I do a lot of cakes, but I don't have the skill when it comes to scratch cakes. They always turn out dry. I need a little help on how to make a moist scratch cake. I made a scratch practice cake yesterday and it looks real nice, but the flavor tastes like flour and it is too dry for me. What am I doing wrong?
For those old timers, it is the Martha Washington Cake in the Better Homes and Garden Cookbook of 1947.
It has 1 cup of shortening and no butter. I think if I put butter flavoring in the cake that will help with the flavoring, but I'm not sure. There is 4 eggs in the recipe and the whites are whipped and folded in. The texture is good. I added a teaspoon on almond extract and it helped some. I can still taste the flour though.
I'm stumped on the dryness of the cake though. Does anyone out there have a remedy to this problem?
I'm trying to steer away from box cakes and branch out into the scratch cake world, but these two problems take me back to box cake.
HELP!!!!!!
Here's some food for thought
http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-365153.html
http://baking911.com/cakes/problems.htm#Coarse%20grain%20&%20sunken%20center
hope this helps
i think you should change the shortening and use the butter...that will help with the dryness...the butter has more water in it. i also think that maybe you are baking it for just a little too long...the egg whites being whipped and mixed in will also help you with the moistness..try those two things and see what happens. and let us know.
I've tried a similar recipe a few years back from an old book with the same results-yuck! Then I came across this recipe on the internet. Moist, tasty, and I've used several different flavorings besides vanilla. I've been using it for about 3 years now and it is my most requested cake-well, except for hubby who loves my choc cake 
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-5173-3-Simple-Yellow-Cake.html
And here's another thread where I post more info about it:
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-469773-.html
I'm wondering about the method you use to measure flour...a cake can be dry because there's too much flour in it. If you're using all-purpose flour, you don't have to sift it these days, but you do need to make sure it's not packed or shaken down into your measuring cup, and use dry measure cups (flat on top, so you can level it off). Short of weighing the flour, which I'm told is the most accurate (and I don't do, and I'm a decent scratch baker), you should stir the flour, then spoon it into your measuring cup, then level it off. Do not scoop from the flour bin and level it off; do not shake it down to level it off! Give it another try! You'll be so proud of yourself. And it'll melt in your mouth.
Oh, and if you decide to change to butter instead of shortening, and the recipe says to cream the butter and sugar, make sure it's well-creamed. Start with butter that's bendable if you try to bend the stick, but still gives you some resistance. If you try to cream butter that's too soft, it'll never accept all the air it needs to and your cake will likely fall. When it's done creaming, it will look like an entirely different ingredient than sugar and butter mixed together--it will look smooth, light and fluffy. Only when you get there, do you start to add other ingredients. It's hard to over-beat sugar and butter.
Good luck, and let us know when it turns out! (notice I didn't say if!!)
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