scratch cake gourmet flavors - Page 2

I bought a book from Borders called the Essential Guide to cake Decorating. There is a recipe called Madeira cake which is similar to yellow but has more butter and very little milk and uses Ap flour and SR flour combined. It is more moist and dense than yellow cake which I like and may work well for carving. I plan to use it for carving next month. I have baked several of these but never carved it before.

If it's at all encouraging~ I am a scratch baker too and now can offer over 50 gourmet combinations. Being a scratch baker doesn't have to mean you are limited in any way. I was so intimidated until it finally "clicked". I change ingredients to suit my needs (vegan baking is all I do). So, yes.. it can be done.

For the most part, I work off of 3 - 4 recipes I've developed myself (add extracts/fillings/infusions, etc to change the flavors. I use natural extracts/flavors, and it's surprising how many flavors/combos you can come up with.

After many migraines and a lot of trial and error (making a HUGE mess in the kitchen, the works), LAST WEEK I finally came up with a recipe that works for Yellow/vanilla cake that isn't dense or crumbly but *just* right (says Goldilocks). I had no idea that anyone else struggled with the yellow cake issue... that makes me feel better. It took me over a year to finally make this one to the point I'm satisfied. I'm putting this one in the vault.

I say: GO FOR IT!!!

Hi, I'm a scratch baker too. But I haven't had the courage to try mixing different flavours. I have tried a white cake that's in the Recipe Index here, and I really like it. Here is the link,

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-1171-Heavenly-White-Cake.html

I also try making different flavoured fillings instead of the cakes and I have tried making baileys cake and its really yummy.

I do not have her latest book, Sensational Cakes, but I looked up the recipe on line; You are absolutely correct, the milk and ginger have been added to the previous version of her Classic Yellow Cake recipe. I am a little more than miffed. Do you suppose the milk was omitted from the first book? I, like many others, have tested that recipe several times, and it is safe to say a lot of us had issues with it. I am going to test this again using the milk and see how it works.. I feel the ginger is a non-issue personally, and certainly would not alter the outcome of the recipe.

Laura, someone told me after looking at my book when I first got it that she wondered the same things since she got the recipe originally from the first book or maybe online. Anyway, I've not had any problems with it and I've made it about 9 or 10 times.
This is what she says in the book: "Everyone loves this buttery cake--and we've perfected this one over time so it's theonly yellow cake recipe you'll ever want to bake."
I think it's a bit strange too that milk was ommitted and wonder why ginger was added.

There was a thread like this just earlier this month.
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-626211.html

There are two other (older) big scratch recipe threads that have A LOT of good recipes in them. Part of this first one was corrupted in the crash, but you can still get through most of it:
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopic-365233-0.html

This is the post-crash sister thread:
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-579499.html

I am a scratch baker too. Here's a yellow cake recipe, it's adapted from Sylvia Weinstock's yellow cake recipe. http://www.make-fabulous-cakes.com/yellow-cake-recipe.html . I replaced the sour cream with milk. I really, really like her recipe, it always turns out good for me. I like it because it is not too, too dense and it is moist.

I've tried Elisa Strauss's vanilla, chocolate and red velvet. She does sculpting so these must work for her. I do like the vanilla and red velvet but the chocolate seems to be dry. I like the idea of the sour cream and coffee in the chocolate but expected it to be more moist. But I would still like another good go-to , vanilla, yellow and chocolate recipes.

For chocolate, I like the Whimsical Bakehouse chocolate butter cake.

Thanks tyty, I'll get that book from the library and try that chocolate recipe. Does it have sour cream and coffee in it?

It has coffee, you mix the coffee water and cocoa together. No sour cream.

Here's colette's chocolate cake recipe:

Active Time: 25 Minutes
Total Time: 1 Hour 20 Minutes
Yield: Makes 20 servings
This is my most-requested cake recipe. Not only is it delicious, but you don't need a mixer to make it -just whisk all the ingredients together.
RECIPE INGREDIENTS
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch salt
1 3/4 cups hot coffee
1/4 cup bourbon
5 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate, cut into small pieces
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
2 cups sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 275 degrees F. Grease and flour two 8- or 9-inch round pans. Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt.

Combine the coffee, bourbon, chocolate, and butter in a large covered metal bowl. Let stand until completely melted, then whisk together. Whisk in the sugar and cool. Whisk in the flour mixture in 2 batches, then the eggs and the vanilla.

Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 45 minutes (checking after 30 minutes for even baking) or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool the cakes completely in the pans on wire racks. You can then either refrigerate them in the pans, wrapped in plastic, or use them right away, though it's easier to decorate a cool cake. To remove the cakes from the pans, run a knife around the inside edges of the pan and place it over a low flame to melt the grease, making sure to keep the pan moving to prevent burning. The cake should slide out easily when you invert the pan.

Recipe courtesy of
Colette's Birthday Cakes by Colette Peters
Little, Brown & Company

I double the recipe to make 2 10inch cakes, plus a little extra to eat out of the bowl

agreed

I find that the flavor of white or yellow cake is so mild that it really disappears or melds beautifully with the filling & frosting. So to make gourmet flavors I vary the liqueurs I use in my mousseline filling, use a variety of fruit curds & jams, different flavors of pastry cream or fold chopped nuts/cookies/chocolate/coconut/fruit in whipped cream or mousseline.

Having said that I sometimes also play around with the liquids & flavorings used in the recipe such as substituting coffee, juice or liqueur for part or all of the liquid, adding grated citrus rind or folding in chopped nuts/chocolate or melted chocolate. The problem with this approach is that the acid & fat content of the substitutes can throw the recipe off balance so you have to have at least a basic understanding of baking science.

For the most part though, I rely on the fillings and frostings to create gourmet flavors.

Thank you so much for sharing this recipe SugarnSpice