I'm Tired Of Unsuccessful Baking Attempts!!!
Decorating By RitzyFritz Updated 15 Sep 2007 , 4:55am by Narie
PLEASE tell me WHAT IN THE WORLD I'm doing wrong to keep getting inconsistent results! I have made so many different recipes and have yet to find one that has GOOD TASTE, MOISTNESS, AND STABILITY all in the same package. I have made the super enhanced cake on this site and it turned out great the first time. The second time it was DRY! I have tried homemade as well as box mixes - enhanced and all - and STILL cannot find a recipe that is consistent each and every time. I'm about to pull my hair out (I promise not to be in the kitchen when I do!) over this!! I have been embarrassed numerous times because I ask the recipients to give honest feedback. It is usually "It was tasty but dry" or "It was too sweet" etc. Learning to decorate cakes is useless if I cannot make one that TASTES GOOD! 
Maybe I need a course in making a great tasting cake and what frostings/fillings should be put with it instead of decorating classes? Maybe my frosting/fillings are bad choices too and that contributes to the mediocre feedback?
Thanks for 'listening' to my rant. 
I just need help. I want my cakes to TASTE GOOD each and every time! The perfected decorating will come eventually...but poor taste there is no excuse for. 
Thanks!!!
Maybe your oven temp is off. I've heard this can be a real problem. Try testing for this. When I was in high school I had an old Italian woman give me this advice - always sift all the ingredients then cook at 325. It seem to work as everyone comments on how moist my cakes are. Don't give up, you just need to find what works for you in your area.
Good luck!
pm me and i have some beautiful recipes that i am happy to share with you. tasty, moist and stable. there is an "art" to learning how to bake, BUT not all recipes are created equal, you've got to find the good ones. unfortunately sometimes it just takes awhile to find what works, but DONT GIVE UP! i'm pretty sure you'll enjoy these recipes.
Your cakes are beautiful in your gallery. Besides getting a great recipe which I am sure you will get from melysa, there are many tips as well. One good one is to use a flower nail sprayed lightly with cooking spray. Put it right in the center of your pan after you poor the batter in. The heat from the metal of the nail will help to distribute the heat. Another one is...after your cake is done, take it out of the oven and turn the whole pan upside down onto your cooling rack. Keep the cake in the pan upside down until it cools. This will help it to retain moistness. I am sure other people will come along and give you more tips and recipes. Hope this helps! 
Ritzy,
I completely understand what you're saying! I've tried dozens of recipes, some by Colette Peters, Martha Stewart, Toba Garrett, et al, but with inconsistent results.
Daisy is right on point with the comment about oven temperature; I keep a thermometer in my convection oven at all times because I never trust it.
As far as the wonderful world of recipies, this is what I've decided to do:
I find a recipe that works well (solid, stable cake) and that tastes great ...like the WASC original recipe...and I use only that for my white cake. I made Toba's SMBC several times and it's consistently great...so that's my buttercream recipe. Same with Toba's carrot cake and Jacques Torres' chocolate chip cookies.
Sadly, I've become terrified to try new things because I'm afraid of 1) wasting expensive ingredients, of which I use top quality and mostly organic; and 2) a reputation for mediocre desserts, which is really my worst nightmare.
p.s. Colette's chocolate cake was dry, awful, and a shameful waste of top quality ingredients.
I understand what you are going through. It took me a while before I finally narrowed my recipes down to a couple that I really like and are pretty consistent. It also has to do with your oven. Mine started acting up on me and I had to change recipes because the temp of the oven or the way the heat is being distributed in the oven was affecting my cakes.
I hope that you find recipes that are good and consistent and also advice you to check your oven temp for accuracy.
Are you inconsistent in the way you measure your ingredients? I've found that the way people measure my recipes will cause a HUGE variation in the results. Nobody seems to ever use a scale, so the results their methods are inconsistent: not leveling off, packing in ingredients, spooning vs. scooping, etc.
