I decided to make an Italian Rum Cream cake using this recipe http://www.justapinch.com/recipes/dessert/cake/italian-rum-cream-cake-by-freda-2.html

Having never made this kind of cake I don't know how it will turn out. First I creamed the sugar, yolks and vanilla.Then the flour.  It looked nothing like the picture. It was dry dough balls. I added 2 more yolks to make it wet like in the photo. Then I started folding my whites in but the mixture was still very thick. It was supposed to make enough to fill 2 8" pans. There was only enough to fill 2 6" pans. I don't even know what it is supposed to taste like so I won't even know if it is good! Anyone have problems like this? Any idea what I could have done wrong?

AThere's no liquid in the cake other than eggs and a few drops of vanilla? I think it may be missing something.

I wondered about it too but it has a 5 star rating so someone must have made it successfully!

I use sponge cake recipe for most of my cakes  .The recipe sounds correct to me, with a little  note -maybe the sugar is too much ( my go to recipe calls for  7 eggs and 1 cup of sugar )   . After I cream the  yolks and the sugar to the point they are double the volume and pale yellow I add the flour ,spoon by spoon mixing it by hand . If it gets hard to stir I would start alternating flour and whipped egg whites - again stir by hand, otherwise your eggwhites will deflate . You can definitely add a shoglass  of water to thin it out ,  you wont see much difference in the end result . Good luck ! :) 

Well the cake came out ok...It is too sweet in my opinion. I am going to have a friend try it tat LOVES Italian Rum cake.

Sponge cakes don't always have added liquid; but there might be too much flour. And eggs and sugar get whipped for a long time until the mixture is a light yellow. I'm always distrustful of online and cookbook recipes. It's too easy for anyone to post a recipe and make a mistake. Sorry.

Since you had to adjust the ingredients, it seems this was a bad recipe.

What size eggs were you using?

Jumbo...The cake came outlooking normal and it rose really well. But it seems dry to me. Hopefully the rum syrup will moisten it up. This cake is a PITA...make the cake, make the syrup, make the Italian Cream, make whipped cream....if I ever get an order for one I am going to charge $1M!!! lol

Italian Rum Cream Cake...Do you have a good recipe? I will trade you for my famous carrot cake recipe that everyone says is the best carrot cake EVER!! lol

OK..I delivered some of the cake to my wood turner's family. Mind you, he drives to a ifferent city to buy this cake. I just got a call telling me that it was spot on except the custard is usually thicker in the ones he buys!

My skills are improving all of the time. Much of this I owe to my fellow CC members and all of the great advice and coaching you have given me!

Happy caking!!

AThe sponge isn't supposed to be a light fluffy sponge, a lot of people use lady fingers to make it, I think this recipe is supposed to make two thin round layers of something more like lady fingers than sponge which is why it's dry. The syrup and the cream soften the cake bit.

Is that why there was so little batter for 2 8" pans? Instead I did a 6"x3"hi pan and sliced it into 5 thin layers. I am just not used to that cake so I had no idea how it was supposed to turn out. I have to say that I was not a fan, but very glad that I was able to make it "perfect" in the words of my friend who buys them often. It doesn't take much to make me proud. If I don't pat myself on the back no one else will..lol

I found this site and the batter ingredients are the same,but the method of mixing the batter is totally different

http://makinglifedelicious.com/2011/04/05/italian-wedding-cake-aka-cream-cake-aka-rum-cake/

I ended up with only enough batter to do 2 6" rounds. In reading that it mentions you want to keep as much air in the eggs as possible. The eggs yolk portion was so thick that in order to mix it the stiff eggs whites broke down.

I think I will give the sponge a go,curiosity killed the cat.Generally for me I am hopeless at sponges so this will be a real test.

let me know how it turns out. I am going to try to find a video tutorial so I can see what the consistency is supposed to be like. It's hard to try something new if you have never so much as tasted it before to know how it is SUPPOSED to turn out. I was given good reviews, but obviously something was wrong or it would have filled the 2 8" pans

Did you break up the egg yolks with a bit of the egg whites first?   I find mixing in a 1/3 of the whites first really helps.

And those recipes are so weird!  I've made ones like it before and was really surprised at how liquidy the batter was with just eggs.   No idea what happened when I mixed the eggs and sugar together but it liquified, haha :)

I love rum cakes, especially the custard and the whipped cream!!  I wish I could make them for people but CFL limits me to shelf-stable stuff .

Cottage Food Law.

AThat seems like a genoise recipe except usually the eggs are whipped with the sugar whole. There isn't usually any fat in the recipe however some call for beurre noisette (browned butter) more for flavour than anything else. The eggs need to be whisked until ribbon stage. The cake is supposed to come out dry and then have flavour and moisture added by using a sugar syrup.

I actually forgot to mention that dryness or crispy feel to my sponge,am sure this is from the way this is mixed.However I only filled my sponge with lemon and cream and dusted top with icing sugar,then placed in a cake container.Next morning sponge lovely and soft and moist.Still a piece sitting in my fridge,perfect