Maggie

March 10, 2010 at 6:53pm

This message is for Cindy who asked about changes for high altitude. I'm at ~4500ft which is pretty close to your 5000 and there are several changes that help when baking at our altitude. Reduce the sugar by 2Tbs/1cup, increase flour by 1-2Tbs/recipe, decrease leavening a little. If the recipe calls for both baking powder and baking soda I tend to reduce the soda first since it is a much stronger leavening agent. I routinely make these changes for cookies and cakes. For cakes I'll often also add 1-2 extra egg yolks. This helps lighter cakes keep their shape. On the first try of a cake recipe for my son's birthday I made cupcakes that tasted delicious but essentially fell apart. Fortunately I did a test run so they came out great the day of the party. This carrot cake recipe probably wouldn't have that problem, but I would reduce the sugar by 3-4Tbs and decrease soda to ~1/2tsp, maybe? That will reduce the chance of a very sunken middle. Baking at altitude can be a challenge, if you experiment a little, though, you'll find a few tricks that can turn crumbs into cake. Good luck!
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