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Oh my Gosh Soggy! I forget about the altitude thing till I'm there. You poor girl, that clean up musta been the worse part {but the cake tasted good }.
Mmmmm...carrot cake!
But- Whoa!
Tia Dalma
You take great inside photos, I remember that centipede! LOL
The air is thinner - bread and baked goods will rise faster.
My 2 cents
and fall as well, I happen to be a good cook or so I am told, love my kitchen but spent 7 years in NM, never did my creme puffs work. At least half of every batch would sink....as well as a few other things.
I am a pretty good cook, and I have been baking successfully for over 40 years now ... and I am having a challenging time at our 7000 feet here in Santa Fe.
Some things turn out perfectly .... others not so much but edible ... others have been total disasters.
I have used all the recommendations for high altitude baking ... and the mystery is why some things are perfect and others a complete flop.
I have had things boil over, or rise then sink, or take so long for the inside to bake that the outside is burned.
I have made the same recipe several times and had different results every time.
After 6 months of experimenting here, I have discovered no hard and fast rules that work for me.
I love to bake, so baking at high-altitude was a constant source of frustration--I can totally relate! (It's very nice to be back near sea level where I don't have to worry about that.) Try the "Pie in the Sky" cookbook--some things I made from there worked very well at high-altitude, others not so much--guess it's like any cookbook--some recipes you like and some you don't. While living in ABQ, I kept meaning to get the Denver Junior league cookbooks--they are very well rated on Amazon--I thought they might have some recipes for high-altitude. The Denver newspaper's food section often has recipes adjusted for high altitude.
Towanda, I DO NOT want to hear that!!! There has to be a magic something to make it work, there has to be!! LOL I'll just keep playing around until it works... course then I won't remember what I did to make it work!! The cake does taste good, it just looks awful! I think I needed to let it cook a little longer but like Towanda said - the outside was starting to look crisp. I didn't think I'd ever get the inside past the soup stage. It's still a little moist but yummy... well the parts I picked out of the cake pan were anyway. mmmmm I saw another cookbook recommended online when I was frantically trying to figure out why my cake was imitating Mt Vesuvius... but I can't remember the name of it now. I'll have to find it & try it out, what's one more cookbook out of the 50 I have now? If its good, I'll let you know.
I've even looked for a high altitude cookbook and haven't found one.
I made cookies the last two days to put in my freezer for Christmas. I have been making cookies for all my life and they rarely fail.
These cookies today and yesterday look awful --- they flattened right out and have no shape. My husband is being nice and telling me they taste great, but there must be a way to make them so they LOOK GOOD.
Whatever the trick is, I haven't found it yet.
Same with yeast bread. I think I have finally made some progress with that. I tried a sourdough starter and that was a disaster, so I have given up on the starter and switched over to just regular yeast bread and it's coming out good. It sure rises A LOT.
Uh... so, I'm not a GREAT cook but I do know how to make a cake... at least at 100 ft above sea level... not so good at 6000+ ft above sea level.
So, here's a good employment idea for a local - give cooking classes to us newbies from lower elevations!!!
I mean really... did it HAVE to boil over??? Everywhere?? After almost two ours of cooking... it tastes great, just looks like... well you can decide.
BTW - it's supposed to be my Mom's famous carrot cake. Her's looks better. haha
Stop laughing!!
Boy, you DO have a sense of humor, LOL!!!
I am not as high as you are (4500 ft vs 6000 ft)--and I haven't tried a cake yet, just biscuits, muffins and bread in a bread machine. I have found that you have to decrease the yeast if the recipe contains it, and add a tiny bit more liquid. Not only are we higher in NM, we're also a lot drier, though there was not that much difference for me, as it would be for you.
As a previous poster said, things rise higher...and fall harder. If you can reduce the yeast or leavening agent so that it doesn't rise as fast or as high, it helps.
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Uh... so, I'm not a GREAT cook but I do know how to make a cake... at least at 100 ft above sea level... not so good at 6000+ ft above sea level.
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