Most of the scratch cakes I've made are so dry. But when I buy a cake at a bakery they are very moist. And I know that they use scratch recipes. Does anyone on here know what bakeries put in the cakes to keep them moist?
It's not really any single ingredient for me, personally. It's just the right amount of fat that makes a recipe work. And...it takes alot of time finding the right recipe. 
A really good moist chocolate cake recipe is the one on the back of the Hershey's cocoa can (or you can check out their website for the recipe) because it turns out great every time. I even accidently over-baked once and it was still amazing...even 3 days later.
Good Luck! I really enjoy making cakes from scratch, but I do have to say that it gets so frustrating making bad recipes sometimes. You just have to keep searching and experimenting.
Angie
Weigh your ingredients.
Make sure your oven is calibrated.
Don't overbake.
Test and tweak your recipes until you get exactly what you want.
If you look through the recipes and recipe tips forums you will find several threads on the subject of scratch baking as well as tried and true scratch recipes.
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