What went wrong with this cake recipe? Was it the amount of baking powder?

I tried to make this orange olive oil cake with walnuts this weekend http://www.seriouseats... It called for 1 tbsp of baking powder, which sounded like a lot, and while baking the cake overflowed the pan and then collapsed. I think the baking powder was the cause, but I found another similar recipe (by Mario Batali) with the same ratio of baking powder. Thoughts on what went wrong?

sweetlolo
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8 Comments

Author Comment
A Whole Foods Market Customer
A Whole Foods Market Customer February 6, 2012
Ok so then what I would recommend is since this is a pretty wet batter (oil, etc.) I would definitively add 1/2 cup of flour and use only one teaspoon b.p.
 

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drbabs
drbabs February 6, 2012
Shirley Corriher's rule of thumb for leavening is 1 to 1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder per cup of flour. This cake only has one cup, so it must be a typo. Sorry.
 
sweetlolo
sweetlolo February 6, 2012
Makes sense. Thanks for the breakdown of the right ratio.
 
sweetlolo
sweetlolo February 6, 2012
Hmm, I am at sea level, so it wasn't an issue with high altitude cooking. I originally assumed that the amount of baking powder was just off, but the fact that I found another recipe with the same amount of baking powder made me wonder if there was another explanation. But maybe just try it again with one teaspoon of b.p. instead and assume it was a typo in the original recipe?
 
Author Comment
A Whole Foods Market Customer
A Whole Foods Market Customer February 6, 2012
1 Tbsp of baking powder is too much, it must be a typo or a recipe at sea level. In high altitude, you will have to only use 1 tsp and raise the amount of flour. For 2 cups of flour, I add 1/2 to 3/4 cup of flour when in high altitude. If the recipe comes with walnuts which absorbs liquid from the batter, I would only add a 1/4 to 1/2 cup of flour.
 
sexyLAMBCHOPx
sexyLAMBCHOPx February 6, 2012
Was the baking pan the correct size, per the recipe?
 
sweetlolo
sweetlolo February 6, 2012
Yes, the recipe called for a 9 inch springform pan and that's what I used. I'm a pretty experienced baker and followed all of the directions exactly as written.
 
ChefJune
ChefJune February 6, 2012
I have not made that recipe, but it also seems like a lot of baking powder to me.
 
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