I made sound stupid..but hat on earth does WASC cake stand for???

That's not a stupid question at all! WASC stands for White Almond Sour Cream cake.

Now that explains it! No wonder the cakes sound so good. I am going to have to try this one! Thanks for the info.
I love these chat rooms!

They freeze just fine!

This is an old post from 2009, so I need to ask an update. For those of you who have made this recipe, do you still think it's good? Is it as good as the box WASC recipe with oil? . Thanks for your help!

I don't like chocolate but my family does and this recipe sounds great! and I'm also curious if it works well with fondant.
Thanks to all!

I just made this today. I have been searching for the perfect scratch recipe to replace my doctored box mixes. I am soooo excited that I can stop. This was great! I used the shortening, substituted AP flour + cornstarch for the cake flour, and used whole eggs instead of the whites because I do not need a true white cake unless it is for a wedding. I also cut back the milk to 2 cups. I dumped the ingredient in just as the recipes stated. It was so delicious!! Thanks for all the info, it helped!!

I made this recipe this week and loved it also. I did the shortening and egg whites first and it didn't knock my socks off with flavor but it cut great and had a very nice crumb. Then I switched to butter and vanilla paste and was more than pleased. The crumb was a little soft on day one but by the end of the day and the next it cut really nice.

I currently use the Sylvia Weinstock "new" yellow cake recipe which i have found to be gummy and not work well in the fridge when using perishable fillings so this will be my new vanilla cake and I'm dropping my old white and yellow. Especially because I used to beat in egg whites and that such a pain in the.....

Thanks LorienSkye!!!!

i love this recipe and i am so glad i came across it. It has a delicate crumb and it really does taste great. I haven't tried it with regular eggs yet, maybe this week i will.
Has anyone tried to use it for carved cakes or 3D sculpted cakes?

Using shortening and the egg whites the texture was ideal for carving, I just didn't care for the flavor

Has anyone tried this recipe using a pudding mix or powdered gelatin flavors. I was just curious how to make the substitutions if I were to make a white chocolate cake using a pudding mix or a raspberry cake using raspberry gelatin......any suggestions?? Thanks!

I've made th is recipe many times over the past few weeks. I was running low on egs, so i used whole eggs instead of egg white. It turned out just as good for me. I always use a combination of vanilla and caramel flavoring for the batter. No one has ever complained about its flavor. It also stands up well to syrups, i just used a coffe simple syrup on this recipe, and the cake aborbed it nicely, still remaining firm enough to carve.

I would also like to know if anyone used pudding or gelatin mixes in the recipe. And whether they just added it ir removed some dry ingredients.

Okay, so I have read the entire thread and maybe I missed this, but I have a question regarding the chocolate recipe. In the original WASC cake flour is used, but in the chocolate, I see that AP is used. I am curious as to the exact reason. I am planning on making this for an anniversary this weekend and not sure whether to use cake flour or AP flour for the chocolate version?

Okay I just read all 23 pages!! Lots of great info but a bit overwhelming for someone like me that has tended to use box mixes... I've learned a lot from reading this thread so want to thank everyone for contributing! I never realized that the order of adding the ingredients and how to mix could make such a difference!

The reason I've stuck with box mixes is that I like how light and fluffy they turn out (I prefer DH)...

I have used box mixes (no doctoring) for tiered cakes and carved cakes and although they are difficult to carve have managed to do so with some care... a slightly denser cake would be better/easier

I've tried a couple scratch recipes lately and have to say that i'm not liking the results - either too moist or finding the taste of baking powder to be too much for me,,,

but after reading all 23 pages I do want to give this a try.... but hoping someone can clarify/confirm what I think I read .... for a FLUFFIER result (to be more like the box mixes) I should:
- use the shortening version
- use closer to 1 1/2 cups milk (or would it be more like 2 cups milk?)?
- use cake flour not AP flour right?
- and mix the shortening with the flour at the beginning then add the other ingredients (dump the rest in)?

Or am i completely wrong here?

Holy cow! I can't believe I just read this whole thread! I can't wait to try this - I hate having to use a box - so I can make as much or as little as I want! I like a dense cake, very moist, like I get with the box WASC, and I want a scratch that can be just like it. I use more eggs than the WASC version I have calls for, which is probably why I don't have sinking issues. I do a lot of carving, so I hope this will work!!!

Thanks everyone who contributed here - I can't wait to try it!

I just tried this recipe - the golden version -and made a quarter of the recipe. I tried one version with shortening and another with butter. The problem that I had with both was that they sank in the middle. The original recipe called for 5 eggs and since I quartered the recipe I used one egg and 2TBSP of egg whites. Should I have gone with 2 whole eggs? Any other reasons why it would sink in the middle? I baked it at 350 degrees in an 8 inch pan for 25 minutes. Overall, taste was good and so was the texture. I was a little upset that they sunk.
Thanks for you help.

breyes, I am anal about baking, so maybe this is the crazy baker talking, but when I need a portion of an egg, I mix the white and the yolk with a fork, and then weigh the right amount. There are charts on the internet with weights for each size egg.

Thanks scp1127, I am going to try it again and see what happens. I did like the taste of the butter version better than the shortening version. I am just trying to find a nice yellow cake recipe that can be my go-to. I have tried some others and they are dry.
Thanks again!!!

What other flavors are you using in the scratch wasc other than almond? Has anyone used Creme Bouquet?

How is it I've never seen this thread??? LOL!

OK, I'm converting this to oz and making a test batch tomorrow. I'm real proud of my current white/yellow scratch recipe but I'm always open to finding something better!

Jen

Great thread - I am planning on trying it out in Australia for all the Aussie CCers to review

Hello, could anyone please advise if these recipe would work if I use vegetable oil instead of butter? thanks

Hi, I am finally going to try this recipe. Can't wait I do not make many scratch cakes and would like to know if there is a certain way of mixing it that has worked best for most I have read most of the thread but had to skip some pages so sorry if this is a repeat question....thanks

does anyone know how many cupcakes does this yield?

22-24 ?

I was SO excited about trying this recipe. It had great texture, nice crumb and all, but it had a chaulky-taste to it. Has this happened with anyone's? I used butter, reduced the milk and halved the baking powder. Any suggestions?

Serves me right for not catching up - non-aluminum baking powder. Off to try it! Thanks careylynn

i made a lemon version of this - 5 whole eggs and butter - I used one tub of good quality lemon curd yogurt instead of 1/3 of the sour cream, and used lemon extract instead of the almond. turned out great, but could be more lemony, so maybe next time will add in a tbsp of my lemon curd too.

i'm about to try making a chocolate version, so will sub out some of the flour for choc powder and also melt some choc to add in, although im not quite sure how the melted choc will effect the other ingredient' quantities...i'll just eyeball it i guess!

I made this last night...and WOW!! Love it Tried it with shortening and butter, vanilla, and creme bouquet as I was looking for a very good vanilla based cake that could be used for different flavors. Loved the texture and most of all the flavor. This is definitely a keeper!