Looking for a homemade recipe with the texture of box cake - Page 2

OK Rodney, Now, I will have to try the CI cakes. Have you tried anything from Martha's Baking Book?

fearlessbaker, if you are using the "Baking Illustrated" book from CI, there are a few major typos in that book, what a shame. Check out that Amazon website for reviews of the book to find all of them, but under the Yellow Layer Cake, it should read 2 1/4 cups of cake flour sifted, not 1 3/4 cups. They should have some place on their website for corrections.

I have not tried any of Martha's cakes, although I do have a number of her books, mostly given to me as gift. I got burned on a few of her recipes, not cakes, but pies and tarts. They just did not thrill me. She goes on about her pate brise crust like it was the best thing since sliced bread. I thought it was tough and flavorless. I have tried a number of recipes from her magazine and they are hit and miss, so I always approach her recipes with that "poo in the cat box" look on my face. I think she needs to spend more time testing some of them, probably rushed to get them out to market, who knows.

I have heard that the white and yellow cake recipes in the Whimsical Bakehouse book are suppose to be good. They are on my list to try soon.

Rodneyck, Thanks for the heads up. This happened to me with a Carol Walters book. You are right on about Martha. Even her cookies are hit and miss! I want to go through Nancy Silverton's book and see what happens with her recipes. The book that is my very favorite is Cocolate by Alice Medrich. I would love to find someone who has it on CC so we could chat about it.And then there is Rose Birenbaums book. I have used WBH but can't remember which ones. What are some of the books you have? Yesterday out of curiosity I did make the Super Enhanced DH lemon box mix recipe. To me it still tastes like a mix and has that too sweet taste and smell. Tomorrow I will make one from scratch and see what happens and compare the 2. I see you are in S.F. Are you going to the California Cake Camp? Oh, Again Thank You for all your help and all of your posts.

I have had the same trouble with martha's rec. including some of her crafts!
not sure why but not impressed!

Fearless baker - I was wondering about the cake camp - is that the one that is in Las Vegas? Have you been before? (I am from Oakland area)

Coffeecake, Yes that is the one. No I haven't been before. Go to www.cakecamp.com. All the info. is there. Let me know what you think and what you decide.

When I first saw it , I was a little thrown by each seminar costing - but have not been to any cake/decorating conventions/seminars so maybe this is the way it is done. I am just a little frightened at how much is may end up costing $$ (and that is before I even hit the vendors displays)

I was also concerned as I have not found anyone that had attended.

I guess I should decide soon, as collette peters classes are already filling up and those would be among the ones I would want to attend.

I was also debating about going to ICES, but already missed the early registration (oh and texas in July is not enticing).

Fearlessbaker, are you going?
Does anyone else have any comments?

(sorry about the thread hyjack! - hopefully there are others that have intererest.

Yes, I already registered and paid. I am not taking Colettes because of the blown sugar classes. It is costly. And my DH convinced me to stay at the Marriot instead of the Riviera.

I think I have the La Brea Bakery book (somewhere) but have not made anything out of it yet. That is suppose to be a very good book. I have not delved into chocolate yet, YET, lol, at least as far as the confection dept end of it. That book got some great reviews on Amazon and seems to be out of print. I don't have that one, to bad.

I do have Rose's Cake Bible and Bread Bible. I am drawn to the two extremes over the Cake Bible. I love, love some of the recipes and thorough facts she instills in the book, much like Cook's Illustrated. Her mousseline (spelling?) buttercream is over the top good. However, unlike CI, some of her cake recipes are on the dry side and I have seen numerous claims by other bakers to back me up. The good news, is that she is working on a new book currently to update the Cake Bible, so maybe she will get it right the second time around.

I love Toba Garrett's book for decorating ideas and Dede Wilson for her contribution to strictly working with buttercreams (delicious recipes.) I think people get carried away with fondant, although I admit it is fun, lol.

For cookies, get yourself a used copy (not in print) of Southern Living's All-time Favorite Cookie Recipes, containing award winning recipes. The recipes in this book are excellent and there are tons of them packed into 144 pages. I couldn't ask for a better cookie recipe book

Pies and tarts, the Williams-Sonoma book with that title is excellent and I took a class with the author of the book (can't think of her name at the moment.)

I had no idea there was a cake camp. Thanks for letting me know and the classes are cheap. I am just signed up with a local cake supplies store to take their beginning, intermediate and advanced cake decorating classes. They also offer gumpaste work classes and sugar work, writing, etc. I may then go to a local pastry school and do their 6 month program, still thinking about it, so that may interfere with cake camp, lol.

Oh, and regarding the doctored cake mix vs. homemade, please post and let me know how that goes. I can almost predict the outcome, lol. I never use the boxes and yes, they are overly sweet. Another reason to use scratch, you can control that factor.

Thanks for all your suggestions!!!

Best,
Rodney