I made the op's recipe (using egg whites and shortening) and subbing strawberry puree for some of the milk and sour cream. I added all but about a 1/4 cup of a 16oz container of sour cream, 1.5 cups of milk, and the strawberry puree (I think it was about 1.5 cups). It was great. Very moist. I filled the layers with fresh sliced strawerries and strawberry buttercream. Then iced with vanilla buttercream. Thought it turned out great!
that sounds wonderful!
Oh, how funny, I was JUST posting on a different baking forum about wishing I could find a scratch version of WASC that could work with a large number of variations. I have tried making substitutions with a different white cake recipe and it isn't fool proof like the original WASC (but I don't like the WASC because I can still taste the box taste). The problem is that the extra sugar in juice or flavored yogurt or the acidity in some ingredients throws off the whole science of it.
Those of you who tried creamers with this recipe - is it still coming out the right texture, height, etc? It seems like something else has to be added or taken away, I'm just not smart enough about the science to know what or how much. Less sugar when using a flavored creamer? Some baking soda if using an acid? But how much?
Can't wait to see more results in this thread!
Oh, how funny, I was JUST posting on a different baking forum about wishing I could find a scratch version of WASC that could work with a large number of variations. I have tried making substitutions with a different white cake recipe and it isn't fool proof like the original WASC (but I don't like the WASC because I can still taste the box taste). The problem is that the extra sugar in juice or flavored yogurt or the acidity in some ingredients throws off the whole science of it.
Those of you who tried creamers with this recipe - is it still coming out the right texture, height, etc? It seems like something else has to be added or taken away, I'm just not smart enough about the science to know what or how much. Less sugar when using a flavored creamer? Some baking soda if using an acid? But how much?
Can't wait to see more results in this thread!
funny you should ask......
i did the pumpkin recipe with creamer and it was delicious.
i'm in the kitchen now trying to do a lemon version.
i didn't realize how much sugar was in the creamer or the lemon curd so i got wayyyy too much and the sides carmalized while the middle sunk. i'm watching my second batch using milk and although it's too low in the middle, it doesn't look nearly as bad. when i try again i'm going to use less sugar.
Does anyone have a recipe for caramel buttercream, sounds good with the pumpkin version!!!
I iced my pumpkin version with caramel buttercream and I thought it turned out great. I saw a post somewhere that someone iced a pumpkin cake with cinnamon buttercream which sounds good too. My caramel buttercream is super easy. I just make my regular buttercream frosting (1 cup shortening, 1 cup butter, 2 lbs powdered sugar) and then I add jarred caramel sauce in as my liquid instead of milk. I just add until I get the right consistency. Its not super caramel tasting but its good.
i tried this using butter and substituting lemon juice for half of the milk.
it's delicious! the lemon taste is not as strong as i like it so next time, i'm going to use more.
Crazydoglady, you could add lemon zest - it will make it much more lemony. Actually, if you put lemon zest into the food processor with your sugar and give it a whirl a few times, it releases all the oils into the sugar and really stands out in your recipe!
I'm so excited to try this recipe... gotta go buy some sour cream today so I can do it. I'll let you guys know how it works out for me.
Crazydoglady, you could add lemon zest - it will make it much more lemony. Actually, if you put lemon zest into the food processor with your sugar and give it a whirl a few times, it releases all the oils into the sugar and really stands out in your recipe!
I'm so excited to try this recipe... gotta go buy some sour cream today so I can do it. I'll let you guys know how it works out for me.
i thought that would be good too but didn't have a lemon.
i hadn't thought to process it with sugar though - sounds really good!
please don't forget to post your result!
oh, i made raspberry filling for the lemon cake.
If you use DH mixes with WASC, that could be why they sink.
The reason the scratch version doesn't sink is due to the cake flour, which gives it a lighter crumb, and the extra egg whites. (I'm still crazy about the WASC 
) I always say the cake mix is just another ingredient!
But it's good to know there is a recipe that works great for all ya'll die-hard scratch bakers 
I'm going to add it to the Gourmet google document...
