Cloetzu,

I hope you don't mind me providing one more recipe for yellow cake. It's from my copy of Better Homes & Gardens cookbook and is more forgiving than the Cook's Illustrated one. I first made it years ago--it was the first scratch cake recipe that would consistently work for me-- and it's still my DH's favorite (he says it's less "eggy" than the Cook's) It's very moist and flavorful, but it's definitely a scratch butter cake with a slightly denser crumb than cake mixes.

Better Homes & Gardens Yellow Cake

* 3/4 cup butter, softened
* 3 eggs
* 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1-3/4 cups sugar
* 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla
* 1-1/4 cups milk


1. In a medium bowl combine flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

2. Cream butter 2-4 minutes until color lightens. Gradually add sugar, about 1/4 cup at time, beating on medium speed until well combined and scraping sides of bowl. Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes more. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition (about 1 minute total). Beat in vanilla. Add flour mixture and milk alternately to beaten mixture, beating on low speed after each addition just until combined. Spread batter into the prepared pan(s).

3. Bake in a 375 degree F 30 to 35 minutes for two 8-inch pans

I actually bake mine at 325.
Good luck!

I have yet to make a really successful scratch white cake. I made one using a Dorie Greenspan recipe that was delicious but it didn't rise very high. So I will definitely be studying FromScratchSF's tutorial!

there is a great thread on c/c. "finally a scratch wasc" , something like that. I have gotten some good recipes from there, also. On some of them(great scratch bakers) they just dump it all in together and mix. Tried them, like them. This thread is all scratch bakers helping ones that want to go that way. hth

When creaming butter, the color will lighten a lot (I'm assuming American butter). It will go from a darkish yellow to just barely yellow at all. The fluffy part will look like you want to stick your finger in there and eat a mouthful because it's so fluffy it will look like whipped frosting.

I have done extensive research on the creaming method and the reverse crekmg method. Over and over again I found that the only you will get a light and fluffy cake is with the creaming method. I wonder though if there may be a fine line between the two. Cook's Country has a cake pictured in the February ( or maybe March) issue of a pretty nice looking cake that looked good. I did try it for making cupcakes and was not happy with the results. I haven't tried it as a cake yet. I intend to because with reverse creaming you get the same results every time.

The way to tell if the butter and sugar are light and fluffy. The amount of time you best the eggs does depend on what kind of mixer you use. But if you watch it as you mix it, you will see a difference in the appearance of the mixture. It also gets lighter in color too. On my stand mixer I go 5 minutes, with a scrape down halfway through. Lately I have been using the beater blade which eliminates the need for scraping down altogether.

'

Hey, y'all want to hear something fascinating? You know how we talk about Creaming and "Reverse" creaming? Well I'm reading a food history book now and they talk about making cakes back in the days before electricity and K5 mixers, they called (what we call Creaming) "Rubbing." It got the name rubbing because you took your hand and rubbed the butter into the sugar!! I thought that was fascinating -- I'm soooooo glad times have changed since then!!

Want to hear something else? I like Elaine McGregor videos. She looks like from another era but I thought there would be something good in YouTube under her name for creaming so I searched and she was doing that creaming by hand in the video and also the rubbing method! I love her but I quickly got out of there.

Isn't she amazing? Jen, do you know anything else about her? I found her videos such a long time ago, but I searched everywhere for something that will tell me how old she is, where she is (probably England?) or anything else, but I haven't found anything!

The UK people probably know about her.

There are some old books on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&sort=relevancerank&search-alias=books&field-author=Elaine%20MacGregor#/ref=sr_st?qid=1299643738&rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_27%3AElaine+MacGregor&sort=daterank

She is the reason I fot a Youtube account. Very informative and she makes it look so easy. Of course, I have to pause and play over and over.

bobwonderbuns, sarah phillips

Cloetzu
I have used the Hershey's recipe for years and love it but always thought it was too moist. I asked here on CC about substituting the milk for sour cream and many say they do it. I finally tried it and feel the texture is more dense and not so moist. I really liked how it came out. Maybe try it with the sour cream and see if you get better results.

thank you FromScratchSF for the encouragement, Sangriacupcake for the recipe, Jade8 thanks for the tip on the Hershey cake - it was too wet for me as is ;( and THANKS to EVEYRONE else too for contributing and give me some advice! I've been reading and following the links sent - I now have a ton of recipies to try! all from scratch!

I always thought that most folks in the baking industry used nothing but scratch but sounds like many use mixes - very interesting and good to know!

I'm not going to give up but please forgive me if I use a mix as a crutch and in time of need - well at least until I find a scratch recipe that makes me dance like J-Lo or Jen/FromScratchSF

I,m laughing my butt off. I did ring, but was cut short as to what i said, after your name. It was deleted.

Thanks guys now I am going to have to get in the "mix" and make a white cake!! LOL

I only use spectrum also. I just cannot bring myself to use Crisco. I did an experiment where I used half butter, half spectrum. There was no discernible difference. I have not tried all spectrum yet.
I use an instant read thermometer and take my butter temp as I wait for it to get to the right temp. I can't rely on feel as I found I was always off.

I will use it any where from about 65 to 68 degrees. I live in the NE and right now it is about 68 in my house, so it is impossible to get it warmer. Mostly it is at 68. I only use it lower when pressed for time. Never below 65 though. I have seen some books - the cake bible believe- that say 70, but like I said I can't get it to 70 this time of year. I've tried and 68 is the best I got after several hours. Now the rest if the year is different. I have to be more diligent then.

This thread is getting more interesting the longer it goes on. Gaining so much knowledge.

I have worked in a store bakery and most grocery store bakery cakes come in all ready baked and frozen.