I'm feeling despondent, as yet another of my cakes has turned out "not so spectacular". I've tried a few different recipes from here which all say at the top how yummy they are, but mine are always fairly ordinary. This time I've tried the Ultimate Butter Cake. It has a crunchy crust on top and is slightly dry. My oven is fan-forced and I usually turn it down 20degrees lower than the recipe states.
I've had a lot of success with the extention recipe and the WASC, but I have to buy the expensive cake mixes for them. That's ok if I'm doing a fancy cake that I'll charge a lot for, but I do a lot of kids cakes for a local play centre that I don't charge much for and I'd like a simple scratch butter cake or white cake recipe that's cheap to make.
Does anyone have any hints, or do I just have to accept the fact that I'm not a cook???
Maybe lower your oven rack and lightly lay across/cover the cake with foil once it gets to the proper brown color. It sounds like an oven temperature control problem, not your cooking skills. Try a thermometer in your oven and check to make sure the temperature is correct.
Don't feel bad! I've never had luck with the Ultimate Butter Cake and I've tried it three times. To me, it tastes like cornbread. I've had very good luck with Classic White Cake II from the recipe section on CC. For yellow, I like Barbara Kafka's Yellow Cake Layers, which you should be able to google. It was originally from Gourmet magazine in the 1980s. If you are interested, I can send it to you after work, just send me a PM.
When I make the WASC I use the Greens Vanilla cake mix from Coles and it costs a little over $2 per box. The only thing is I add an extra 1 cup of All purpose flour for each half recipe. This is because the Greens cake mix is 470g and the American box mixes are 516g each.
I found a recipe on allrecipes.com that was called 1-2-3-4 cake and it turned out pretty good, I think there's quite a few steps to it but it turns out good in the end.
The recipe I use is really good IMO but, I don't have it here at work, I'd happily send it to you if you'd like, just PM me and let me know!!
FYI. my recipe and most recipes can easily be changed/altered for different flavors, and even in scratch cakes I add the box of pudding and an extra egg, or I just use Jumbo eggs... That is a suggestion for the moisture in the cakes.
WASC, but I have to buy the expensive cake mixes for them.
I just made WASC with $.88 Pillsbury from Wal Mart -- it is spectactular! It was the first time I made it and it has just become my staple. I also risked using light vanilla yogurt instead of sour cream and it sooo yummy and moist. I usually toss my cake scraps, but these are all saved for my indulgence 
Thanks for your replies, everyone.
The reason I thought I had to buy an expensive cake mix for the WASC was that the first time I tried the recipe I used a .99 mix and it didn't turn out very well at all.
I looked through my pantry and found I had all the ingredients to make the Extension recipe with a couple of box mixes I had, so I did that and it turned out much nicer than the Ultimate Butter Cake. I'm a lot happier now!
It's 2am, cake is finished, and I'm off to bed!!
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