Hello all! OK, in the past I have not had good experience with scratch cakes, to dry too this too that, you get the picture. Well, I want to enter a cake into the county fair this year and they require scratch cakes (my cake mix cakes I enhance and get rave reviews, wish I could just do this!) So I tried the Chocolate layer cake recipe from this site submitted by tripletmom. I tastes great but is VERY moist, gooey. The batter seems very thin, is this normal for scratch cakes. I love the rich flavor of this cake and would like to stick with it, but it is too gooey to work. Help please all you scratch bakers.
Thanks so much!
Skinnycake lady

I haven't made that exact cake, but I have made the Chocolate Fudge cake from Baking 911 which has all the same ingredients, just slightly different measurements. In fact I have one cooling on a rack right now. You are right on all counts -- very good, very moist, and extremely crumbly and fragile. The only thing I can think to do is refrigerate or freeze it before you ice. It is SO crumbly, the "crumb" coat looks more like crumbs than frosting.

It seems that most scratch chocolate cake recipes are like this...very thin, calling for hot water or hot coffee at the end...it's not like you can just add some chocolate to a yellow cake batter and get chocolate cake. I use both doctored mixes and scratch, depending on what I'm making, and I just don't like chocolate mix cakes. Their texture always seems tough to me.

Anyway, try refrigerating or freezing the cake before you work with it. That's my best advice, good luck!

If it is very moist stick with it as for the gooey????? I only make scratch cakes and I always like to try new receipes boonenatis chocolate mud cake is moist but not gooey and had rave revies and 4 more orders for me.

Maybe it was undercooked because I have made that recipe that is from Epicurious, and it is moist for sure but not gooey. It was easy to work with once it was nice and cool. The batter was very thin and it took a while to bake.

Thank you to all! I do think i must not have bakes the first one long enough and I also don't think I let it sit lon enough. My second cake I bakes longer and left it out for much longer and I think it is not gooey but still very moist. I will persevere in this scratch cake making and hope to get the perfect consistency! Thank you again!
Skinnycakes

My favorite chocolate cake recipe is very similar to the one you used (from tripletmom). You can find it on Martha Stewart's website--called "one-bowl chocolate cake". It's very moist and rich and "firm" so it doesn't fall apart when torted or shaped. The batter is very thin and it does take longer to bake than say a mix cake.

My latest yellow cake fav. is from Flo Braker's book "The Simple Art of Perfect Baking" (I think it's called classic yellow cake or maybe butter cake). I've had a hard time finding a yellow or white scratch recipe that didn't turn out dry or bland tasting. This one turned out moist and sweet like I remember my mom making from a box when I was little. (This batter is completely different from the chocolate cake.) She also includes a table in the back of the book for weights of ingredients like flour, sugar, and cake flour so you can get more accurate measurements and consistant results each time you bake.

good luck at the fair!

When I make scratch cakes that come out kinda dry, I boil up some equal parts sugar and water with a few drops of a flavoring to match the cake. I boil this until all the sugar is dissolved, then take it off the stove and generously brush it onto the cake before I frost it. It makes it alot more moist. And doing it right before you frost the cake seals in the moisture. Good Luck with the contest. They are always fun!

I used Collette Peters Chocolate Cake recipe w/ Whiskey Bourbon, when I entered the CA State Fair 2006 Cake Show last year..The judges loved it and gave me a perfect score of 100% and gave me Best of Show, Best of Class, Best of Division and Blue Ribbon. The recipe is in her Birthday Cakes book..the Blue Cake on the cover. One rule was that it does not have to be your original creation, BUT has to be from scratch.. Believe me , they will know it is from a mix.. good luck...

So, just to understand, you think the cake was to liquid or the batter was to liquid, or both?

I don't know this recipe but maybe your did not cook it long enough, or is it suppose to be "gooey?" Iknow some of my favorite chocolate cake recipes have liquid batter when it goes in and bakes into a very moist cake, but firm.