After my first cake which had fallen in the center (both 8 inch rounds of cake), and was tough, I had to find out what went wrong. My mother had sent me a book that could help me find, understand, and fix my errors. Baking, after all, is a fine art of careful step-by-step instruction with precision. I’m the shoot-from-the-hip person and I have to learn to slow down and be more precise and careful. It can be done. I will bake 100 cakes if I needed to in order to succeed.
After reading Shirley O. Corriher’s book CookWise this is what I learned.
Cakes fall at 5466 feet above sea level from using too much baking powder. I learned that baking powder does not create bubbles. Instead it expands existing bubbles and raises the cake dome. If you put too much in, the bubbles raise the cake too quickly, the bubbles burst and the cake falls. You have to put in less than a normal recipe calls for if you are above sea level. Mine was so out of date, it probably did not raise the cake dome at all!
Now I was armed with a lot more information on the creation of cakes at high altitude. I was all set to get on with baking my next cake! On a personal note I need to have things thought out in my mind first. Then I feel more comfortable doing the task. I envy you folks that can bake a cake in a carefree manor and never have it come out wrong. It was important for me to research, read, and write down new instructions so I would not get flustered in the kitchen. My next post will show the differences in the recipes from the first failed cake, to the more successful second cake. Stay Tuned!
PattyCakes if I can bake a cake, so can you! 
