The Worst Mistakes Causing Your Sponge Cake To Sink, According To Paul Hollywood

Soggy bottoms. Underproved. Raw in the middle. Stodgy. Claggy. These are just some of the common baking mistakes that get "The Great British Baking Show" judges' knickers in a twist. But one thing that truly irks Paul Hollywood is when there's a dip in the middle of a cake's sponge, especially since it is a mistake that's easy to avoid. Hollywood says you just need to get the temperature of your oven right and use the correct amount of baking soda.

If you've watched even a few episodes of "The Great British Baking Show," one of the best cooking shows on Netflix, you know Paul Hollywood is the expert to go to for tips on making the perfect crusty bread and for avoiding soggy bottoms on his pastry crust. You can find other solutions to baking mishaps on his "Paul Hollywood's What Went Wrong" series of videos on YouTube. In the episode on cake, the blue-eyed baker addresses what causes a cake's sponge to dip in the center, either when it comes out of the oven or while it is still in it. 

If a cake collapses after you take it out of the oven, the temperature was likely too high. "It bakes on the outside but remains soft on the inside," he says. This causes the cake to fall in the center instead of having a nice, short dome at the top. "Check to make sure your temperature is correct," he adds. He suggests buying a probe thermometer to test whether the temperature in the oven is the same as the setting. Another step he suggests is cleaning the oven. "If your oven is not clean, this will cause fluctuations in the temperature."

A cake can also collapse while it is still in the oven. "This is normally caused by too much baking powder or too much rising agent," Hollywood explains. If you use too much baking powder, the cake rises to its highest capacity before it is fully baked and then collapses. Again, the solution is simple: weigh your ingredients. If you want to avoid Hollywood's infamous steely-eyed stare, you'll also make sure your sponge is golden brown. A Hollywood handshake may be too much to ask for.