I love this recipe, but it seems to crumble really easily when serving. Or is it just me? I made this wedding cake: http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo_1290749.html and it was delicious, but it was a tremendous mess to serve. I could have formed 5 more slices from the crumbs! Any ideas?

Which recipe did you use? I have never had my *original* WASC cake crumble.
Could you have overbaked it - dried it out? (Please don't be offended - just trying to help).

I have never had a WASC (or any form of it) be crumbly. I actually find it to be quite firm. I use the version that calls for 8 egg whites.

I have used both versions and never had a problem with either. Only time it has gotten crumbly is around a support (hidden pillar) witch makes sense because it pushed through. I say give it another try and watch everything you do...serve to your family!!

Oooo, that's so pretty.

What exact recipe did you use?
I have found that fresh bake cake crumbles--how fresh was it.

When did you turn it out of the pan?

I think using the merguine powder doesn't give the cake enough moisture without the egg whites. You can buy just egg whites in a carton which works great..

I have used Kakeladies version (in fact, made it last night) and it was perfectly moist and not crumbly. But I should mention that I don't use eggs. I use an egg replacer in place of the eggs, which seems to make the cake more firm anyway.

egg yolks are good for custard! if you do a search you should find some more creative ideas, i did this but it was a while ago! you can also just add them to any other egg thing, like omlette, scrambled egg, even fried i guess.
xx

I use 6 whole eggs instead of 8 egg whites

I haven't had trouble with crubmbling, either. I buy cartons of egg whites - found with the egg substitute (Trader Joes has the best price, or Smart&Final). It's so easy to just pour it in!

You might try adding 8oz melted white chocolate if you prefer to stick with meringue powder. I also add one small pkg of pudding mix to the WASC recipe.

I use Kakeladies version and I use the whole egg (yes all 8 of them) and have never had a problem. I just did a strawberry one for a wedding this weekend and used frozen strawberries pureed to make the 2 2/3 cup of liquid and it is very yummy.

Meringue powder has a lot of other stuff in it besides egg whites, lots of sugar. So there is a powdered egg white product--that might work a lot better--but you might need to add the water and reconstitute it before you use it--maybe, maybe not.

But you are just adding icing to your cake with straight meringue powder.

So those of you that use the whole egg, doesn't it defeat teh purpose of a white cake? Or is it not enough to make a difference?

In my opinion using whole eggs is not enought of a differece for anyone to really notice.
My recipe uses only 3 whole eggs per cake mix. It's about the color of a Fr Van (I use BC mixes). It's not a pure stark white but neither is my icing & no one has complained (oh, except one but that's another story!).

As for what to do with the egg yolks...
I put them in an ice cube tray and freeze them. Individually. Then, I throw them into a ziplock and keep in the freezer.
Anytime I need some eggs for cooking...custard, french toast, etc...I just thaw out how many I need and use them. Or, sometimes I just thaw them and whip them up for breakfast casserole or omelets.
Many uses for them!
HTH.

I always use Kakeladies recipe and never have a problem it is my favorite, it is the best cake ever (for me )

Frankyia

You can also use those yolks to make french buttercream. mmmmmmm

Here you go
The *original* WASC cake recipe by kakeladi

1 box cake mix (I prefere Betty Crocker) *see notes at end
1 cup flour
1 cup granulated sugar
generous dash of salt

1 cup sour cream
1 cup water *
3 whole eggs
1 tablespoon flavoring*
In bowl mix together dry ingredients. It's helpful if you use a wire wisk, but optional. In mixer bowl place next 3 ingredients. Add about 1/2 of the dry ingredients and blend together, then add the rest of the dry ingredients & blend. Mix for 2 minutes.
Pour into prepared pans * and bake as usual.

*NOTES: any cake flavor can be used. Match the flavoring to the cake flavor such use lemon/almond mix for lemon cake; strawberry/almond for a strawberry cake etc, etc. For most flavors you can use a mixture of vanilla, butter, and almond which is what I do most of the time.
You can use milk or cream for the liquid.
This recipe is based on mixing in a kitchenaid mixer. I use position #1 to stir it, then #4 to mix the batter.
Most of the time I forget to add the salt
On rare occasions I have used other brands of mix.
This makes the amount of batter as if you used 1 1/2 mixes and is perfect for a 10" sq OR 9x13 OR one 8" & two 6" round; a 12" round; and other combinations of pans.
I prefere to bake at 300 degrees for about 20-30 minutes (depending on size of cake) then turn oven up to 325 for about an equal time. If cake has pulled away from sides it is overbaked After cooling, the top might be a bit sticky.
The flavoring I most often use is this mixture:
1 part vanilla extract
1/2 part butter flavoring
1/4 part almond flavoring

A "Part" is any measure be it teaspoon; tablespoon; cup or quart Since I made many wedding cakes I usually mixed it up by the cup about once a month

that recipe is easy to underbake; it might test done and still need a bit more time; that's when it crumbles for me. just had it happen with my turkey whimsy.

It's also possible that your cake was baked perfectly, but the cake crumbled because of the way the slices were cut.

If you're not using a sharp (preferably serrated knife) to cut through the cake layers - it's easy to compress (smoosh) the cake slices resulting in torn, crumbly pieces:

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-270713.html

How to cut clean layers of cake:
(Discusses both fondant and b/c cakes.)

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-56739.html

Link to Indydebi's pictoral guide to cutting the cake into pretty slices:
(So much easier and neater than the Wilton method.)

http://cateritsimple.com/_wsn/page10.html

HTH

I agree with JanH. I impress that they use a 'clean', sharp, serrate edge knife to cut the my cakes because I don't want to hear that the cake crumbles. Especially if it's covered with fondant.

Once I brought a cake to a family dinner and my sister was about to cut it with the plastic cake server they had for the cake from the grocery store; stopped her in the process and gave her a sharp knife. Cake was moist, but sliced perfect!

A professional caterer cutting the cake will know how to clean knife when cutting cake. Clean knife is very important.

Hope this helps.

Jeannie