Scratch Bakers: Post Best Recipes!!! Part Ii (After Crash!)

Baking By ceshell Updated 10 May 2010 , 5:52pm by Tor1985

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Mrs-A Posted 21 Feb 2010 , 6:44am
post #121 of 142

i will admit to opening the oven and pulling out the oven tray to check out the cake and it wasnt anywhere near cooked so i put it back in..... so that may have helped it to fail

i will say it tastes yummy! i expected a chocolate flavor but i say its more vanilla than chocolate - i like it

i have rv cake balls in the freezer so i will dip them later... im sure my office will still find them yummy

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glendaleAZ Posted 21 Feb 2010 , 7:01am
post #122 of 142

I don't think opening the oven door made it fall, because when my RV cake fell it was because I jarred the oven rack and it fell right away. On another recipe I removed the cake from the oven and accidently smacked on the microwave and the center fell, again right away.

I just read on the food network site that someone else used milk in her recipe and their cake fell too. I wonder if thats what did it?

I'm sure your office workers will love the cake balls.

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glendaleAZ Posted 21 Feb 2010 , 7:24am
post #123 of 142

I just pulled my last cake out of the oven for tonight, Cakeman Ravens recipe, and WOW it is so good. This is the second time I've made his recipe and am happy to say that it turned out wonderfully, again.

The cake cooked high and flat top.
The taste is wonderful (still the best one I made so far)
With a dark red color.
I think it would make a good stacking cake.

Just a note, for those who haven't made this recipe and are thinking about doing it, do not measure the flour by weight or your cake will end up with an oily taste. Just lightly scoop your cake flour into the measuring cup.

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Mrs-A Posted 21 Feb 2010 , 7:25am
post #124 of 142

oh thats an interesting thought.... i thought my buttermilk smelt a bit dodgy so used milk instead..... i will try to make it again next week and be sure to use buttermilk

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glendaleAZ Posted 21 Feb 2010 , 7:35am
post #125 of 142

I'm going to make Paula's RV recipe tomorrow. Do you have any helpful hints that you could share?

I'll let you know how it goes.

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summerki Posted 21 Feb 2010 , 8:43am
post #126 of 142

I wouldn't bother with Paula's. My friend and I did a RV taste test with close to 10 different cakes and Paula's was no where near the top. Cake Man Raven's was probably the best stock recipe we found. You may need to make adjustments on his too. Buttermilk definitely matters in this cake to react with the baking soda since there is no baking powder. Be sure it bakes long enough too (no crumbs on tester) or the cake will be super fragile and hard to handle.

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Mrs-A Posted 21 Feb 2010 , 10:23am
post #127 of 142

decided to try it again.... and about 20mins into baking black smoke billowing from the kitchen!

take cake out... turn oven (electric) off and what... oven wont turn off.... try again, oven remains hot and on. so while i was baking at what i thought was 160c i wonder what it was really cooking at

anyways...oven only 4yrs so so hugely peeved but will be buying a new one tomorrow

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glendaleAZ Posted 21 Feb 2010 , 3:31pm
post #128 of 142

Mrs-A - Gosh, I'm really sorry you have to get a new oven after only 4 years. I'd be peeved too!


summerki - thanks for the advice. Did you have the following cake as part of your test? It's the last recipe on my list to try out.

Sarahs Red Velvet Cake TWEAKED (this one is from CC)
2 1/2 cups cake flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 Tbsp baking cocoa
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1 cup butter (not margarine)
2 eggs
1 ounce red food coloring
1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla

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CakesByLJ Posted 21 Feb 2010 , 5:30pm
post #129 of 142
Quote:
Originally Posted by glendaleAZ

Just a note, for those who haven't made this recipe and are thinking about doing it, do not measure the flour by weight or your cake will end up with an oily taste. Just lightly scoop your cake flour into the measuring cup.




I am totally puzzled by this icon_confused.gif .. I always scale my flour and wonder if you could elaborate on how you reached this conclusion, please... icon_smile.gif

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CakesByLJ Posted 21 Feb 2010 , 5:32pm
post #130 of 142
Quote:
Originally Posted by summerki

I wouldn't bother with Paula's. My friend and I did a RV taste test with close to 10 different cakes and Paula's was no where near the top. Cake Man Raven's was probably the best stock recipe we found. You may need to make adjustments on his too. Buttermilk definitely matters in this cake to react with the baking soda since there is no baking powder. Be sure it bakes long enough too (no crumbs on tester) or the cake will be super fragile and hard to handle.




Thanks for the input on the testing results you had... I rate CakeMan Raven's very high myself, and wonder what adjustments you made in his recipe? Thanks icon_biggrin.gif

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glendaleAZ Posted 21 Feb 2010 , 9:16pm
post #131 of 142

CakesByLJ,  

I first made this recipe last weekend, and being new to scratch baking I just figured Id need to weigh the flour, so I did. When it was done you could clearly see that something was wrong because it looked like I put too much oil in the mix (I didnt). Even still the was the best cake Ive tried so far. So, last night I made it again and I just scooped the flour in the measuring cup (not packed) until I reached the required amount. This time the cake looked perfect. Great taste and feel on the tongue. And this time it rose twice in size, and had a perfect looking top.

