umm juts attempted my first scratch cakes....hate them. sorry but I do. I tried......

the white cake ...flat....the chocolate .....all over my oven....

i tried.....but I think its back to mix for me!!!

Nothing wrong with making cake mix cakes. You have to do what works best for you I personally make scratch cakes but that is because that's what works best for me. You are a Cake Decorator because you have an artistic talent not because you make a cake from scratch.

Lazy_Susan

I had problems with my cakes baking evenly, overflowing my pans, etc. Then my wilton instructor gave me some advice...

-cold ingredients should be at room temperature
-bake cakes at 290* which takes a little longer
-don't over mix the ingredients
-follw the recipe & instructions exactly as printed
-gradually add the flour and milk, alternating them starting with milk and ending with milk
-fill the pans 1/2 - 3/4 full

Hope this helps.

I seldom make from scratch cakes. I have a couple of favorites such as carrot or a chocolate almond torte I make. But for the majority of cakes I use Betty Crocker mixes and I use flavored simple syrups brushed on every cake, they are moist and I always have good results, and positive comments from clients. I figure the cake mix companies have done all the research and fine tuning for me.

so this scratch thing was my husbands big bright idea! so I figured fine I will guinea pig my family...hahah.....this cake is for my daughters birthday....ummm I will be bakinng new ones inthe morning! good thing I decide when the party starts...


I made the hersheys perfect...joke.....in the doll pan.... ....umm....yeah...how do I describe this....ITS HOLLOW IN THE MIDDLE


my husband just came in the kitchen to look at the fondant figures I made to go on the cake.....then looked over at the cake which I split down the middle to see that it really WAS HOLLOW! ......and says "yeah ummm...youre a decorator...definitely not a baker!!!!"

oh well lesson learned....and at least I shut him up about getting me to try scratch cakes!

Tell the truth Twinsy...you messed those cakes up on purpose!

Well, I guess you could always make cake balls with them...oh wait..no you cant

Lazy_Susan wrote:

I totally agree....do what works best for you! I'm a scratch baker myself, but recently been trying out doctored mixes also. Some with good results, some not-so-good Good luck with your daughter's birthday cake!!!!

I tried to make a diabetic white cake from scratch once. It should have been called a diabetic pancake. It was terrible!

I am a scratch cake baker and here are a few suggestions:
Always weight your ingredients
Start with good recipes - A good place to start is The Cake Bible.
Ingredients should be at room temperature
Read over the recipe twice and get everything measured out before you start.
Follow the directions to a tee!
Happy Baking,
Lori V.
Pastries By Vreeke

I love the Enhanced cake formula. I used it for the first time this weekend. I made 2 grooms cakes for a wedding. The bride liked my cakes better than her wedding cake and wished she would have asked me to do the wedding cake also. No better comment than that. I used a dark chocolate fudge mix. I think it was a tad gummy and I could have cooked it a bit longer but no one seemed to mind. I got rave reviews

I also did a marble cake for a baptism this weekend and got the same wonderful reviews. No one knew that I had made the cake and I was secretly listening to all the great comments on how good it was.

I think this is the link to the recipe.


http://www.cakecentral.com/cake_recipes_id-add_box-1599.html

I've given up on scratch cakes a long time ago. Betty Crocker and Duncan Hines have been around WAY longer than me and must be doing something right!

"You are a Cake Decorator because you have an artistic talent not because you make a cake from scratch."...You hit the nail on the head, Lazy Susan!!

I have tryed to make scratch cakes about 5-6 times in my life and they just don't work and if they do they come out heavy I've even tryed putting pudding in it. My DH says they are way to heavy and they just sit in his stomach like a rock! LOL!

So I will stick with Betty Crocker mixes, they are so much cheaper at walmart and target anyway.

My Dh says the same thing to me about being a decorator not a baker! LOL! I thought it was just me!

Have you tried using cake flour and following the recipe expectly.

