I have always made scratch cakes, but to my disavail, they always turn out on the dry side. I am trying a WASC version cake (by macmom) and it calls for a pkg of vanilla pudding (2 cake box recipe) does that mean a small or large pkg? Also, does the wet ingredients have to be room temp like if you were doing a scratch cake??

hey carelynn, I'm delivering a wedding cake this weekend to Painsville lol

As for the pudding mix, sounds like she means the big pkg. from your description. Do you have a link to the recipe?? Then I could tell you better.

Oh goodness..Where do you live? I am just starting out, I would love to get to the point of doing wedding cakes!

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=df4f9hbq_46cs9f28fs

Actually it's her "gourmet cake" doc. page. Half way down, vanilla WASC.
Do you have to have the wet ingred. room temp?

Usually for all the WASC variations it's the 3.9-4oz "small" pkg of instant pudding.
The actual ounces vary by brand and flavor (sugar free etc.) but it's around 4oz give or take a few.

I see on macsmom's chocolate WASC she calls for 2 sm. pkg. of pudding mix.....hmmmmmm

If you're using 2 cake mixes, adding 2 pudding mixes won't hurt...I do that all the time!

Careylynn I'm in Conneaut, right on the Pa border in the northeastern corner of Ashtabula county.

this was a VERY last minute wedding cake lol......someone else cancelled on them and I was the only one who finally agreed to take the order (1 week from the wedding) they paid in full, so I'm baking the cake as we speak!! lol

If your scratch cakes are too dry it usually means you're not creaming the butter and sugar long enough in the beginning and then overmixing the batter when adding the dry and wet ingredients. OR you've been following bad recipes.

Also, start checking your scratch cakes earlier in the oven and take them out when they are JUST done (with some moist crumbs stuck to the tester). If your tester is coming out totally clean, you've baked the cake too long. Box cakes (especially since they are usually made with oil, and also have fats IN the mix) are a bit more forgiving in this way.

Thank you all! I am halving the recipe, one cake box, so I think I am going to use one small pkg of pudding.

I cream the butter and sugar for a good 4-5 mins, and I add the eggs one at a time (no time in between) and alternate dry and liquid, starting and ending with dry, and only mix till incorporated at the end for maybe 30 sec.

As far as baking them, I always start the timer at the least amount and go from there. That's what is bothering me, I follow ALL the rules but they seem dry to me. Maybe bad recipes.. but they get good ratings from others, idk.

I did read though that if you aren't leveling the flour with a knife and instead shaking to level, it can throw things off. I do both, lol, depending on my time limits... so maybe that's a problem?

I am also wondering if it's from prolonged time under the fondant. I ice the cake the same day it's baked, leave overnight, fondant and decorate the next day and usually deliver the cake the day after that. So all in all, the cake was baked 2-3 days before eaten. Oh well, I'll give the good ol' WASC a try.

Thanks again!

Hmmm. Without seeing the exact recipe(s) you've been following, I can't really analyze further. I do recommend allowing each egg to become fulling incorporated before adding the next (this helps build the emulsion better). Are you scooping the flour with the measuring cup or spooning it into the measuring cup? Spooning in is the correct method, if you scoop it with the measuring cup, you're actually getting too much flour. I'm assuming you know to have all ingredients room temp? Once the cake is iced and especially once it has fondant on it, all the moisture is sealed in, so that shouldn't cause the cake to dry out.

Ohhhh girl, see this is why I like this website...I learn something new all the time. I have ALWAYS scooped with the measurer, not with a spoon!! Now I'm half tempted to try a scratch today instead of a WASC, just to see if that's the problem, a combination of wrong scooping and wrong leveling... yep, that could be it

Prterrell, do you scratch all of your cakes? I have always thought using a box was kinda cheating ( I mean, your customers are assuming it is a "homemade from scratch" cake) but recently found out a local big time celebrity cake shoppe uses Betty Crocker as their base. So now I am rethinking my original thought!

Never scoop flour. Ever.

I used to be a box mix baker. Then I was a doctored box mix baker. In the last few years, I decided I wanted to teach myself to bake from scratch and now I bake from scratch 90% of the time.

Honestly, as long as the customer LIKES the way the cake looks and tastes, it's not cheating. Many people grew up eating mix cakes and that's what they're used to eating. Cake mix cake and scratch cake don't taste the same. Also, I don't think most people assume that cake is scratch because most people know so little about cake as to not think about it or know that there's a difference. Do what makes you and the people eating your cake happy. That's all that really matters.

I have no clue but what does WASC stand for??

run your mouse over the letters and you'll see! lol

Aahhhhhh never would have guessed that

I make all my cakes from scratch and they are always moist. I do a lot of cakes now so I weigh my ingredients instead of measure. I also find that cake recipes with buttermilk or sourcream produce a more moist cake. I use simple syrup on all of my cakes except for my chocolate which is really moist already and I freeze them for a few days before. It locks in the moisture!