Cakes from scratch

Pick up your Better Homes & Gardens cookbook, and start baking. The only way I found some 'just right' recipes was to make a LOT of them, take notes, and stick with a favorite. I actually think that was a fun part, but I'm into baking.

Go to beyond buttercream she has great recipes and they are foolproof .  They also taste great. 

White Cake - The Cake Bible

First off all, bring all ingredients to room temperature. Milk, eggs, butter should not be used straight from the cooler. Vanilla - get rid of that immiation and invest in some good vanilla. I use vanilla beans or vanilla paste made from Nielsen Massey.


This makes enough for 2 x 8" pans or 24 cupcakes

10.5oz cake flour
10.5oz sugar
6oz butter
8oz whole milk
4.75oz egg whites
2.5tsp baking powder
1tsp kosher salt
1 vanilla bean


Mod edit: posting recipe methodology is not allowed due to copyright restrictions.

Alright, and here is my favorite Devils Food Cupcake recipe. I think it's actually from Martha Stewart. Frankly, I can not remember. It is a great recipe.


Devils Food Cupcakes

3/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
3/4 cup hot water
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons coarse salt
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter
2 1/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream, room temperature



Mod edit: posting recipe methodology is not permitted due to copyright restrictions

Wow thanks so much for the recipes, youre very generous to share (plus its a lot of typing)  i cant wait to try them out but im going to find it difficult to source a couple of ingredients. Are there any alternatives/substitutions?

 

Cake flour -- we have plain or self raising

Dutch process cocoa powder -- we have bourneville cocoa powder which is a very fine powder, not sweet at all and is yucky if tasted

 

Also could i ask about this cake bible, is it worth purchasing and if so, who is the author please?

 

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you might also try Joyofbaking.com they have lots of scratch recipes along with step by step videos. The German chocolate cake is really good . Good Luck!

You can use plain flour in both recipes I posted I had to google bourneville cocoa powder but I think that should work just fine in the devils food. Is that the cocoa powder you guys use for baking?

I love the cake bible - go to amazon, you should find cheap used copies there

I was a WASC baker for a long time I also wanted to get away from the doctored box mix and went scratch... Here is a very very good Chocolate Mud Cake recipe with variations I found on line that I am willing to share....

 

Best ever Mud Cake by Kel11

 

 

Selling boxed cake mixes (even when "doctored" up) seems to me like cheating. It's like going out for dinner and getting served a "doctored" up microwaved meal

I agree crustdust but when I started baking and only for home and family I was a cake box baker (no internet like we have now in the mid 80's) lol. When I wanted to make my hobby into more i know that I would not feel comfortable using box cake. I have tried and liked many WASC cakes but when it is all said and done, and I say to someone I made that cake I want to know that I did make it. I will admit that at home when the Kids and the Grandkids come over and we want Margarita cupcakes and Watermelon Cupcakes DH here I come...lol  But it has been a lot of trials and mishaps along the way to find good cake recipes. I think the journey of making different cakes and trying them is just as exciting to me as trying to learn a new fondant or gumpaste idea or trying to master a flawless buttercream cake.  Search the internet bakedindy and READ the reviews people leave on a recipe and explore!

I barley got any of my recipes of the Internet. Books! I spent hours at the library reading recipes and books regarding baking. Anyone can bake a $1.50 cake from a cake mix

Im gonna get the cake bible as it also has sections on decorating including types of icings and piping techniques and making things with fondant.

 

Ive also read a few reviews and some suggest using less plain flour and adding cornflour. But the amounts arent mentioned. I will continue to search until i get it exact and then update this post.

 

I hate any waste and the local ducks are getting too fat. I just want to make wow inducing cupcakes, thats my goal.

 

Now off to order that book, my first piece of equipment,  thanks crustdust thanks everyone xxx