All you experienced cakers already know this stuff, I know. But since I'm a newbie to baking/decorating cake, I thought other newbies might find value in the three shortcuts I tried today:

1. Pan grease: I used the recipe from the Cake Mix Doc book, which is 2 cups crisco and 1 cup flour. Blended it thoroughly and stored it in a plastic container. Today I used it and my cakes released cleanly and easily. I LOVE that I don't have the mess of flouring my pans anymore.

2. "Dump" WASC: I prefer to bake from a cake mix, but even doctored with pudding/dream whip they always tasted like mix. Wanted to try the WASC everyone raves about, but hated the extra step of mixing dry ingredients before adding to wet (I am a lazy baker). Today I made WASC (original recipe by kakeladi) by mixing wet ingredients in bowl then just dumping in the dry ingredients (without premixing them). Worked great! Cake turned out moist, dense and delish. This was my first WASC, and I was thrilled. (Although it's possible that following the recipe directions would have made an even better cake, so my WASC might still have been lower quality.) Thanks to pinkbox for letting me know that a "dump" WASC was possible!

3. Leveling in cake pan: The WASC rose so nicely with no dip in the center, so I was able to level in the pan for the first time. I used a serrated knife and used the top of the pan as my guide for cutting off the top of the cake. Easy peasy! Experienced bakers know this trick, but this was a new one to me that I just read about here a few days ago.

So I know none of this was amazing, ground breaking info... but maybe it'll help another newbie save some time and mess in the kitchen.

Way to go...welcome!

Thanks for sharing what works for you.
The main reason for mixing the dry ing together is that w/choco cake mix I have often had white spots thru the cake until I started mixing the dry ing well w/a wire whip. Definately the 'dump' method will work fine if it is not choco and might even work w/choco....after all they are always refining products & the choco might be different since I was making them (It's been about 4-5 yrs since I made one.)

It doesn't matter how many other people may already know about these shortcuts ... it's always exciting when you discover something that saves you time and effort!

With so many folks joining CC every day, no matter what has already been discussed, it's always new to someone!

So posts like this are ALWAYS helpful to a lot of folks! (And some of the best tips I've ever rec'd were learned via threads like this in the last year or so ... so keep 'em coming!)

Welcome to CC! Glad everything is working out for you! Can't wait to see pics!

For my WASC-I mixed all the wet ingredients in a giant measuring up, and then pour them into the KA where all the dry ingredients are. Works awesome! For flouring my pans, I use Bakers Joy-but your idea def. sounds more economical. Thanks for sharing all your tips!!!!

i also think it was very nice of you to offer your suggestions... this is my motto.. i know a lot... but i don,t know everything. i learn every week from this site... kakeladi.. i love your original wasc recipe... and i always love your input.. i also try to help anyway i can.. we all need each other..

I used to level my cakes by cutting them until an experienced baker told me she pressed her cakes when they were removed from the oven. I tried it and haven't cut a cake to level it since. Sooooo much easier. When the cake first comes out of the oven, I lay a flour sack towel over the cake and I just use a cake pan that is smaller to press the cake level. Just be sure that the pan isn't too close in size - stuck two pans together one night with my cake in the middle. The heat created some sort of vacuum and I had a real dilemna - won't make that mistake again.

Erika beat us to the punch. As we were reading the posts we thought of that same trick that a friend taught us. Instead of pans, though, we take the cake out of the oven, place a cake rack on top of the dome, use the pot holders to press down level with the top of the cake pan for a minute, and then flip the pan onto the rack to cool. Although our friend said it makes for a slightly denser cake, we didn't notice a difference. After the cake is removed from the pan, we can either torte it or stack it with another one without ever having to crown the cake again! LOVE IT!!!!!

Paul and Peter

Thank you for sharing