if the rise in the middle is a fairly low, rounded bump, sometimes it can help, in addition to factoring in the above ideas, to spread the batter in the pan so that it's ever-so-slightly indented in the middle and higher on the sides.
It sounds to me as though you may be overmixing. What you're describing is called "peaking." It's most noticeable on muffins and cookies that have been overmixed, and actually pull up to a fairly steep peak in the center. When you overmix gluten, the protein in flour, it becomes tougher that you really want it to be. I'd back off on being quite so aggressive when mixing your batter. A trick I've used with especially large cake pans (12" in diameter or larger) is to make foil strips to encircle the sides of the pan. Take long sheets of foil and fold them several times until they're just the depth of the pan and wrap them around the pan. This slows down baking at the perimeter and lets the center get done.
--the recipe of a cake (type of flour, amount of leavening, etc.)
--overmixing
--the material of the pan
--oven temperature too high
--pan placed too near the top element of an electric oven
If it's happening with different recipes, I'd suspect something in the oven temperature, pan material, or pan positioning. As a first steps, check your oven temp with a thermometer and bake on a rack in the middle of the oven.
3 Comments
--the recipe of a cake (type of flour, amount of leavening, etc.)
--overmixing
--the material of the pan
--oven temperature too high
--pan placed too near the top element of an electric oven
If it's happening with different recipes, I'd suspect something in the oven temperature, pan material, or pan positioning. As a first steps, check your oven temp with a thermometer and bake on a rack in the middle of the oven.
http://www.realbakingwithrose.com/2006/06/why_cakes_dome.html
http://theplaceforcakes.com/Troubleshooting.html
http://www.joyofbaking.com/ButterCakeTroubleshooting.html