Hey, regarding subbing butter for shortening... I was wondering what the "correct" ratio would be... I found this:
"From Land O'Lakes: Shortening:
1 cup butter or margarine can be substituted for 1 cup shortening. When using shortening in place of butter or margarine, 1 tablespoon milk or water for each 1/2 cup shortening used may need to be added. DO NOT substitute vegetable oil for shortening when recipe calls for melting the shortening."
So, by this way, doing the reverse, we should remove 1 tbsp milk for each 1/2 cup of shortening in the recipe... am I reading that right? I see some of you used only 1 cup of milk. Has anyone tried 2 cups? By reading above, it sounds like 2 cups would be more like it. UNLESS the original recipe is off, so that when using shortening, the 2.5 cups of milk is also too much.
Just trying to figure out how I'm going to attempt this today!
larkin,
near the beginning of this thread, there was some discussion of how much milk should be used and someone tried reducing it to one cup (or 3/4 cup if you use butter instead of shortening).
i don't know how she calculated the amount needed but the cake is moist with one cup.
good luck with your cake!
Ok mine is baking. I made the following changes:
Butter instead of shortening
1 cup milk
2 whole eggs, 6 egg white...figured it might be the best of both worlds.
Added orange zest and extract
Different mixing technique - like some other recipes I have, I mixed all dry ingredients together, added the butter and beat together until like fine sand. Then I added all the liquid ingredients at once and beat on medium high for 2 minutes, so it fluffs up.
The batter looks very similar to my favorite (so far) scratch white cake, except that it has a delicious sour cream smell to it. It's maybe a little fluffier, too.
I made an 2 8" cakes and 12 cupcakes. I'll let you know how they turn out!
I'm so glad you guys are loving this recipe as much as I am! I'm baking it right now as I type with all butter instead of shortening and 1 cup milk. The little taste of batter I had was so delicious, like a light golden butter flavor. Can't wait to see how the cake itself comes out, but I have no doubts it will be awesome. This recipe is pretty foolproof, I've found. 
Shall I share my no-fail chocolate scratch recipe with you all?
Alright, eating a cupcake as I type...
So, I can see where this recipe could be awesome. However, the way I did it isn't quite perfect. It does have an amazing crumb - it's very very fine. But, mine is a bit chewy if that makes sense. Like, you could squish it together and it would stay squashed. Without that, this would be perfect.
I am going to guess that extra milk would help this. But I'm not positive. Any guesses? It needs to be just a bit lighter.
Or, maybe I should stick with all whole eggs or all egg whites.
Anyway, a very good cake - just need to play with it a little more!
that sounds delicious! i'm anxious to hear how it turned out!
lorien - the wasc is perfect !
please do share your recipe for chocolate!
larkin - maybe it was the way you combined it. i've always creamed the butter and sugar until very creamy, added the dry and liquid alternately and lastly beat in the egg whites.
my egg whites are whipped a bit because they are the dried kind and the batter is on the fluffy side.
i'm going with sour cream on the lemon.
i believe someone talked about caramel with the pumpkin earlier in this thread.
anything would probably be good on wasc - it's delicious by itself!
Here is my absolute MUST HAVE chocolate cake recipe. It comes out perfect every time.
Divine Dark Chocolate
(Makes two 8" round cakes)
1 3/4 c All purpose flour
1 c white sugar
1 c packed light brown sugar
3/4 c dutch process cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 1/4 c buttermilk
2 large eggs
1/4 c vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla
1 c hot STRONG black coffee
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In large mixing bowl whisk together dry ingredients (flour, white sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt). Add buttermilk, brown sugar, eggs, oil and vanilla. Beat on med. speed 2 minutes. Whisk in coffee last until well blended. *The batter will be VERY runny. Don't be put off by this; it is normal for this recipe but bakes up beautiful and fluffy.*Bake for 35-40 minutes.
