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Getting frustrated with vanilla cakes!

post #1 of 47
12/18/10 at 4:13pm
Thread Starter 
I am a scratch baker convert...used to use strickly box mixes. But I've slowly started the conversion over to scratch and I can NOT for the life of me create a nice vanilla cake! (I spent 5 hours yesterday with 5 different recipes and they all were horrible) I can make easily chocolate, pumpkin spice, RV, ect ect...but no plain white/yellow. I've tried the "dump in all at once" method cakes to "folding in the stiff egg whites" and all have failed me.

I am in love with the hersheys scratch cake...the texture is perfect. Why why why can't I find a recipe that will yield the texture that the chocolate cake does?

I'm ready to try another tonight...any tried and true recommendations?
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It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.
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post #2 of 47
12/18/10 at 4:50pm
I too want to know! I started with scratch recipes, but converted to doctored box mix because I could not find a decent vanilla recipe!
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post #3 of 47
12/18/10 at 5:22pm
I could have written your post myself! I, too, have been looking for a good scratch vanilla recipe because my chiffon cake, although tasty, falls apart when it's 4" high. It's embarrassing!!
Optimism produces the very success it desires and expects.
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Optimism produces the very success it desires and expects.
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post #4 of 47
12/18/10 at 5:23pm
I have been saying this for years. I have tried so many recipes, ones that are suppose to be great, but they don't fit my taste. I know what you mean, people go crazy for my chocolate cake, carrot cake, but white cake to me tastes bland, flat, floury, dry, texture is off, never the perfect cake. People will tell you that you haven't found the right recipe or technique, but I am tired of trying. I have been baking for alot of years, people always joke and call me martha (stewart), so I am good at it, but for some reason I don't like scratch white cakes. I went to a wedding a while back, the cake was a scratch white buttermilk cake, I hated it, and this was suppose to be from a famous bakery in town.
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post #5 of 47
12/18/10 at 5:28pm
I seriously don't think any of the bakeries in my area even do scratch vanilla recipes, id swear they all taste like some type of a doctored box mix to me! Anyone try the confetti cakes recipes from her book? I have done her chocolate and RV, both turned out dry, like I needed a glass of milk...and I baked both several times to make sure I wasnt over baking...hmm
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post #6 of 47
12/18/10 at 5:41pm
I am also in the same boat! I have done some experiments within the last 2 weeks with scratch white/yellow cakes. (Didn't care for any of them.) I am frustrated as well. I don't have problems with Chocolate, RV, etc. There is a very famous bakery in town that does doctored cake mix for their white and everybody talks about how "Awesome" they are. They are yummy but I want a yummy scratch white/yellow. Sorry I wasn't able to provide a recipe just that I'd join inicon_wink.gif Happy Baking!!!
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post #7 of 47
12/18/10 at 5:42pm
That famous bakery I'm speaking of is in Arkansas BTW.
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post #8 of 47
12/18/10 at 5:46pm
This is my favourite. It's not that heavy, but not alight and fluffy one either. I don't really like light and fluffy, though!

Beat the cream cheese and butter for as long as you can cope with waiting.

http://cakecentral.com/recipes/14592/cream-cheese-pound-cake-2
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post #9 of 47
12/18/10 at 6:05pm
I know...the only "vanilla" scratch cake I do is pound, and then of course flavored scratch like chocolate, pumpkin, carrot, etc...but I still do doctored yellow and white box mixes! People love them, anyway...why change? I'm almost thinking if I DID change, people would not like them as well. haha.
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post #10 of 47
12/18/10 at 6:09pm
Buddy (from the Cake Boss) has a recipe for vanilla cake that he says is really good. I haven't tried it as of yet though. The Swans Down cake flour has a really good white cake recipe that I've made several times and everyone loves it.
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post #11 of 47
12/18/10 at 6:16pm
Has anyone tried either of these recipes? I've had them saved for a while but haven't gotten around to making them.

Silver White Cake
http://www.wilton.com/forums/messageview.cfm?catid=7&threadid=130130&FTVAR_MSGDBTABLE

Martha Stewart's White Cake
http://www.wilton.com/forums/messageview.cfm?catid=7&threadid=105625
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post #12 of 47
12/18/10 at 6:24pm
I could have written your post myself! I, too, have been looking for a good scratch vanilla recipe because my chiffon cake, although tasty, falls apart when it's 4" high. It's embarrassing!!
Optimism produces the very success it desires and expects.
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Optimism produces the very success it desires and expects.
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post #13 of 47
12/18/10 at 7:06pm
i cant tell you how many yellow cake recipes i have tried and still have not found the right one. like most of you, i have no problems with choc. or carrot cake.
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post #14 of 47
12/18/10 at 7:21pm
I am confused because to me we are talking about three different kinds of cake.

Vanilla cake is a cake that has a distinctive vanilla taste. I have used the Cakelove recipe for his butter cake recipe. I add extra vanilla. While it is great as a cake, to me it is dry as a cupcake. My family cannot get enough of this cake.

White cake is a pure white cake with no egg yolks. I haven't tried this yet, though my MIL gave me a family recipe that my FIL swoons over. I'll be making this soon.

Yellow cake is a yellow cake with no distinctive vanilla taste. I need to try this too. The 1,2,3,4 cake is a yellow cake and the Joy of Baking website are two kinds of yellow cake I want to try.

I have made a yellow cake. I was trying to make a vanilla cake, but the true taste of vanilla did not come out. It did come out to be a pretty delicious yellow cake, so I may go with that one. I have also made a very delicious vanilla bean cake that I love too. I like it better than the Cakelove book recipe. I have only made it once and need to try it again to make sure I can replicate it.

So which kind of cake are we talking about - vanilla, white or yellow. Or all three? Or anything that is not chocolate?
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post #15 of 47
12/18/10 at 7:23pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kitagrl

I know...the only "vanilla" scratch cake I do is pound, and then of course flavored scratch like chocolate, pumpkin, carrot, etc...but I still do doctored yellow and white box mixes! People love them, anyway...why change? I'm almost thinking if I DID change, people would not like them as well. haha.


I my (short amount) experience, people DO prefer box mixes over scratch! NO ONE I gave my cakes to to try, preferred ANY of the scratch recipes over box!! Where will will differ from other bakeries I suppose is our own "twist" to the basic box mix...
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