I baked a cake last night from scratch using the Basic Yellow Cake by Kakes_by_Kim. I did what the directions said and it came out more like a Pound Cake than a fluffy cake. It was thick, not really dry, but it tasted ok. After I mixed it up and got it in the oven my daughter and I were "licking the bowl" and I noticed that it kinda tasted floury. I noticed it was thick before I put it in the pans so I mixed in another Tablespoon of milk. Can anyone tell me what I might have done??
I only do scratch cakes when im not giving them to anyone because I dont like the way it tastes.
So you whip out the "good stuff" (box mixes) for people you want to impress? I don't get it. I have a feeling you are either overmixing your batter or ignoring/omitting very vital steps when you are scratching' your recipes. Which receipes are you using? My scratch are always tender, very moist, and light. Are you using cake flour? Regular flour?
Wish I could help, but I can't, the only from scratch cake I've made didn't rise and was hard as a rock.. I followed the recipe to the T...so it had to be a bad recipe..lol 
I am thinking about trying another one. I think I found a good recipe.. I'll have to try it and let ya know...
GOOD LUCK!!
For me, it seems it wasn't mixed enough.
I did look up the recipe and here is what I would do - my additions in parenthesis
step 2. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside. (whisk the dry ingredients lightly, it helps to distribute the baking powder in your cake better)
step 3. Cream sugar and butter together until light (it should have buttercream-like consistency, no sugar crystals)
Add eggs + vanilla to creamed mixture and beat until thoroughly mixed. Mix this really well!
4. Add flour mix to creamed mixture alternately with milk, beating well after each addition. Continue beating one minute.
(for easier work: give slowly 1c of milk to your creamed mixture, beat it
still beating - add the flour mix /not all at once/ Use last part of milk to adjust the consistency.
For all cakes is it better when the oven is preheating early (is waiting for the cake).
By mixing all the dry ingredients (except sugar) together - really mixing - you distribute well baking powder and cocoa if present.
Give the baking powder (and thus the dry ingredients) as last - some baking powder starts to work by adding liquids.
Creaming butter is very important. For newbies to scratch baking - the butter changes color to pale yellow. You can test it between your fingers - you shouldn't feel the sugar in it (take clean spoon, take a part of creamed butter, test this). I sometimes do all the work by hand and it takes time and muscles!
Another one - don't look in your oven till 3/4 of baking time is over.
Don't knock the pan in the beginning of baking. - A friend learned the hard way. She couldn't understand that after her boyfriend moved in, not one of hers cakes for family came out fluffy. 6 month later she discovered the secret - he likes the cakes this way. He used to come to the kitchen, quickly open the oven, yank the pan quickly and out he was! What a dear one
I don't have a Cake Bible.....
You can.....buy one! Barnes and Noble, Amazon.com, Hastings....any good book store will carry it! Plus, I'm sure this works as well...google Cake Bible recipes, something will come up I am sure! 
How many things that majka said, did I NOT do when I first started?...a LOT! And I wonder why I had rotten luck at first! Creaming that butter is so important....and it takes longer than you might think. Seems to me, that it gains almost a third more volume when I do it too, maybe not, but it seems like it! Definitely a lighter fluffier mixture than just mixing them together and not actually creaming. (yummy to eat off the spoon too)
I baked a cake last night from scratch using the Basic Yellow Cake by Kakes_by_Kim. I did what the directions said and it came out more like a Pound Cake than a fluffy cake. It was thick, not really dry, but it tasted ok. After I mixed it up and got it in the oven my daughter and I were "licking the bowl" and I noticed that it kinda tasted floury. I noticed it was thick before I put it in the pans so I mixed in another Tablespoon of milk. Can anyone tell me what I might have done??
I have this problem ALL the time with WHITE scratch cakes (haven't tried a yellow one yet). They're always such a disappointment and taste awful or the texture is really heavy. My chocolate, pumpkin, banana, red velvet, lemon, etc. all turn out fine and delicious, but that darned white scratch cake is forever giving me fits. I tried a new recipe today (King Arthur Flour's Elegant White Cake) after reading rave review and it was just plain yucko. I made cupcakes with the batter and the paper liners all pulled away from the cupcakes as they were cooling. Never had that happen bfore and I've probably made thousands of cupcakes from both box and scratch. The texture was awesome - moist and not too dense - but the taste - eee gads!
I tried the original WASC recipe that everyone else seems to love, but I don't like the flavor of almond and didn't care for it in the cake. Perhaps I should substitute something else like Princess Emulsion or Creme Bouquet instead. The texture was nice and it was moist but that awful almond flavor turned me off.
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-6865-Buttermilk-White-Cake.html
This is a no fail for me. If you don't like almond...leave it out! Lemon? Leave it out. Put in vanilla instead.