Secrets for success for this recipe:
I can't stress enough how important it is to use good quality cocoa. I use Hershey's special dark, which can be found at Wal-Mart and most other grocery stores. Also, make the coffee stronger than you would normally if you were just going to drink it. It adds a subtle and very sophisticated flavor to the chocolate, without tasting like "coffee." This recipe and the scratch WASC recipe are my 2 staples on which I base almost all other variations. Enjoy!
lorien - thank you !!!!!!! i love chocolate, brown sugar and coffee in a recipe. i'm going to try this over the weekend.
the scratch wasc is now my all-purpose recipe too!
i put together a delicious icing for my lemon wasc.
another ccer, mandyloo gave me this recipe for sc icing:
3 sticks butter
1 cup sour cream
2 lbs powdered sugar
2 tsp almond extract
i combined it with emeril's raspberry filling
http://www.emerils.com/recipe/35/raspberry-filling
it is light and soooo good!
larkin - maybe it was the way you combined it. i've always creamed the butter and sugar until very creamy, added the dry and liquid alternately and lastly beat in the egg whites.
my egg whites are whipped a bit because they are the dried kind and the batter is on the fluffy side.
Could be, but the original recipe is a different mixing procedure, too, it asks you to dump all the stuff, including shortening, except the egg whites into the dry and mix all at once. Beating the flour and butter together first is common to several white + yellow recipes I have that claim to be like box mixes (because box mixes have the fat already in with the powder, if that makes sense). It is supposed to produce light and fluffy. So since the original recipe dumped in all at once, I thought it was close to that.
BUT, worth a try going back to traditional butter + sugar creaming!
OK OK OK! All these wonderful recipes...can we get them in one place?
...going back and forth is driving my eyes batty!
Did someone do that already or did I miss it? I have an addiction to WASC, and make two to three a week...everyone always wants the white cake and I am sick of it! Thanks for this scratch cake, as I, too, feel I am less than honest if someone asks if this is a box cake...
OK OK OK! All these wonderful recipes...can we get them in one place?
...going back and forth is driving my eyes batty!
Did someone do that already or did I miss it? I have an addiction to WASC, and make two to three a week...everyone always wants the white cake and I am sick of it! Thanks for this scratch cake, as I, too, feel I am less than honest if someone asks if this is a box cake...
saberger summed up the main ones on page three of this thread.
i am also playing with this recipe and have made several this week.
I made the pumpkin version and iced with caramel buttercream, it is delicious!!! I made a carved cake with it and the sides of the cake that were cut were a little hard to ice, crumbly. Any suggestions on this, I have had this problem with other cakes.
OK - I have on in the oven now. I went by the original recipie - shortening and 2.5 cups milk, and followed the directions exactly as written. The completed batter was almost soupy, not thick like the altered box cakes I usually make.
Those of you that tried the original version - does this sound right, or should I run to the store to get more ingredients? 
TIA
Here is my absolute MUST HAVE chocolate cake recipe. It comes out perfect every time.
Divine Dark Chocolate
(Makes two 8" round cakes)
1 3/4 c All purpose flour
1 c white sugar
1 c packed light brown sugar
3/4 c dutch process cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 1/4 c buttermilk
2 large eggs
1/4 c vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla
1 c hot STRONG black coffee
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In large mixing bowl whisk together dry ingredients (flour, white sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt). Add buttermilk, brown sugar, eggs, oil and vanilla. Beat on med. speed 2 minutes. Whisk in coffee last until well blended. *The batter will be VERY runny. Don't be put off by this; it is normal for this recipe but bakes up beautiful and fluffy.*Bake for 35-40 minutes.
Secrets for success for this recipe:
I can't stress enough how important it is to use good quality cocoa. I use Hershey's special dark, which can be found at Wal-Mart and most other grocery stores. Also, make the coffee stronger than you would normally if you were just going to drink it. It adds a subtle and very sophisticated flavor to the chocolate, without tasting like "coffee." This recipe and the scratch WASC recipe are my 2 staples on which I base almost all other variations. Enjoy!
This is very similar to the one that i use! It is excellent. I will have to try this one too. Mine doesn't have brown sugar so I'm excited to try that. What variations of the chocolate recipe do you do? Just curious.
OK - I have on in the oven now. I went by the original recipie - shortening and 2.5 cups milk, and followed the directions exactly as written. The completed batter was almost soupy, not thick like the altered box cakes I usually make.
Those of you that tried the original version - does this sound right, or should I run to the store to get more ingredients?
TIA
That's the way it was when I made it too. It turned out fine! My usual yellow butter cake batter is super thick so I was unsure when this one was runny but it baked up nice.
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