Reasons for failed cakes
Heavy Cakes : (kind of not risen well)Heavy cakes mean you have used too little baking powder, or too much flour, the butter and sugar may not be creamed well enough, the flour may be mixed too vigorously and the oven is too slow.
Dry Cake: (when it crumbles)Too much baking powder or flour, Not enough of fat or liquid or you may have left it too long in the oven to bake.
Sunken Cake: ( the middle sinks in) Too much of liquid, Too much of baking powder , sugar , too little flour, Oven door slammed or cake moved doing baking or removed from the oven too soon.
Peaked Cake: ( the center rises too high) Insufficient butter or oil, less of baking powder or soda, Too much of flour or the oven temperature kept too high.
A badly cracked top : The oven is too hot, The cake tin too small, too much of flour or too little liquid.
Fruit sunk to the bottom of the cake : ( for fruit cakes) Fruit not properly dried or coated with flour. Cake mixture too thin or the fruit added before adding the flour.