Hope this helps.
Tammy

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CakesByLJ Posted 22 Feb 2010 , 2:25am
post #132 of 142

Thanks Tammy... my first thought is that your scales might be off.. you might try measuring it and then weighing that amount to see what it weighs at.. also... lightly spooning has a different weight than "dip and sweep".. icon_redface.gif I know.. it's confusing... icon_confused.gificon_lol.gificon_lol.gif

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rcolson13 Posted 24 Feb 2010 , 12:20am
post #133 of 142

Thanks for sharing! I'll definitely try to do more scratch baking. I think it might be cheaper if you don't get the boxed mixes on sale too..

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summerki Posted 24 Feb 2010 , 5:26am
post #134 of 142

Thanks for the input on the testing results you had... I rate CakeMan Raven's very high myself, and wonder what adjustments you made in his recipe? Thanks icon_biggrin.gif

I swapped out some of the oil and added butter. It was better but still more dry than I was hoping for.

This weekend I decided to give the Cook's Country (America's Test Kitchen's) recipe a go again. I think this was my favorite so far, but it needed adjustments too. I added 3/4 tsp salt, 1/4 cup sugar and changed the fat make up from 10 T unsalted butter to 8 T unsalted butter and 6 T canola oil. If I were to make it again I would add 4 T more oil (10 T total) and an additional 1/4 cup buttermilk to add a bit more moisture and buttermilk flavor. Be sure to use natural cocoa powder on this one. I used Dutch processed once and I could really taste the baking soda when the acid component was not there to neutralize the soda's alkalinity.

To me this recipe tastes most like what Red Velvet is supposed to taste like. While Cake Man Raven's was good it was missing that complexity that defines Red Velvet.
I hope this helps. Let me know if you would like the full recipe.

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CakesByLJ Posted 24 Feb 2010 , 1:22pm
post #135 of 142

thanks summerki... I would love the recipe; I am always up for a trying a recommended recipe~!

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glendaleAZ Posted 25 Feb 2010 , 1:10am
post #136 of 142

summerki - I'd like to give it a try please.

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officialamysue Posted 25 Feb 2010 , 7:59pm
post #137 of 142

Ok, this thread is answering my questions than the thread i posted icon_smile.gif a lot of you are scratchers... whats wrong with using the box mixes? i keep having trouble with dry bland homemade from scratch cakes, not sure why! plus trying to find healthy substitute recipes instead of using oil etc.

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summerki Posted 1 Mar 2010 , 9:05am
post #138 of 142

For me, I like baking from scratch because I like knowing what is going into my cake. I can also pick up a strange after taste from cake mixes. I personally tend to like finer grained cakes too that you just can't get from a boxed mix. I have made some boxed cake make overs that I felt were good but I had to add so many other ingredients to them that I figured I may as well start from scratch icon_smile.gif

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jayshunnie22 Posted 12 Mar 2010 , 5:23pm
post #139 of 142

Hi i cant count the number of cakes that ive made from scratch in the search of a great yellow and chocolate cake. the yellow cake always seems to come out a bit crumbly (crust wise) and always seems to have a strong taste of sugar and the chocolate either comes out sticky or the chocolate flavor isnt strong enough. i always follow the recipes to a T but i cant seem to find good solid recipes. can anyone help?

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jishel Posted 13 Mar 2010 , 12:16am
post #140 of 142

I recommend buying the book "Baking At Home with The Culinary Institute of America" .. i'm a culinary student and we've used this book in class.. best vanilla butter cake and genoise.. great book icon_smile.gif

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CakesByLJ Posted 13 Mar 2010 , 1:24am
post #141 of 142
Quote:
Originally Posted by jishel

I recommend buying the book "Baking At Home with The Culinary Institute of America" .. i'm a culinary student and we've used this book in class.. best vanilla butter cake and genoise.. great book icon_smile.gif




Welcome to CC jishel icon_biggrin.gif Pull up a chair, make yourself at home, and feel free to share those recipes with us..... icon_biggrin.gificon_biggrin.gificon_biggrin.gif

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Tor1985 Posted 10 May 2010 , 5:52pm
post #142 of 142

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this thread! My eye balls hurt from reading so much!!
I have just started getting into cakes and was asked to do a friends birthday cake.

I wanted to try the Vanilla Butter Cake from the Mermaid Bakery, it sounds amazing!! I wanted to know if it was dense enough to cover in fondant?? and what would be a great best filling, chocolate ganache?

My friend left all the decisions up to me which is the worst idea becasue I love every cake, there's just so many chocies to make..it's hard to just pick one!!

I have a really great recipe for a Mud Cake that I'll post when I get more time

Thanks for all the great recipes icon_smile.gif

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