds would make them fall? Or is that just a TV gimmick?

r18 is an idiot.

Double acting baking powder allows a cake to rise and create the gluten structure to support a cake that will not fall. If you open the door it only stalls the process. It resumes when the temperature evens out.

That said, egg-white leavened cakes do not have the structure forming support in place until late in the baking process. This is why souffles and chiffon cakes will fall if an oven door is opened, contracting the egg cells. It is why a souffle is done when the surrounding crust is formed leaving the center creamy. Up till then the souffle will fall.

But, be of good cheer puppies, there are plenty of cake and souffle recipes that are perfected not to fall. This is not the 1960s.

Our cakes are stable. We win the world lottery!

I've had butter heavy, baking powder pound cakes fall.

R23 nailed it.

r25, I would be interested in seeing that recipe. Can you post it?

r23

[quote][R23] nailed it.

The cunt certainly did.

I love baking from scratch. It's very calming.

R27 I don't have the exact recipe, it is in an old church cookbook of my mother's but this one is very similar.

Blame the obesity epidemic. Fraus eat the cakes before they have a chance to fall.

R12 I think it kind of refers to putting two cupcakes together cuz it kind of looks like a butt. And it's only meant for guys. I remember over 10 years ago somebody said a guy's buns were firm like muffin tins. Maybe that evolved into cakes. Who knows?

r30, interesting recipe but it seems suspect.

Every recipe for a cake that calls for sour cream (or buttermilk), that I have used, usually is one of those rare recipes that uses baking powder AND baking soda. They comment how little baking powder is used. I would use an equal amount of baking soda. It boosts the single lift of the baking powder and gives the loaf time to appropriately rise before the second stage clicks in to set the loaf. Plus a cake made with cake flour will have less gluten to provide the rising structure. Also, if it has fallen for you before, then I would not open the oven until it is close to be tested for doneness.

Just suggestions to consider.

r23

OP, you are onto something. I remember cakes falling all the time in the70's but can't seem to remember them falling since.

This is a non-issue, when boats no longer float and airplanes don’t stay in the skies is the time to worry.

Because people are too busy with their phones--there's no chance of opening the over door early.

I loved that episode of when Barney bought Betty the engagement ring and hid it in the flour at Fred's house and then Wilma makes a cake with it

Wilma) Don't open the door Fred, the cake will fall.

Cakes still fall.

Why don’t people still leave them out in the rain?

Our cakes are very stable geniuses

Why aren't pies cooled on the sills of open windows anymore?

R6 ... you made your grandmother stay inside a hot kitchen baking while you were at the beach?!?!?

Monster!

r41

Because they are filled up with a plate of homemade wishes

Because I'll never have that recipe again.