Has anyone tried this recipe? Any thoughts?

A friend of mine ( who is not a big time baker but did use the right ingredients) just made it, and I thought it was a bit dense. She didn't sift her flour, though. I'm anxious to hear what others think...

Cheryl

i won a bake-off at work with this recipe. filled with WBH chocolate-hazelnut mousse and iced with Toba's chocolate buttercream. it's not my personal favorite, but everyone who tried it loved it. my boss went for a second slice, and he doesn't usually eat sweets. it's very rich, buttery, and on the dense side, as most scratch cakes are. it does take some time to make. give it a try and be sure to let us know what you think.

Yes this is my standard yellow cake now and people looooove it! It took me a long time to find a good scratch cake recipe until I found this one. The only thing I do different is add a box of vanilla pudding, helps to make it a little more moist and not so dense.

I like this cake when it turns out. I made it once in 9 in pans and once in a wonder mold pan, and once in 6in pans, I think. The 9in cake came out well, the wonder mold was an unadulterated disaster, and the 6in overflowed the pan. (which could have been my fault, but I didn't fill it over halfway, so who knows?)

Sigh....in other words, I don't really know. It tastes great when it comes out right, but I have a 1 for 3 record. Good luck!

i think its an amazing recipe. i never have a problem with it being dense. i whip the butter and sugar REALLY long just as the recipe says, and even beat the eggs in for a bit. that brings in alot of air and keeps it light. i think the flavor is absolutely wonderful. i also love the buttermilk in the cake, because the bmilk has lactic acid in it, this tenderizes the crumb of the cake, and keeps it really moist. i have used this as a base for amaretto cake with liquor as well by subbing out half of the bmilk for the liquor and it is fabulous! try the recipe, and just make sure to follow all the steps. time consuming, but worth it. try it with a mild espresso italian meringue buttercream. yum!

i used to do doctored mixes last year. this spring i decided to venture out and find scratch recips that i liked instead. i've tested many many recipes and when i found this one, it became one of my select favorites that i use over and over.

sift the flour, weigh the ingredients, cream the butter and sugar for the alotted amount of time, use full fat buttermilk, real butter and vanilla....and you wont be sorry.

i'm also an advocate of using a scale for the ingredients instead of measuring cups. the end results are more consistant and youre less likely to have a dense cake.

also if its overbeaten after adding the dry ingredients, it can affect the texture. if its possible for you to mix it by hand at the end, i think its a good idea. i turn off my mixer and use a whisk for a short amount of time in gentle strokes just until incorporated.

thats interesting. someone else mentioned that to me last week. i do use the grams listed in her recipe and never even thought to check a chart. just for kicks, i may try this recipe soon with adjusted measurements and see how it turns out. either way, the cake has been turning out great. maybe it'll be even better with less flour?!?~

Thanks for the review.

I love this cake. I make it all the time. I only use softasilk cake flour as she recommends, plus I love Watkins vanilla. I usually bake in a 8x2 pan.

where do you find this recipe??

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/109358

I find my Softasilk cake flour at Super Walmart and Super Target stores.

I use a version of this recipe ( I think the instructions on this cake are un-necessarily complex) and make it with Guinevere cake flour from King Arthur with very good results. Just make sure you have bleached cake flour.

They key to making sure the cake isn't too dense is to beat the dickens out of the butter, which should be fully softened. Make sure you beat it for the fully 7-8 minutes.

I just made it the other day with Swan's and the texture turned out great. I think if I make it again I'll use soured milk rather than the buttermilk because there was something in the flavor I wasn't crazy about and I think it was probably the buttermilk.

You definitely need to up the vanilla. I use 2 Tbs, not 2 tsp.

Since this is about how a particular recipe has turned out...may I venture on a related topic? I have a major hit or miss with my cakes/cupcakes/muffins as far as dryness.

I don't know if I should use brown sugar instead, or less flour or pastry flour and cake flour. I am not overbaking. I don't know if maybe I should bake at a lower temp? And when I soak, it never seems to be enough. (I'm gonna cry)

I made some muffins and was told they were dry (I used a recipe with oil, as muffins should be) but many recipes call for butter now too. I'm not into shortening. So what's best?

[Oh, another thing, anyone have a good buttercream recipe (without shortening) that doesn't get super soft outside the fridge? (I live in FL)]

Thanks...didn't mean to hijack this post...I'm gonna try that recipe, though!

Are you talking about cupcakes made from this recipe ?

No no...I just thought I'd interject with a question about cake in general. Sorry about that.

Cupcakes are particularly prone to drying out. Try looking for a recipe that has at least as much sugar as it does flour. High ratio recipes tend to dry out less.

Thank you...thank you!
What do you think about replacing sugar in recipes with brown sugar?

Brown sugar will make the cake more caramelly in character, but may very well help the over all moisture of the cake. Toba's recipe makes suitable cupcakes if you up the sugar by 1/4 cup and add 3 T of signature secrets.

what is "signature secrets"?

http://www.signaturesecrets.com/

Its a type of starch. It thickens without heat. It does the same thing a box of pudding does without the nasty fake flavors.

Txkat, I bought some Signature Secrets from King Arthur at your urging, put it in WBH white cake (1T per cup of flour) and it turned out FAB. The bag said to use 2T per cup of flour, but I was skimping since I made a motherload of cake....still great results. I was worried it would make it too dense, 'cause that was NOT what I was after, and it didn't... only moist. Thanks! I should give Toba's recipe a try of my own. <<<<<<Cheryl

Thank you, txkat. Love to get tips from you!!!!

King Arthur sells it in small quantity which is nice to try. I use it in enough different things know that I buy it in bulk from the website I posted earlier. One of it's best uses is in choc. chip or blueberry muffins. It keeps all the bits from sinking to the bottom.

Txkat, the Signature Secrets doesn't make the cake too dense? (I'd like to try adding more). Sorry, this is a post about Toba's cake! <<<Cheryl