It's really the first HOT humid week here in TN and my poor kitchen is struggling. That combined with new recipe testing and this one is going to be lucky to look good at all!

Fortunately my friends are kind enough to tolerate me baking their birthday cakes and testing new recipes on them. I love the WASC recipe on here, but I tried it with chocolate and a few suggestions other people made (substitute 2/3c of flour for cocoa, use coffee instead of water) and even though it tastes pretty decent it is the crumbliest driest cake I've made in a while. Simple syrup can salvage that some though.

Then I go to make my go to twinkie type filling recipe with some oreos tossed in (requested by my friend). Thanks to the heat and humidity it's a sloppy creamy mess instead of the nice firm whipped filling I normally get. Still, it's usable with a stiff buttercream dam on the cake.

Then I make the Sugarshack buttercream recipe. This is the only thing on this cake that hasn't failed me yet. It's crumbcoated now and waiting to be decorated. It's the first time I've used this (looking for a new go to buttercream) and I like the consistency, but the flavor not quite as much. Oh well.

Now just to decorate! I had thought about playing with some pulled sugar, but now I just don't know. At least the heat should help, huh? Ha ha. May have to rethink the decorating on this one.

At least I know it could look like a big gloppy mess and my friends would just eat it happily. I'm lucky to have such good people to practice on!

Back to the kitchen! Wish me luck!

I'm a newbie to the pulled sugar, but I wouldn't probably avoid it (especially if you are working with sugar over isomalt) if it is really humid.

Good luck with your cakes though. It never seems to fail when one thing goes wrong many things seem to go wrong as well. They are all usually little things that on their own wouldn't be so bad but put together and you want to rip your hair out.

Im in TN too and the rain rolling in doesnt help a bit!!!The humidity tore me up Mother's Day while making my mom's cake. I haven't experimented yet with the pulled sugar, however (unsure if it's the same thing help me out Texas) I did try the 1/2 cup granulated sugar & 1/2 cup light corn syrup method in the microwave. I noticed when trying to make ice cubes when it cooled somewhat it was very pliable and shaped easily. You might play with that.

For a chocolate WASC, I just use a chocolate mix. Comes out great every time. (I replace the almond extract with vanilla.)

I've not messed with the pulled sugar much before, but I like experimenting with things I'm not used to so I don't get bored easily. I may do it tomorrow some while my kids are napping. I'll say this for that sugarshack recipe... I may not like the flavor as much, but that is the SMOOTHEST surface I've ever had on a buttercream covered cake before. That with a warm spatula and a viva paper towel... I've never had a cake look so smooth before. I'm pretty pleased.

And SACB, I did use a chocolate mix, but someone else had mentioned a couple other tweaks, and I gotta say, I'll be sticking with my regular doctored chocolate cake recipe. It's much more dense, but I love it and it' super easy. Maybe I'll give the WASC with a mix and no alterations next time a random birthday rolls around.

I just did the extender with a chocolate cake recently (pretty much the wasc) and I did the cake as I normally would with any other flavor. Sometimes I'll add a little extra cocoa powder, but not in place of flour.

As for as Sharon's BC, I'd try adding different flavors or more flavors do it.

i agree with the chocolate WASC, i've made it a few times but i just don't like it :/ i've decided to stick to my normal (dense) doctored chocolate recipe