care to share your best moist vanilla cake recipe - Page 2

I use the same measurement of cake flour in place of the all purpose flour. Funny, I've never even noticed that the recipe calls for all purpose flour as I always use cake flour for my cakes. I have made this cake at least 50 times and it turned out perfect every time except once when it was slightly over cooked. I also had a problem with holes in the baked cake one time and realized that was because I forgot to tap the pans (lightly) on the counter before I put them in the oven. Again, I've never used all purpose flour for the cake (that I can recall). There probably has been a point some time in the past when I didn't have cake flour around, but I don't recall it specifically. I just hope you like the finished cake as much as I do. My daughter, who is quite an accomplished baker, just mentioned this morning that she absolutely loves this cake and it is the only cake she actually finds herself craving.

What is the funfettie cake but white cake with pastel sugar sprinkles in it? I have never seen the attraction there. My granddaughter wanted that for her b-day a coupe years ago and I will never make one again. The sprinkles bled color into the batter and the thing was ugly when it was cut. Personally, I wouldn't waste the sour cream alone on one of those cakes. I'd stick with a good white cake mix (I use DH) for the wasc recipe, it's tried and true.

For you ladies who have posted your cake and semi scratch cake recipes, have you used these recipes to make tiered cakes, like wedding cakes? I have always used boxed cake mixes, I enjoy the decorating more than the baking. But I have a wedding cake coming up and thought it would be nice to make a cake from scratch. But it makes me very nervous, b/c I am afraid they wont turn out. I have never had a box cake fail me.

Also, can someone please tell me what WASC stands for?

WASC = White Almond Sour Cream !
CarolAnn..Congrats on the new Grand baby!

bettinashoe... Thanks for the reply !

fiddlesticks....Thank you!!!

wethreec , I have used the wasc for two stacked wedding cakes and it worked very well and tasted wonderful. I suggest you try it and see for yourself whether you like it. I bet you will.
Carol

Even though the Rebecca Rather cake is fragile when it comes out of the oven, once it's cooled down it's fine for layering and also for use in a tiered cake. I cracked a layer clear in half once and even that worked out fine; I was doing a 3-layer tier so I just used the cracked layer in the middle. Either the IMBC dam or the filling above/below the layer (or both) made a great glue, and the end result is that the cake came out just fine. I doweled it and stacked a tier on top and traveled 45 minutes to deliver; it didn't budge. Point being, it's just fine and sturdy!

I do hear ya on the box vs scratch with regard to reliability, but I think that's just a practice issue, including perfecting the extra steps such as creaming the butter/sugar, mixing the cake just the right amount but not too much, folding in egg whites if the recipe calls for it, etc. I think if you are comfortable with box cakes and your customers like them, then why mess with success? Unless you are willing to do a test run or two to make sure things come out ok. For my part, I like to bake several days ahead and freeze till decorating day; that way if I have a baking disaster I still have time to rebake, no last minute surprises. I like the ability of a really great scratch cake to totally surprise the customer; I had one gal tell me my vanilla cake was the best cake she had EVER tasted, wow that made my day! Then again I got lots of compliments when I made the WASC so, go with what you trust (actually the same gal had previously had my WASC and loved it, but she really liked the RR cake because it was so much less dense.)

Like ceshell I also bake ahead a few days and freeze. I am new to cake decorating (have only been doing it since May) but am not new at all to baking, which has always been my forte. The two layer shower cake I have posted was made with the white cake as was the top layer of my first topsy cake. I wish the icing on that cake had turned out better but it was a really hot (over 100) humid day and the icing changed as soon as I got it in the car to move it. The cake was still wonderful, however. I also agree with ceshell on your comfort level. As my grandparents were chefs my family never used mixes so it's not something I ever lean towards. I would encourage you to try making a scratch cake, following the directions to the T as you may find yourself actually enjoying the scratch baking process once you try it. I personally find it so "ego building" when I hear someone whispering to someone else at a potluck or a gathering "I want some of what Bettina brought. Eveything she makes is from scratch!" My saying is "Never be afraid to try something new!"

kakeladi~ I also use your recipe all the time! Love it as I can always count on it being yummy and turning out and not wasting all the eggs. just made it yesterday again. AND I've subbed out different flavors of cake mix too and it still turns out fabulous!!!

I paniced when I thought I misplaced the recipe, so when I grabbed it again I made several copies for every area I might 'put' it. Ha, ha.

I like the WASC without the almond (just double the Vanilla). It's a very popular seller.

Have you ever added buttermilk or extra butter to your WASA recipe?

I don't mess with a perfect recipe! ha, ha.

wethreec- I've used my recipe in at least 5 tiered cakes that I can think of, here's two of them:
http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1240930
http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1209589