Lasombra, thank you so much for all this.

I am a scratch baker and I always add my whipped whites in the end.
What I didn't know is that I was over mixing the batter once all the ingredients were in!! Now I think I know why my cake sometimes are so "compact".

We learn at least one new thing everyday!!

Perhaps you can help me out with this one: sometimes my cake over rises at the top (like a mountain) and then it will totally "go down" or even sink a little in the middle a few minutes after I take it out from the oven.

Why is this??

Thanks!!

Yeah, i've heard of these strips too but I thought they were aluminium.

i've also heard that some people place a flower nail in the middle of the pan to make it rise evenly!

The baking strips are thick terrycloth sandwiched between teflon(I'm thinking that's the name of that stuff)...basically the same stuff of which those silver ironing board covers are made.

I found a recipe yesterday(I've been on a mad hunt for "just the right" lemon cake. It was for a bundt cake...ooooooookay. I wanted to see how it would bake in a 8" and 6" round. Ah, man, it was lookin' soooooo good in the oven...nicely golden...did the "spring back" check on it....pulled it out....

I let them cool. They were completely done...they were delicious. but...if anyone has made a 7-up cake...you know that dome of crust that forms like 2 friggin' inches above where the actual cake is!???! That is what these did. I went to remove them from the pan, and it was like they were sayin', "PSYCHED YA MIND!" Oh, yeah, they looked good...but they weren't near as high as they made out to be...


What causes that?

Hi all,
I'm a totally scratch baker and have recently been experimenting with new recipes etc. I did a cake for a regular customer last week and tried a new recipe which used egg whites instead of whole eggs. The customer said that it tasted much richer than the whole egg one which surprised me! Another great tip I've found is that if you are making a chocolate sponge cake, instead of just using cocoa powder and/or melted chocolate, add a cup of hot coffee to it and it makes it taste sooooooo chocolatey!!Don't ask me why!

I love mixing chocolate and coffee. The coffee just has a great way of emphasizing the chocolate taste. You can also use instant espresso and turn it into a paste and use that in cakes as well... It is so yummy!

CakesByLJ

This is the one I tried...

http://southernfood.about.com/od/lemoncakes/r/bl1102f.htm

sorry it took so long....I had cropped it before printing so the pertinent info wasn't there and my color cartridge is looooooooow so the info that would've been so helpful was just about wiped out....I was going to type it and send it to you then CC wouldn't come back up for me. By the time it did, I had sought a high powered light source to ...anyway...see what you can do with it. Let me know.


I want to try this one maybe Tuesday next week....


http://southernfood.about.com/od/lemoncakes/r/r70502d.htm

doesn't it just say "pucker"? mmmmmmmmmm.

LaSombra, what's your take on melting the butter and adding it with the liquids instead of creaming it with sugar. i think i've read at least a couple of people who do that instead of creaming.

and when you cream the butter, do you beat it first without the sugar until it's fluffy? i could never get this right

Thanks all4cake... I am going to try it, and will let you know the results.. I am thinking it appears to be more of a pound cake recipe. I want a lighter texture, and found a couple of recipes on that site I think are worth trying too.. Off to the kitchen I go...... LOL

All4cake, I thought it was just me.

I have been making a 7-Up cake for a local restaurant over the past couple of weeks and have had the same problem with the crust rising higher than the actual cake. I have made about 10 of these so far, and it has been pretty much the same each time. It is so frustrating, because I got the recipe from the recent issue of Taste of the South magazine, and of course, their cake is picture perfect. One thing I did differently on the last four cakes was to stop using the cake release to prepare the bundt pan. Instead, I started using Baker's Joy (the oil & flour spray) like the recipe suggested. It seemed to reduce the problem somewhat. It even appears that the cake itself rises a bit higher than before. Once I flip it out of the pan, it looks great.

Hope this helps!

QueenBee1, I've tried various 7-up recipes with the same results. I've tried greasing and flouring the pan(tried different pans too), and bake easy with the same results.....I absolutely HATE the sprays with the flour in it no matter how well they work....nary a one has sprayed cleanly without a clog(I really hate cussin' those cans just provoke me though).

I've just decided to think of that crusting thing as my treat for baking the cake....that stuff is gooooooood!

All4cake, can I ask if you used yellow or green lemon for your lemon cake recipe?

Yellow. What's a green lemon?

I'd assume a lime, but I could be wrong

hi stsapph

Savannah woman here too

okay, so I'm in NC now....but born and raised in Savannah

Hey, I lived in NC for a while myself, in Greensboro. It is good to be home though!

I go home once in a while...

I think it would be easier to accept the changes had I been there to adapt with it...

Oh, sorry. I forgot you guys call a "green lemon" a lime.

Did you know that Brazilian oranges are actually green??!! They are nicely sweet and juicy!!

Those oranges sound yummy!

Yeah I know the feeling. When I was going back and forth from NC to GA it always amazed me how quick things were changing. Now that I'm back, it doesn't seem to be changing so fast, but I'm also in the middle now.

oilili, I imagine, this recipe would be good using any type of citrus for the lemon...I did add a bit extra lemon zest as well as a smidge of orange. I am looking for zing...wow...pucker power...mmm mmm mmm MMMMMMMMMMM...something to make my eyes cross ...but not really....something really lemony.

I was disappointed by the lack of color. I should've added some yellow to the batter...that may have added to the experience.

Is it really lemony? Does it bake up nice and evenly?

Quick word to say a BIG thank you to Lasombra.

I made my moist chocolate cake once again this weekend and it turned out better than never, thanks to your instructions!!!

I beat my sugar + butter for a long long time, then beat well again after adding each egg. I beat my batter a lot less than in the past and, as usual, added whipped egg whites in the end, mixing slowly with a wooden spoon.

THANK YOU, it was a huge success!!!

tHANKS FOR THE INFO!

I wanted to add that I just started baking from scratch (I used to doctor DH cakes with the extender recipe) and could totally taste a difference! I surprised myself, because I really didn't think I would be able to tell the difference, that I would just be using "baked from scratch" for marketing purposes....but it was soooo good! No more boxes for me! So far I just have a chocolate and butter yellow, but that's a good start.