I am using Basic Yellow by Kakes_by_kim. Its a recipe on here. and I did what it said. I just don't understand. The last time I made a scratch cake, I was practicing for a wedding cake that I didn't get to do. One cake was VERY dry and had a ring in the middle that looked like it wasn't done and the other was dry too. I couldn't tell you which recipe that was because I found them online somewhere. They were AWFUL.
Sounds like an oven problem. But maybe not since your box cakes turn out fine? Possibly need some bake even strips, and/or heating cores/flower nails.
Like maryjsgirl said in another forum earlier, she tries to look for recipes that call for buttermilk, yogurts, sour cream....all great moisture adders!
One cake was VERY dry and had a ring in the middle that looked like it wasn't done
Please test your oven temperature. Very dry cake with "raw" middle is baking too quickly. The pan gets too hot, bakes the sides of your cake. The temperature cannot get to the middle of your cake. You get "burned" cake with raw middle.
Use heating core or flower pin(s) as heating core if you don't want adjust the baking temperature.
Till I heard about heating cores or flower pins as heating core, I had (and mostly still have) different approach - lower the oven temperature and let the cake bake longer.
Majka has some really good info in her post. The key to a good scratch cake is to beat really well during the creaming stage and to beat just enough to mix in during the flour stage. Over mixing when the flour is added will create a tough, dry cake that is likely to fall (that gummy line through the cake).
Lol...I still lower the temp and bake longer, even with my flower nails!
Do you have a link to the KakesbyKim recipe...I couldn't find it...maybe if we look at recipe we could help more. But I think like poster above mentioned....it's your over and/or temperatures!
step 3. Cream sugar and butter together until light (it should have buttercream-like consistency, no sugar crystals)
Add eggs + vanilla to creamed mixture and beat until thoroughly mixed. Mix this really well!
I can't get this RIGHT! i did notice that it had a grainy feel too it. And I let me mixer GO & GO & GO & GO & GO. Also i didn't open my oven. I've learned that from here. I opened it when the time was up and it was white on top so I put it back in for a few minutes.
After reading some other post I have realized that I should have used a flower nail for that cake I mentioned being VERY dry. It was in a 14" pan. Also the recipe for that one called for yogurt. But should I use a flower nail for ALL of my cakes?? The one that I made last night was a 6" and it isn't too terribly DRY it's more thick or dense (I guess)
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-6865-Buttermilk-White-Cake.html
This is a no fail for me. If you don't like almond...leave it out! Lemon? Leave it out. Put in vanilla instead.
That's actually what I used today - just vanilla. I have someone wanting 'vanilla' cupcakes so that's why I'm on the quest for a good vanilla cupcake. If they were for me I'd put some lemon or a touch of orange flavoring in them.
I'm going to try another vanilla cake recipe using some fresh vanilla bean paste and see if the bean paste makes a difference in the flavor.
the link for the recipe is http://www.cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-1932-0-Basic-Yellow-Cake.html
I have just noticed the baking temperature - 350°F - for me this seems rather high. For the size of your pan and without heating core, it was really too high.
Another idea - it is very thin line between baking just right (for a moist cake) and overbaking (when you get dry cake but it doesn't burn). Some cakes work better when they are still pale on top.
I love Kakeladi's ORIGINAL WASC recipe made with yellow cake instead of white and orange or lemon extract instead or almond.
It always comes out perfect, moist and with a really nice texture. I like how the tops are not sticky and it makes great cupcakes (for cupcakes I bake at 350 to get a nice dome) for cakes I bake at 325.
Have you tried WBH's golden butter cake? It was so yummy! I don't ever regret creaming it right. I hate creaming btw. LOL
Jamie said:......don't bake anything over 325, regardless of pan size....ever! And 14" with no core or flower nail, yes....gonna be raw in middle and overbaked on edges!......
Soooooooo sorry but I must disagree w/this statement!!
I have baked 100s of cakes up to 16" rounds & sq w/out any heat core, flower nail or Bake Even strips and they were baked completely thru....no burnt edges or raw middles!
It CAN BE DONE.
Definitely lower the oven temp no higher than 325 - can be as low as 300 Degrees F And have your oven checked to be sure it is accurate, then use a good quality thermometer in the oven.
But you must bake with your nose Don't rely on a time chart. Bake the cake (any size/flavor/shape) until you can smell that yummmyness in the kitchen (the whole house?).
It should be just starting to pull away from the sides of the pan.
I made the Buttermilk White cake by Tona referenced above today, and it is AMAZING! I definitely recommend it. I used part of it for pineapple upside down cake and poured the remaining batter in a 6" round pan. I could eat the whole 6" cake by myself!
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