The gourmet flavour thread has taken off like a rocket, and don't get me wrong, they all sound absolutely delcious, but what about the scratch bakers?

I don't personally use doctored mixes - I've tried some, and they are good, but I just have an scratch baker ingrained inside of me from childhood. (Don't get me started on psycho-analyzing myself lol!)

I'm wondering if anyone has any scratch gourmet cake and filling flavours they'd like to share! I'm always looking for fun new recipe ideas!

Mine are still in boxes somewhere from my move, but I can tell you a website that has cake recipes from scratch. It's allrecipes.com. It's a free website that has pretty much all types of recipes. Members rate and review so you know if what you are trying will be good. I use it for recipes and Cake Central for ideas on how to make it look nice. I hope this helps.
Jess

Cheesecake filled cakes! I have been making these lately and they are soooo good. I bake a crustless New York style cheesecake and use this as a filling in between two layers of cake. There isn't a flavor of cake that cheesecake doesn't meld well with. It looks beautiful cut too. You can even tort the two cake layers to add something to compliment. There are so many combinations.

maryjsgirl, the cheesecake idea sounds fantastic!

How do you use it as a filling? Do you torte it and carefully transfer the layer to the cake? Do you "whip" it? Or transfer small pieces?

I am glad I'm not the only one! All those flavors sound tasty and I want to translate the ideas into scratch cakes. Nice to know I am not alone!

There are a couple places I can suggest:

egullet.com com is a wonderful website. Not the easiest to navigate IMO but the wealth of knowledge there in the forums is amazing. They also have a recipe section.

recipezaar.com is a site I love and there is a rating system there as well.

I also went and checked out The Cake Book by Tish Boyle (sp?). I am not sure how many cake recipes I would use but there are awesome fillings in there.

Oh and the marthastewart.com has good recipes too. I have used several and never been disappointed.

I have found interesting recipes on blogs, some good some not so good.

One thing that I have found is the concentrated flavors like those from Amoretti can be mixed into scratch cakes and buttercreams to give you different flavor/filling options. I have also used the icing fruits from the cake supply store with success.

I'll see what I can dig up and get back later!

Lenette,
thanks for all the links, I too only bake scratch, I can taste the difference, (maybe the chemical taste) but I wish there were more recipes out there, especially for a vanilla/butter cake

Oooh, I'd love to hear how you do the cheesecake filling too!

Since we're talking about scratch baking, does anyone have a recipe for a scratch champagne cake? We don't have a lot of those premade ingredients that are used in that gourmet thread here so I find it difficult to work out how to make the cake. I would love to doctor recipes but I'm not sure yet what type of ingredients to substitute in the original recipe? Maybe this thread will give me a feel for it!

melnick - just did a quick search in the recipe section. here ya go

http://cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-3173-6-Pink-Champagne-Cake.html

Melnick,
I did not see that recipe for the champagne cake that was posted on the gourment thread. I must have missed it.

For the cheesecake filling...

Line cake pan with foil and spray with Pam. Use your favorite New York style cheesecake recipe. You can google "chantal's cheesecake" and that is a really good one. You would want to half the recipe or make two and freeze one. In a pinch I have just done this one...

2 cream cheese
3/4 c sugar
2 eggs
vanilla

It actually is the perfect amount for a 9in cake.

Whatever recipe, it just has to be one that cooks up firm.

Anyways, I bake the cheesecake and cool in the refrigerator. When cold just remove the cheesecake from pan, peel off foil, and place between two cooled cake layers. (The cheesecake will be really firm when cold so it is very easy to handle.)

I've done devils food cake, red velvet, vanilla cake torted with strawberries and strawberry pastry filling, and carrot cake.

Thank you maryjsgirl. I'll definitely try this idea!

Dang.....that sounds good. Cheesecake...cake....yum!

Here is a great recipe that we used in culinary school and I still use. It is a VERY large recipe but you can cut it into 1/4 and it works fine.

Bea

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yellow Cake

Ingredients

6 Pounds cake flour

1/3 cup baking powder

2 tablespoon salt

3 quarts egg yolks

4 1/2 pound butter, cold

10 pounds sugar

1/2 pound vanilla - use liquid measure

2 quarts milk

1/2 pound oil-use liquid measure

2 - 3 vanilla beans scraped

Method:

- cream butter and sugar, vanilla bean and vanilla extract for 5 minutes in second gead.
-add yolks and then oil
-add sifted dry ingredients
-add milk
-bake at 320* F

variations:
-for individual boston cream, use a yellow scoop into a 4 once foil cup
-for sheet, use 1 1/2 scooper pots, and bake in deck oven 350*F

Dang Mooma....lol... POUNDS of cake flour!

I am planning on trying a green tea sponge cake this week and will post it if it is a hit hehe.

I'm always looking for great scratch recipes too...will keep my eye on this one! Thanks for starting it servingzero.

Cheesecake filled carrot cake is one of my FAVORITE THINGS EVER!!! So good... cheesecake filled anything is just that much better. Rich dark chocotale cake with a chocolate cheesecake filling is wickedly good too. Now I am craving cheesecake.. thanks Aretha...

Now that I am drooling over the carrot cake filled with a cheesecake idea... Yum....

I just recently came across this blog. It looks like she is no longer posting, but has a list of her recipes, and boy, do they fit in the gourmet category! They are cupcakes, but I'm sure they can be modified. I really want to try the Horchata ones soon...

http://cupcakeblog.com/?page_id=83

That blog has great ideas!

Check out these Cake/Cheesecakes from Junior's

http://www.juniorscheesecake.com/catalog/product_cat.php/subid=4/index.html

Delish

Thank you for sharing!

Is there a difference between a cupcake recipe and a cake recipe? (In the ingredients proportion, I mean).

Actually on the Gourmet Flavors thread there are a good number of references to scratch cakes. Like on the first page, Chef Stef lists gourmet scratch recipes from the Cake Bible or the Cake Book.'

If you see a recipe for a gourmet cake which takes a boxed mix, just do a google to see if there is a recipe for a scratch equivalent. And don't be afraid to search the blogs. I love blogs because the recipes are all tried and true, and therefore no-fail unless you totally screw it up.

Theresa

If I make the cheesecake as a filling and only use half the recipe, can I torte the cheesecake? I'm making a 4-layer carrot cake for Easter, and would like to fill 2 layers with cheesecake and 2 with whipped cream cheese frosting, but I don't know if this 1/2 recipe will be too thin to torte...

For cake mix and scratch recipes www.wrenscottage.com has a bunch. Click down at the bottom. "From Karens's Kitchen. I really like the scratch "Yellow Cake"

The recipe links are here: http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=6335335#6335335

if you do the cheesecake filling... it needs to be refrigerated right?