Let me start by saying that I am very new at baking. I was so excited when I get the cake lady's yellow cake recipe that I talked myself into doing the cake for my daughter's baptism. I tried it this weekend and unfortunately, it ended in the trash can. It was a bummer too because it was a big cake (square 14 x 4). My intentions were to bake this cake on SAturday and decorate it on Sunday. I guess my problem was I didn't know how to store the cake because it was really hard when I pulled out of the fridge on SUnday! I almost cried when I threw it in the trash. I feel like such a failure.

Can someone please tell me what I need to do to keep it moist? Isn't this what most of you gals do, bake the day before the event? Thanks in advance.

No worries mgonzalez!. I never put my cake in the fridge. After I take it out of the oven and it cools, I put it in a bag and close the bag overnight. Next day I frost and everything. I am sure that it was firm because of the coldness of the fridge. It was hard from being exposed to the air.

Hmmm...did you remember to cover the cake before putting it in the fridge.
This is how I do it...I bake my cakes the week before. I then wrap the cakes in saran wrap and then in freezer paper, and I then freeze it the freezer. 1-2 days before I am going to decorate I take the cakes out of the freezer and put them into the fridge. Then I take them out of the fridge when I am ready to decorate them. If they are still frozen- leave them wrapped and sitting on the counter. Leave the cakes wrapped until you are going to place them on the cake board or on top of each other- this keeps the moisture in the cake. While the cakes are sitting on the counter defrosting or waiting to be used I get my icing colored, and also get my cake boards ready.
Hope this helps!
Glad to have you here!

Thanks Mchelle. This may seem like a stupid question but...plastic or paper bag? Also, after I pulled the cake from the oven, I didn't remove the cake from the pan until about 3 hours later. Is this ok or should I have cooled the cake on a cake rack?

Mary

I use a plastic bag, I've never done paper. I don't see anything wrong with leaving it in the pan some people have done that. Could you have over cooked the cake? Try turning your oven down to 325 and bake until it springs back. Mix the cake until blended, don't over beat. Also, don't open your oven or check for doneness until the alloted time is up.

Did you use a scratch or a cake mix?


Here are some reason why it could have sunk in.

http://www.joyofbaking.com/ButterCakeTroubleshooting.html

Hope this helps

I used the Cake Lady's yellow cake recipe (scract, not sure if you ever tried it. I did bake at 325 and I covered in plastic wrap. Well, I didn't completely cover the cake. I just put plastic wrap on top

The recipe was for a round 12 x 2 and since I was doing a square 14 x 4, did 4 batches. Maybe this was where I went wrong. I also have this problem, after I'm done mixing and I pour into the pan, I noticed that it didn't mix the bottom very well. I use a kitchen aid. Why do I have this problem??

MGonzalez,

Did you make sure the cake was baked all the way through by inserting a toothpick in it? That could be the problem.

Also you can leave the cake out on the counter top.
Also crumb coat it after it cools off.

~TC~

Hi there, just saw this post. I had sent you the recipes.
Well that is like a pound type of cake. First of all generally, do not refridgerate any cake that is butter based because of all the cakes that are most affected by refridgeration, butter cakes are the worst.
Generally, yes, you should never leave most cakes to cool in their pan. You remove the cakes from the pans, usually around 15-20 minutes after they have come out of the oven. The exceptions are when you use a pan like a stand-up bear cake pan.
Why? Because the metal of your pans keeps the heat in the cake and it actually causes the cake to continue cooking to some degree. Also, well there is no air circulation so that means that the steam is trapped inside and can lead to a rubbery cake.
Like you were told here, yes, please always scrape the bottom of the bowl and the sides while mixing it. I thought you had asked me for the directions for the method for this cake? Perhaps I am wrong. Generally I send out the recipes as I have received them and if people ask for methods and such, well then I send them out.
I use the toothpick inserted in the middle test for doneness. I generally cool cakes at least 15 minutes in the pan, for larger ones, about 20. then I remove them to a cooling rack and level them. When they are completely cooled, if you are not going to crumbcoat or ice right away, you completely enclose them in plastic wrap, but only after they are cool. Then you leave them on the counter or freeze them for later use. Again with a butter cake, up to about a month is best as this type of cake is most susceptible to drying out from cold temperatures.
Hugs Squirrelly Cakes

Thanks for all the tips. I have a couple of more qustions for you guys.

1. What does crumb coat mean?
2. Since I will be doing a square 14 x 4, I'm going to use the wilton cake leveler to make 2 layers out of it (torting???). When do I do this?? After is cooled (20 minutes)??
3. SquirrellyCakes - Does it sound about right for me to quadruple the ingredients?? Is it ok for me to do 4 batches since I can't fit all of that in my Kitchen Aid (it's a small one)

The crumbcoat is what you coat the cake with to seal in both the moisture and the crumbs to make it also easier to put the final coat of icing on.
Most folks here use a thin coat of their buttercream icing, let it set for at least 25 minutes and then do their final icing. If you are going with the whipped cream icing, you won't be doing this, at least not with buttercream. You can use apricot glaze or a simple syrup.
Hhmn, I had sent you all of this information in an E-mail when you discussed making this cake, including the directions for the glaze, the batter amounts etc. Did you not receive it?
Torting a cake into more than one layer, is done after the cake is completely cooled. For larger cakes like this one, some folks prefer to freeze the plastic wrapped previously cooled cake and torte it while it is frozen. Others find the cake is easier to tort the next day and so once the cake is completely cooled, they wrap it with plastic wrap, leave it on the counter and tort it the next day. You have to make sure that you have a cake board to slide under the cut layer, you cannot just lift it and place it aside or it will likely break.
Hhmn, I had also sent you batter amount charts. I guess you didn't get them.
Ok, I am a bit confused, do you mean that you are making two, 14 inch square cake layers and are going to torte each layer so that you end up with four layers?
Batter amounts required for a 14 inch square layer that is 2 inches deep , just one layer, which means you need to make twice as much as this, is 13 1/2 cups of batter. Now since most cake recipes make about 4-5 1/2 cups maximum batter, it is more likely that you will need up to three recipes of the Cake Lady's recipe, for each layer you make, which means about 6 in total.
I don't believe I have ever seen a 4 inch deep 14 inch square pan, as you are mentioning. Is that a mistake?
But caution, you really do need to measure out your batter. Haven't made her recipe in a long time, so I cannot tell you how much batter each recipe for the two 9 inch cakes, makes, nor can I tell you how well it rises. Because, even the same amount of batter from one recipe to another does not always produce the same volume or rise as much. But that is the best estimate we can come up with.
Yes, generally with the smaller Kitchen Aids, you can make about 2 recipes at a time. So here is what you do. You make up two recipes and set them aside in a bowl, then you make up your final recipe. Now combine all three and stir it well together and then pour it into your prepared pan. Do not make up the batter, put it in the pan and then add the next recipe of batter, this can cause issues. It is always the best thing to do to mix up your batters separately, to the capacity you can, then combine them all in the same bowl and stir together before pouring into the pan. Always pre-measure the amount of batter you are placing in the pan, until you get used to what it takes and can adjust it later on.
Hugs Squirrelly Cakes