I am a devoted cake mix baker also. There are a few cakes I do from scratch, but everyone loves the cake mix cakes, and they work beautifully for me - so I see no need to worry about being a "scratch" baker.

I did follow the recipe exactly, then decide after that to try with the pudding, still didn't like it.
Everytime I try something new with the cake itself it doesn't work, so I'll keep with trying new stuff in the decorating instead.

I have tried several scratch recipes, and although some have turned out delish, I have NEVER been able to make a white cake that wasn't flat flat flat! The last one I tried was the recipe on the Softasilk flour box! So who knows what I am doing wrong.

I stick to mixes for all my white cakes now.

I'm sure glad to here from someone here in Utah! I don't think there are many on the site.

I never thought of that! When we go camping I'll make brownies in my oven and they never come out up in the mountains, so now we're trying to learn how to cook at diff. altitudes. I'll have to try it again some time.

Ive done about 3 in the last month and Im a little sick of them right now, plus I just got hired on with hobby lobby (first one in Utah ) and have so much to do before I start next week. Besides the fact that Im so excited about it!

Don't feel bad girl, everyone had there strong points and the not so strong ones. I love baking from scratch but mixes are consistant and easy! If it makes you feel any better ( I was going to start a thread posting this) The pastery chef teacher at my school told me (while pulling me aside) that scratch cakes are great but if you are doing a basic decorated cake to use a mix and just DR. it up! I asked her if that's what she does? The answer was a great big YES! Her desserts are fabulous, but scratch cakes can be tricky for different reasons, there is no shame in using a mix or not being able to bake a scratch cake------- straight from the chefs mouth!

thanks for all the mix support!

Ive moved on from scratch....now Im trying my daughters bday cake again.....this time Im trying the enhanced mix recipe....I hope this works....if not my husband is going to go buy a grocery store cake so I can scrape off all the icing and decorate that!!!

I know it can be frustrating!!! I just have made the switch over to scratch cakes. It took me a long time of experimenting, and a lot of trial and error until I finally got things the way I want them. I don't even make a white cake. They just all turn out too dry and like you said, flat. I found a cake recipe that I modify and just call it "Vanilla Bride's Cake". It's pale in color, but not dry like a typical white cake recipe. It's my personal favorite and my hubby's too, but I know some people have tried it and it didn't work out for them. So I say, use what you're comfortable with and what your customers like. Stick with boxed cakes if that's what your clients love and rave about and don't even bother with the headache of swiching over.

It wasn't your fault - or because of the scratch cake recipe. I've made hershey's perfectly chocolate chocolate cake before - it tastes delicious, but it is a really light cake, so it would be terrible in the doll cake mold - it really wouldn't hold the shape right at all. You'd do better with a chocolate pound cake, or the wilton chocolate grooms cake recipe for that one.

I don't think the problem was scratch baking, or your skills . . . I think it was knowing your recipe and what you were trying to use it for! The hershey's recipe is more of a light eating cake, not really meant for a stacking & decorating - it just is too light a cake for that. Don't be afraid to try again - but check around and find a recipe that is good for stacking cakes. The Wilton chocolate grooms cake recipe is a pretty decent recipe for cake decorating - nice and heavy, not dry, and pretty solid and reliable.

I have never made a scratch cake before just because I like to stick to what I know will fit in the pan that I have and I dont know how the scratch batter will turn out. . .yea, too risky for me, but I have used a recipe that I have found on this website that you use a regular cake mix and add some sour cream and some other things and it makes that cake firm and it is better for sculpting and even for just decorating.

My first couple of tries with scratch cakes were not that good. The flavor just wasn't there. I always pride myself in being a good baker, so this just was not acceptable. I kept at it and found the recipes that work. I also adhere to the tips the rest of the forum spells out. Room temperature ingredients. Read the entire recipe a couple of times.

If you are in a hurry and need a for sure success, use the mix. It is a great back up.

Don't give up yet. Sometimes you just need to find the right recipes. You can do it!