Sunken Honey Cake

This month I have made this cake twice!  The reason?  Well its very very yummy.  However.... both times I have made it, it sank in the middle.

I have never had a cake sink on me like this before.  It still tastes great and it is cooked all the way through... just sunk.  The first time I made it, it had to wait a little while for the oven to get to temperature before baking, so I thought perhaps that was the issue.  The second time I made it the oven was ready to go and it still sank.

My only explanation now is that I am using a cake tin about an inch smaller than that recommended by the chef... would that cause the cake to sink?  I don't have the correct sized tin.  I don't usually let things like that put me off and I don't often have failures.  The other explanation could be that I am using the Spanish equivalent of Self Raising Flour - It says on the front that it is 'with yeast' but from the recipe on the back of the pack it is likely that this flour contains bicarbonate of soda because the basic sponge recipe (also on the back) calls for a teaspoonful of vinegar and you often find the two (sometimes yoghurt is used which is also acidic) go together as a raising agent.

Well my cake has risen you can't fault it on that... and I have used this flour to make other cakes that call for Self Raising flour and had no failures with them.  Mind you I can't really say this is a failure because it tastes so good.

If anyone would like to have a go: (do let me know how it turns out won't you).

Honey Cake by James Martin

Ingredients
170g clear honey, 140g butter, 85g light muscovado sugar, 2 eggs beaten, 200g self raising flour sieved, water (tablespoon).
Icing (which I didn't do) 55g icing sugar, 1 tbsp clear honey, hot water.

Preparation Method
Preheat the oven to 180C and butter and line the bottom of a 18cm (7 inch) cake tin.  measure the honey, butter and sugar into a large pan.  Add a tablespoon of water and heat gently until melted.  Remove from the heat and mix in the eggs and flour.  Spoon into the cake tin and bake for 40 - 45 minutes until the cake is springy to the touch and shrinking slightly from the sides of the tin (or sunk in the middle !!).  Cool slightly in the tin before turning out onto a wire rack.  While the cake is still warm, make the icing by mixing the sugar and honey together with 2-3 teaspoons of hot water.  Trickle over the cake.