This happens when the butter is over-softened or over-beaten. Have the butter at room temperature and beat the butter and sugar for about 3 to 5 mins or until paler in colour and creamy. To achieve room temperature butter in a hurry, coarsely grate the butter into the mixing bowl. Or place chopped butter in a microwave-safe dish and heat on medium in 5-sec bursts, pressing the centre of the butter to check each time; it should be slightly soft, not melting. Use electric beaters, either hand-held or on a stand, to aerate the cake mixture, not a food processor.

It can be caused by a dark cake pan, the cake is too close to the element or over-greasing. To grease pan, dip a pastry brush into softened butter and lightly coat the inside of the pan. Line the base with baking paper cut to fit, unless recipe states otherwise. You can also use two or three layers of baking paper if needed. Bake cakes in the centre of oven. If using a dark non-stick or heavy tin pan, reduce temperature by 10 C to 20 C. A fan-forced oven can also help reduce burning on the base.

Generally, a difference of 1 cm to 2 cm in the pan size suggested in a recipe shouldn’t be a problem, but you may have to adjust the cooking time slightly. To swap round and square cake pans for one another, you will either need to increase or decrease the pan size by 2 cm. For example, a 22 cm round cake pan and a 20 cm square pan are equal in volume and interchangeable. As a general rule, fill cake pans no more than half to two-thirds full. This is particularly important for lighter cake batters and cupcakes that will expand during cooking.

Every oven behaves differently, so get to know yours. Some cook more evenly using the fan-forced function, in which case you will need to reduce the temperature given in the recipes for a conventional oven by about 20 C. If your oven has hot spots, rotate the pans or trays halfway through the cooking time.

If a round or square butter cake rises and cracks in the centre, it is caused by a pan that is too small. However, loaf, bar or ring pans will crack because of the confined space of the pan. It can also be an oven that’s too hot.

A butter cake that domes is caused by the oven temperature being too high, making the cake rise too quickly. This happens often with fan-forced ovens, so reduce the temperature by 20 C.

It could be the butter mixture was not beaten enough or too much air was incorporated when folding in the flour. Tap the cake pan on the bench firmly once or twice before baking. This will burst any large air pockets and settle the mixture evenly into the pan. For a sponge, “tickle” the base of the pan with fingertips.

This can occur because: The oven temperature was too low; the cake is not cooked through; the recipe was out of balance, with too much sugar, butter or raising agent; or there’s not enough flour in the recipe. Opening the oven door too soon in the baking process can also cause sinking. A cake that sinks while still in the oven is usually caused by too much raising agent – the mixture is too light to support its own weight. If it contains only self-raising flour, it doesn’t need added baking powder. If it has self-raising flour and some bicarbonate of soda in it, say 1 tsp, and the cake is dipping a little in the centre, reduce the soda to ¾ tsp and see if that helps. Use only level metric measuring cups and spoons, and measure accurately for the right balance of ingredients.