How to stop cupcakes from collapsing?

Question

I made two kinds of cupcakes recently from Who You Callin' Cupcake? and both of them collapsed in the center.

The cupcake that collapsed the most was the Devil's Food Cupcake. This contained:

• all-purpose flour
• sugar
• cocoa powder
• baking soda
• salt
• canola oil
• vinegar
• vanilla
• hot coffee

I baked them in a dark cupcake pan with white paper liners. Why did this collapse and how can I stop this?

Asked by Kyra

Answer

One strong possibility is that the recipe is overleavened, which will cause it to blow up fast and then collapse. BakeWise (by Shirley Corriher) recommends 1 teaspoon baking powder or 1/4 teaspoon baking soda per cup of flour as a guideline. If your recipe is much beyond that, suspect that is the issue.

Answered by Michael at Herbivoracious

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