I know these things have been discussed before, but when I search, I get about 75000 returns, most of which happen to have the words "chocolate" and "cake" in them....and aren't what I'm looking for. So, I apologize for dragging out what I'm sure is a well-worn topic.

I'm trying to move from mix baking to scratch baking. I've finally developed a yellow cake that I like. I started with the Cake Bible's Downy Yellow cake and tweaked it a bit.

But, I've been baking chocolate cakes for two weeks, and am really frustrated. Yes, I've tried the one on the back of the cocoa tin. I didn't like the way it crumbed.

The Cake Bible's cakes are either too light and fragile, or sink in the middle.

I'm a horrible scratch baker. I'm sure it's me....

I'm ready to start trying other recipes. Does anybody have something that is firm enough to stack...that slices cleanly (I hate it when the slicing knife get all gummed and gooed up) and has a nice crumb to it. Moist, but not gooey. Tender, but not powdery. Am I asking the impossible?

Thanks for any suggestions!

I have a super easy, delicious chocolate cake recipe. I use it all the time for sculpted cakes. It's very moist and I have never had a complaint about it. I have won 1st place with it at many competitions. You are welcome to PM for it.

Michele

p.s. I also have a dark chocolate cake recipe that is wonderful, but I have never used it for sculpted cake. It also has won 1st place and I only developed it about a year and a half ago.

I forgot, I posted it in the recipes tab under "Super Easy Chocolate Cake".

Michele

This weekend I made a cake for a baby shower and used the "Killer Chocolate Cake" recipe. It was so moist and delicious. I filled it with a milk chocolate ganache. Everyone raved about it.

Thanks, ladies. These will be my next to attempts.

sc

I've made deep dark chocolate cake from recipezaar which is fantastic:

http://www.recipezaar.com/12488

but if you don't mind using mixes, use margie's incredible chocolate cake recipe from the recipe section here at cakecentral...it's really, really, really good!

This recipe is great. It is very close to the one I use at the restaurant.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/101275