I just got my new Cook's Country magazine in the mail today. In it, they had an article on a yellow layer cake & beside it had "prep school", where they gave suggestions on how the butter should be softened, room-temp eggs/milk, etc.
One of the topics they had there was about "use the right mixing method: reverse creaming". It states that with "standard creaming", butter & sugar are beaten together first, eggs are beaten in one at a time, & then dry & liquid ingredients are added alternately.
For their yellow & white layer cakes, they use a less well-known mixing method called "reverse creaming". First, the dry ingredients are combined, next the softened butter is added bit by bit, & then the combined milk, flavoring & eggs are incorporated in 2 additions. To finish, the batter is beaten until it's thick & fluffy.
They say, since the fat is blended with the flour before any liquid is added, the flour proteins are well greased, so gluten formation is minimal. Consequently, reverse creaming creates a tender, tight crumb with none of the air pockets that can occur in standard creaming, yet the cake is still study enough to frost.
Have any of you tried this method, & if so, do you think it works better than the usual method given in mixing instructions? I'm just curious. I've kinda heard of it before, but never tried it. Was just wondering if it really worked & what your opinions on it were.
Never heard of it, but you've given me a reason to make a cake!
I've never heard of it either, but I would LOVE to see if it works! Thanks for posting. 
yes, i have heard of it. I just can,t remember where. Maybe on food network. Or maybe just in a recipe i came upon. I will have to try this also. Maybe i read it on this site. here is a link
http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-593971-.html&sid=fd4c06b4dd6bb73aeff41f726b3dc839
i use this method too, just never knew what it was called! my cakes and cupcakes come out light and fluffy and moist, i think it works perfectly!!!
No I had not heard of this method, but I'm interested in trying it now! Thanks for sharing! 
I've used this sometimes. And here's a video of a recipe from Cooks Illustrated for their fluffy layer yellow cake.
http://castroller.com/podcasts/CooksIllustratedVideo/1038060-Fluffy%20Yellow%20Layer%20Cake
I use this all the time. I first learned about it on Cooks Illustrated. They stated that it would make a fluffy cake. I then saw it done on Food network. This Method will work for any butter cake. I always post my favorite recipe site where They have a "Yellow cake" recipe where they use this method. It's www.wrenscottage.com .Click down at the bottom "From Karens Kitchen. Great site with a lot of great recipes.
I have actually never had a butter cake turn out as it should without reverse creaming. Rose Levi Beranbaum, if I remember right, claims she invented this mixing method (Cake Bible), saying butter coats the gluten in the flour making it next to impossible to over beat, insuring the cake stays tender.
I don't think Rose invented it. It was invented in the 1940s. I just read that she made it popular again. I think it has existed in pastry books for quite some time. But I'll research that later.
Few more explanations:
http://joepastry.site.aplus.net/index.php?title=what_is_the_two_stage_a_k_a_reverse_crea&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1
http://pastrychefonline.com/blog/2009/01/06/the-two-stage-mixing-method/
http://community.cookinglight.com/showthread.php?t=48028
wow, I learn so much from you guys. I do remeber seeing this in the cake bible but I don't recall a name for it....senior moment I guess
Can this method be used on any recipe, or is it best left to butter cakes?
so it should only be used with scratch recipe, and not mixes right?
Reverse creaming is for butter cakes from scratch.
how do you know if you can use it or not?
Just try a batch and see how it goes. I've successfully converted several recipes to this way of mixing.
The two-step method sounds very much like reverse creaming but it uses hi-ratio shortening, not butter to coat the flour particles:
http://www.ochef.com/625.htm
HTH
My perfect white cake that I use for EVERYTHING is done with this method. People cannot believe how moist it is!
My perfect white cake that I use for EVERYTHING is done with this method. People cannot believe how moist it is!
Would you be willing to share how you use this method?
I have done this twice now. The first time I used RBs book and kne of her recipes. While the crumb was tender, it just was not sweet enough. I felt like is was eating slightly sweetened bread.
The second time I used the method as described in the issues of Cook's Country talked about here. In that magazine, you add the butter a bit at a time til you are supposed to get pea sizes pieces where all the dry ingredients and butter meld together. I never got pea sized pieces, but the flour clumped together when pressed between my fingers. They do not add a little bit of liquid like RL does as well as some of the other links posted here suggest. As a result I got one tough, rubbery cake that was full of tunneling. It was a classic example of over mixing. I know I was mixing too long to try to get those pea sized pieces.
I would like to try again. I am not completely satisfied with my vanilla cake and I think this would help.
My perfect white cake that I use for EVERYTHING is done with this method. People cannot believe how moist it is!
Would you be willing to share how you use this method?
I have done this twice now. The first time I used RBs book and kne of her recipes. While the crumb was tender, it just was not sweet enough. I felt like is was eating slightly sweetened bread.
The second time I used the method as described in the issues of Cook's Country talked about here. In that magazine, you add the butter a bit at a time til you are supposed to get pea sizes pieces where all the dry ingredients and butter meld together. I never got pea sized pieces, but the flour clumped together when pressed between my fingers. They do not add a little bit of liquid like RL does as well as some of the other links posted here suggest. As a result I got one tough, rubbery cake that was full of tunneling. It was a classic example of over mixing. I know I was mixing too long to try to get those pea sized pieces.
I would like to try again. I am not completely satisfied with my vanilla cake and I think this would help.
Temp of your butter is really important. If your butter is room temp it's too warm. It has to be cold, or only slightly out of the fridge. I have made recipes that call for the pea sized pieces, this is impossible with warm butter and the cake fails.
Sweetness is all in your taste buds, so I can't help you there, but I love Rose's white velvet cake, I think it tastes great (where I think a lot of scratch white recipes taste eggy). Cook's Illustrated also has a great one and Dorie Greenspan's perfect party cake is pretty tasty. Google for recipes.
My recipe
1 cup milk
6 egg whites
1/2 TBLS Vanilla
1/2 TBLS Almond
1/3 cup mayo
Mix above all in 1 bowl, should sit to get alittle warmer, but doesnt have to
2 1/4 flour
1 3/4 sugar
3 TBLS + 1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
Mix together (i do it in my kitchenaid with the wisk attachment)
add 1 stick softened unsalted butter (i do room temp) whisk and scrap til it looks like sand
Pour in wet.
This is seriously the best recipe I have ever tried. and i did the white scratch off and a hanful of other recipes too. And i use and abuse it too! it becomes lemon poppyseed, strawberry, cherry, whatever i need to make just like they use the WASC.
Let me know if you have anymore questions!!
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