Which recipes would you recommend? I love baking from scratch so I got this book because it had some great sounding recipes and a lot of background information. So far I've just tried one: White velvet cake and it was very good but after the first day it was pretty dry. Many of her recipes say: Better day of baking or Moister day of baking... Well, I don't finish up a cake in just one day so I usually have leftovers and this poses a problem. Have you found that all her recipes are on the dry side? I would love to try some more but given that the ingredients add up to the final cost of the cake, I don't want to waste my time and money on something that's not going to be very good. I've heard great things about the author but... I don't know. Any ideas?

Thanks,

Inma

Bump!

I've only tried a couple, but they are best the first day. They do taste a little dry after a day or two. I hope someone has tried them all and can help.

I have had this book for years.. It sits on my shelf unused year after year.... Sadly I have tried a couple of recipes from the book and was not thrilled. The pictures are beautiful though.

I made the butter cake for a bootom tier of a stacked cake and used cake mixes for the rest, and nobody liked the bottom tier. The icing recipes are pretty good though, I just don't think I'll try any of the other cake recipes though.

I have had The Cake Bible for years and never used it until a few weeks ago, except for one mishap involving a tiny tiny oven in a college apartment. So I don't count that!

I made the Chocolate Fudge Cake. Unfortunately I scrambled the directions and added the eggs and flour mixture backwards and it came out very crumbly. TASTED GREAT though. I'm going to try it again the right way sometime.

I also made the Milk Chocolate Buttercream and failed to follow directions (same day - my head must have been in space) So it ended up more like a thick ganache. I spread it on and it hardened up like a candy bar coating around the cake.

I've heard people swear by the Cake Bible and I've heard people swear AT the book. Give it a try.

Just be sure to follow the directions exactly

Oh My.. The Dump Cake.. Made it today.. YUMMY!!!
I just picked up the book from Sams yesturday.. OH yeah they have 50lbs powdered sugar for 24. bucks! woohoo.. Now to find a container.. (sigh)
OH I also have The Cake Mix Doctor Chocolate .. As of 2 weeks ago. I have been trying out every recipe .. There goes are good eating habits!! Anywho... So far from that book, i've made almond joy cake YUMMY!!! and the Hersheys cake.mmmm... So now I let my kids choose from the books and pick one cake (or cookie) from the books each week. Man, I will need to share it with other family members, TO MANY SWEETS!!! But dang their good!

Yeah, I had heard about how important it was to follow the recipes to the T with the Cake Bible before. Like I said in my post, the taste of the White Velvet was good, very good, but it was dry, very dry, the next day. I suppose it would help to use some moistening syrup but, since I was following the recipe to the T and she didn't mention anything about using moistening syrup, I didn't. I still can't understand how her recipes can be used by cake decorators when she mentions in many of them they're better the day of. Usually I bake my cakes one day and decorate the next day and that's not counting when I have to freeze my cakes.. I suppose that if you just do a dusting of powder sugar (which it seems we can get at Sam's real cheap --thanks for the info briansbaker--), then they're fine. Maybe I should email her and tell her I'll try every single recipe in her cookbook following the instructions to the T if she pays for the ingredients. I could give some sort of testimonial for her updated edition Will she go for that?

Inma

That's just how scratch cakes ARE. They get stale.

Try the cakescanada web site. I haven't been there in recently, but I read a thread there, with pictures (I think) of each cake. Someone was going to make a cake a week from the book and post the pics and family reviews. After reading so many good things about the cakes from her thread, I bought the book. I've only made 1. Not sure of the name, it was a chocolate cake of some sort. I wasn't very happy with it. It was too wet! Almost drippy. I didn't alter recipe either. I'm sure I could find something good in it, but I havn't used it since. I'll revisit the book again, but only for family first.
Let us know if you make some good ones!

I have tried the Yellow Butter cake - thought it was good (but I prefer from scratch cakes, most of which tend to be denser and less sweet than cake mixes, or doctored cake mixes) The first time I made it I thought it was a little dry, but I did not use cake flour - the second time I put less flour and double sifted, thought is was better. I have also made her lemon curd (big hit- very tangy)

I do like to read her book and comments - I tend to sit down with a couple of cook books and compare recipes before I choose and start a cake.

I have had this book since I started baking, and the only thing I have tried was the cheesecake. I didn't care for it BUT I was new to baking and I am sure I didn't know what I was doing! I look through it occasionally and reference it for techniques, but I haven't been motivated to try any recipes. Maybe I'll go back and try something now.

Inma, what chocolate cake recipe is that?

I glaze all of my scratch cakes while they are warm with a layer of melted jam ( usually apricot or raspberry). It adds an extra layer of flavor, seals in the moisture, and prevents the need for all those nasty preservatives that are in cake mix.

I picked up a book in the library last week called "The Perfect Cake" by Susan Purdy, she goes into detail about cake ingredients and even the science in the baking process, which was pretty interesting, I tried one pound cake recipe yesterday as cupcakes and it came out really well. Her directions are very clear and it has lots of interesting recipes.

I have made a few recipes from the Cake Bible, and the Chocolate Domingo Cake is my favorite, but I served it with the Hot Fudge recipe (very very good), over the top. I have had the best results from the butter cake recipes! Each time I have tried a Genoise it didn't turn out good, but that is probably just my lacking in baking skills! My most favorite recipe in the book is not a cake recipe...it is the Marion Cunningham's Raised Waffles! (I use a homemade buttermilk syrup on it) Awesome!!!

Her Velvet White Cake was the first recipe I tested when looking for a good white cake. Unfortunately, it was the worst of the bunch, dry as sand. I don't want to give the wrong impression of the book, because it is very valued. Her mouselline buttercream is the best and the book itself is chocked full of scientific explanations and tips. Some of the cake recipes however are less than desirable to me, and many others I have heard from on the subject.

As a side, my friend still teases me whenever I make any white cake and asks if it is the Velvet White Cake out of fear. They always remember the bad ones.

P/S: She is currently working on a new cake book, so lets hope this one is perfect.

I did try the White cake recipe, that´s the one I´ve made so far and I did think the taste was good but it was dry, dry, dry... oh so dry!

In the meantime, I´ve made the Ultimate Butter Cake recipe from Sarah Phillips Baking 9-1-1 website and it´s soooooooo good!

Thanks for the feedback,

Inma