Yikes! You didn't accidentally grab a bag of self rising flour by mistake did you?

Good luck!

Pat, I don't see the amount of baking powder in the recipe. Perhaps that and the baking soda are too much?

There's no baking powder in the recipe I posted. Only soda in that recipe.

There is baking powder in the Hershey's recipe.

Maybe it's just the baking soda that is bad?

And, no, I checked my flour - it's definitely all-purpose. And it's Martha White brand.

Your recipe looks very, very similar to my Texas sheet cake recipe EXCEPT that my recipe calls for only one teaspoon of baking soda. (Also buttermilk rather than sour cream.)

Try your recipe again but reduce the am't to soda to one teaspoon.

Is your baking soda fresh? It should bubble vigorously when stirred into something acidic - vinegar, lemon juice. I went through a series of baking disasters due to old baking soda.

Is the sour cream the same as the kind you've used before? I find it varies from region to region. Here in the Southwest, the sour cream is thicker than what I had in New England. I like it better, my muffins have more lift and structure.

Cheryl

Here's a clip from King Arthur's site on leaveners:

If all the baking soda isnâÂÂt neutralized, meaning thereâÂÂs not enough acid to balance it, the final baked product will have a slightly soapy taste, and a brownish-yellow cast. To balance baking soda, use 1/2 teaspoon baking soda with the following: 1 cup yogurt, buttermilk, sour milk or citrus juice; or 3/4 cup honey or brown sugar; or 1/2 cup un-dutched (natural) cocoa.

Reading this indicates that 1 teaspoon of soda would be approx. the correct amount for your recipe. Hopefully Grainlady will chime in to confirm or deny my suspicions.

If you've been making it without a problem for that long, I would have to assume it's not the recipe. Why not just go to the store rand get a new container of baking soda and baking powder and try it again? It shouldn't be any more costly than another batch of trashed cake ingredients.

The only other reason I could think of is that you used 8" pans instead of the 9" pans you usually used. Did you get new ones?

By process of elimination, I am thinking it is the baking soda - since there isn't any baking powder in the first recipe. I haven't tested the baking soda, but will do that when I get off work this evening.

Every brand of ingredient is the same - except the flour.

I had one friend suggest that it was perhaps my oven - but I have baked other things with no problems. I just find it completely odd that I am only having problems with chocolate cake!

It sounds like too much leavening and I'm with tracey-oh on this one - self-rising flour. Even if the bag doesn't indicate it's self-rising, there may be an off chance it was mislabeled at the mill.

-Grainlady

You aren't by any chance using different pans than you used to? I once had a spectacular overflow into the oven when baking a soda-raised cake in an aluminum pan.

Nope - same pans as always too.

I'm going to throw out the rest of the flour and try again. But first I need to calm my nerves! =)

I would check the oven temperature.

pat t, that happens to me sometimes too, my latest was chocolate chip cookies. I've made the same recipe for years and it was always good, suddenly it started spreading, flattening out.

I decided that the butter is different, although I've used the same brand. It's got a greater water content than it used to and that caused the problem.

I'd start with the flour and baking soda, if I were looking for culprits. Martha White flour has been sold to someone else, I forget who and I don't think their flour is the same now.

Annie

pat t, that happens to me sometimes too, my latest was chocolate chip cookies. I've made the same recipe for years and it was always good, suddenly it started spreading, flattening out.

I decided that the butter is different, although I've used the same brand. It's got a greater water content than it used to and that caused the problem.

I'd start with the flour and baking soda, if I were looking for culprits. Martha White flour bought White Lily, I think, and I don't think either flour is the same now. I know Elery's sister had a fit, said she only used White Lily for biscuits and now they don't turn out right.

Annie

This post was edited by annie1992 on Tue, Apr 9, 13 at 22:25

Fourth attempt is now in the oven and *almost* done. Looks good so far!

I replaced my flour - I'm thinking I won't be buying Martha White flour anymore. I also only added 1 tsp. of baking soda this time.

Thanks for all of your help!

Glad you will finally get the cake you know and love! I pretty much stick to national brands of flour any more, Gold Medal and Pillsbury, for the very reason that your flour may have been the problem. For years I used Red Band for everything until I wanted an unbleached flour and began making lots of bread. White Lily was my self-rising flour, but as Annie said, it's not the same since the company was bought out.

I get a bit miffed that the flour companies think we can't tell the difference when they change their formulas!

Teresa

Interesting about the flour. I usually buy store-brand flours, I don't like paying the price of Robin Hood or White Rose.

Anyway we were shopping at a store on the outskirts of town, in Mennonite country. I noticed that the Mennonite ladies had a brand of flour in their carts that I had never seen before. I asked one of them if it was on sale, and she said it is just the brand that she always used.

Heck, I figured if it was good enough for these ladies who bake everything from scratch all the time it is good enough for me, so I bought a bag.

It's from Manitoba, and I live in Ontario. Weird, but it makes great bread!

Pat_t, how did the cake come out this morning?

Rusty

Martha White was bought by Smuckers, and yes, everyone I know who uses/used it, say it has changed. It's probably the type of wheat they use for it. But they do make good jelly!

Tami

The cake turned out PERFECT - me, not so much.

I took it out of the oven and let it sit for a few minutes to cool a bit before turning out the layers. Turned out the first layer perfectly onto the rack. Went to turn out the second layer and fumbled and dropped the cake layer and it crumbled into 100 pieces all over the counter. I almost sat in the floor and cried.

So - having already made the frosting...

I frosted one layer and took it to the office.

The crumbled layer got scraped into the mixing bowl with the remaining 1/2 of the frosting and mixed well.

I made chocolate cake truffles with it! Dipped half in chocolate and the other half in white almond bark. They are very pretty and tasty too.

Thanks again for all of your help!

Glad to know it came out right this time.

And I can sure understand how you felt
When you dropped that layer!
I've had similar things happen.
Probably we all have.

But what a good save!

Rusty