My recommendation is to purchase a digital kitchen scale, and convert any recipe you use to a weight equivalent. Most Salton scales come with a weight equivalent quick-chart, so you can easily convert your recipes.
Every single recipe I have made since starting to use a scale is consistent, time after time.
I agree, measuring precisely is vital. Baking is a science, as well as an art.
I've used both Soehnle and Salter scales, and I like the Soehnle 65055 more:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000VRLQFA/?tag=cakecentral-20
(Sorry, for some reason, Amazon doesn't have a picture for that scale)
Thanks SO MUCH for the wonderful help!! To answer a few of the questions:
1. Lorea and MsCathcart: Yes, I consistently weigh and measure (scoop & level, etc.) I agree, this is definitely an art. Wonder how long I have to take this "course" before I can graduate with honors? 
2. Daisy1: I agree - sifting is very important. There have been a FEW times I failed to sift the flour/baking soda, but those weren't necessarily the times I had the trouble. My oven temp has been checked multiple times with an oven thermometer and it is right on the money every time.
3. Melysa: You WILL be hearing from me shortly! Thanks for the offer!!
4. Bellejoey: I do use the flower nail on cakes 10" and larger. That is a wonderful idea, and I love it! As for the upside-down-cake-in-the-pan trick, I haven't heard or tried that. I will do it and see how that works. Thanks!!! Also, thanks for your compliment. That is so appreciated.
5. Mariannedavis: I agree - WASC is awesome! I haven't tried the SMBC yet though. Will have to do that. Thanks for the heads-up on Colette's choc. cake! I, too, am frustrated with the waste of ingredients (money) as I try to buy top quality as well.
6. MariaLovesCakes: Why oh why can't all ovens be created to work right all the time!? THANKS for the wishes!! I hope I find some soon too!! Melysa here I come! 
Hi, I feel I need to say this .You are all exactly right with all of your comments I agree with everyone of them. But I just wanted to add that maybe we're all overlooking something and that is the people who are eating your beautiful cakes!! Not everyone has a good palate we all know and heard many times too dry, not sweet enough, too sweet for me, too wet with liquor, not enough liquor. Let's face it we can't make everyone happy, and don't go pulling out your hair neither.I remember one of my pastry teachers telling us this was going to happen and we did tests , we had tried and true recipes from our professors some really good recipes even from France , we took them home and had a whole bunch of different people try them and let me tell you they all had comments to make and some not to flattering. I sell my cakes, I went to pastry culinary school,I passed and was at the top of my class I know what I'm doing ....(most of the time)hahahaha yet customers will always have something to say,. Keep your head up high, do the best you can do, smile and know you are worth it!! Don't worry about it.Keep on baking!!
Humm... it sounds like you are doing it right. Oven temp checked, measuring correctly, heating core -check; the only thing no one mentioned was method. However, I would bet you butter cakes are properly creamed, etc. Also pastrygirl is right on when she says that not everyone has a good palate; however, if your palate is the one that is saying it is sometimes too dry, then the only thing I can think of is that you are occasionally over baking your cakes.
My reason for saying that is an experience I had with my best recipe-a golden sponge cake, I have taken blue ribbons with this recipe. I don't make it very often, but recently I made it twice in a short space of time. The first one was glorious, the second one was good but definitely not perfect. When I analysed the cake, I realized that I had baked it just a bit longer. The surface crust was just a bit dryer looking. I was a busy with other things and didn't keep as good an eye on it as I should have.
Concerning recipes, usually food company recipes are very sound. They have test kitchens working on their recipes. They want you to buy their product; and if you like the recipes on the package, you are more likely to use their product. For example, Hersey has several excellent chocolate cake recipes. The other source of good cake recipes is the Farm Journal collection. They are out of print, but Amazon has them listed as used books. (My sponge cake recipe came from the Farm Journal.)
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