I've made both of these cakes this week. I made cake balls out of sylvia weinstock's yellow cakd. And I made an 11 x 15 sheetcake out of the white on white. both of these recipes were from the yellow cake scratch off from 2009, and got 1st and 2nd place respectively. I noticed with the white on white cake, the center was very "wet", it was cooked but too moist and actually sank during cooling. I'm guessing its because it didnt cook quite long enough. Which brings me to another point. The recipe said to cook for 25-30 mins. Yeah, it was nowhere close to being done at that point. the cake baked for like an hr. I even baked it at 330 instead of 350 because my big sheetcakes have a tendency to cook way faster around the edges. What could/should i have done differently since I doubled the recipe. The cake tasted and looked amazing(just not in the center ). Everyone at work loved it.

I liked Sylvia's cake, but it was almost too dry. Luckily I was already planning on mixing with frosting for cake balls. I don't think it would have been moist enough otherwise, but not sure on that one. I remember reading about an improved Slyvia Weinstock yellow cake, but a lot of people complained about it not doing well.

Anyone try either of these two recipes recently and would like to give me some tips, suggestions, comments about them?

I'm not sure about the white on white cake, but I bake the SW yellow cake often.. Perhaps it was overbaked? I havent tried the modified version.. I have only done the orig version with the sour cream only.

for the white on white, are you using a cake pan (2inces or higher?) if so Wilton says (one of the things I generally go by from there) is to bake that size cake at 325 for 35-40 minutes.. I know you baked it longer, but perhaps it was too much batter in the pan.. some of my cake recipes I can fill the pan 2/3 full.. some I can only do half full.. if I over fill it, it takes WAY longer and can fall because it would be overcooked on the edges and not cooked completely in the middle..( I have one recipe that says bake at 350 and It ALWAYS fell, until I started baking at 325 or lower. I was at the point where I was counting how long I mixed it and everything)

one last thing.. do you use oven thermometers? the oven I use is huge and it's hotter on the right than on the left. we have a thermometer and I always check it and adjust the temp..

My pan is a 2" high pan. The batter was at 1/2 full, but I it did rise pretty quick. I kept getting worried that it would spill over but it never did. so next time, I guess I'll fill right under halfway. the temp was fine.

On the bright side, EVERYONE loved it. I used Indydebi's BC frosting this time. It's almost just like the one I normally use, but uses milk instead of powdered milk turned into milk, and dream whip. Even the tastes are very similar, but hers is sooo much easier cause now i just throw everything but the PS in the mixer, and not quite all the milk.

I use a combination of Sylvia's two recipes.... add the ginger, but not so much milk. It turns out great in a 9", but haven't tried it in a sheet. You are describing the complaints about the updated version... too much liquid and the soggy part. Check which one you have and I will give you my changes. We just need to compare dairy.

scp1127, actually the white on white cake was the super moist one, but I am really leaning toward it being the fact that I had too much batter in the pan.

And for the syvila weinstock cake, I used a glass pan. I don't normally use a glass one, but my metal just got rust in it, and will need to be replaced. And I baked it at 350 instead of 325 or 330 like I normally do(was rushing and just put it on for what the recipe called for).

so, both cakes will still go into the "recipe binder", as both got good reviews from others, I'll just have to make some "operator error" adjustments.

I know what you mean. I am learning how to bake in a half sheet pan for charities... a whole new skill.

if you bake in glass or dark metal, I believe the recommendation is to bake lower than normal,

You can line your metal one with parchment or foil and get a better outcome, not to mention square corners.

I would also suggest try baking with a flower nail in the center of the sheet cake. That can work very well.

Go figure, I did use a flower nail. Should I have used two since it was so big?