When my hubby bought me The Cake Bible, I was so excited! Now, I'm just disgusted. I made one of the white cakes and was disgusted with the outcome but I didn't use cake flour. Last night, I made the chocolate butter cake, using cake flour, and followed the recipe to a 't'. Not happy with the outcome.

I checked it a few minutes before it was supposed to be done and it was already overdone. It's dry, it's too sweet, and layers are heavy and short. Oh, they are the height they are supposed to be but I am just not very happy.

Am I the only one who feels this way or have any of you found these recipes to be less than expected? I'm tired of wasting time and ingredients and they turn out poor.

Done venting now.

Bummer, cake flour will certainly make a difference.

There is another thread around saying they didn't sift before measuring. Did you sift before measuring?

Mike

you know, i've always said baking from scratch is a talent...one that i have yet to master! *but* saying that, i have had great success with the Cake Bible...i've tried *many* scratch recipes and my absolute favorite ones come from that book. they are moist and flavorful with the perfect density, but yes, they are finicky. also, you have to follow the recipe to a tee (which means you cannot sub. regular flour for cake).

Yes, I did sift the cake flour and measure like she said.

I didn't have the best success with the chocolate butter cake either, but the downy yellow cake is my favorite!! It's always a bummer to not have a cookbook turn out the way you want though. Good Luck!

I tried the yellow downy cake, and the minute it came out of the oven, it was fabulous. THen by the time my husband got home and tried it...it was dry and falling apart. I love the icing recipes in the book, but I have not had much success with baking from scratch. I also happen to like "hulking baroque numbers with plastic columns and insipid cupids" p. 211....hee hee....so I am taking the book back to the library today.

Her recipes can be finicky but great if they come out right. I found using my scale worked best. Do you measure or weigh your ingredients?

My fav is the White Chocolate whisper cake.

I've been using The Cake Bible since it was published in the late 80s and have yet to find a bad recipe in the book. It's the book I always recommend to novice bakers.

There are so many places a recipe can go wrong: using AP flour instead of cake flour, if the butter is too cold before creaming, if you measure by volume instead of by weight it is not as accurate, if your baking powder is old you might not get enough leavening, if you over mix or under mix ingredients. Also, the times listed in recipes are just guidelines because everyone's oven bakes differently.

Also, I don't know if you usually bake from scratch or from a mix, but scratch cakes often seem dense and dry to those used to mix cakes.

I would give it another try. The way you describe the cake, as too dense and too sweet, makes me think that maybe something was not measured or mixed properly.

Good Luck with it...

I've stopped using her cake recipes for the same reason as tracycakes. They never seemed to come out very well for me - and I do all scratch. There are easier, less finicky stratch recipes out there - David's Yellow Cake on this site is very good.

That said...the Oblivion Chocolate Truffle cake from that is easy and AMAZING. I make it all the time.

Also her frostings and fillings are worth having the book for.

*raising hand* another devoted fan to The Cake Bible here... pastrylady has some great tips to help.. and Ironbaker too... scaling your ingredients makes a huge difference, and having everything at room temperature works better for me also.. check the temp in your oven.. make sure it's not too hot.. mine works best at 340 degrees.. don't give up.. it's worth a few attempts, you will get it right..

The thing about this author is that she is anal. Seriously anal. If you have ever seen her baking show, you know what I mean.
Her cakes are so incredibly precise (and even have the measurements in grams listed off to the side in grams) that you have to follow it perfectly for it to work. This lady weighs her flour on a scale, and pinches off excress if there is .001 more in it than there should be.
I started out on this book, and always had good luck with it. You just have to be very careful.

I used to bake scratch all of the time and it just depends on how much time I have. I never had problems like I've had with these recipes. I measured everything perfectly, butter was at room temp, I even have a thermometer in my oven because I discovered a while back that my oven cooks 35 degrees low and I have to compensate for that.

I will end up trying a couple of other cakes that you guys mentioned and if they aren't any good for me, I'm going back to my Better Homes and Garden. I made the best chocolate cake out of that book.

I really enjoy cooking and baking and trying new recipes but if hers are that finicky, it might just be too much for me. I have enough problems at work with finicky people, don't want to have finicky cake recipes either.

I apologize if any of this comes out rude, really don't want it to. Having a really rough couple of days at work, besides dealing with some chronic health issues and I'm fearfully waiting on some test results. Guess I'm having my own little pity party.

Did you cream the butter & sugar till white, and fluffy? You didn't bang the pans to let the air out did you?

Mike

You are not alone. I have never had one successful cake from this book either. Mine are always dry and very weak tasting too. Some people absolutely love it. Some don't. I've had lots of success with Martha Stewart's recipes.

I have to admit that I havenât done very well with some of the cake recipes in the Cake Bible. I think one of the things that throws me off is the 1.5 inch pans called for. I donât have any! I have a hard time understanding just when to remove the cakes from the oven.

I did see a really good tip in her blog, though, about chocolate cake. I donât have the book with me right now, so donât know whether it would apply to the recipe you tried: when you mix hot water with the chocolate and then let it cool, make sure to cover the container it is in or a lot of the liquid will evaporate and result in a dry cake. I always do that now, with any recipe that calls for hot liquid that is then cooled.

FYI: My new favorite chocolate cake is the double chocolate layer cake on the Epicurious site: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/DOUBLE-CHOCOLATE-LAYER-CAKE-101275

Donât give up! Iâm going to keep trying too.

tracycakes....I didn't think you were rude at ALL! In fact, I agreed with you 110%.

There are so many good - and more important, EASY - scratch recipes out there, if one doesn't work - move on!

Came home from a crazy day at work and sat on our deck last night waiting for DH to come home to start dinner. Nice July night, glass of wine and my Martha Stewart Baking Handbook. I put post-ey markers on at least three I'm going to try.

As I said earlier - her frostings and fillings are worth the book. And, if anyone makes cheesecakes...the raspberry sauce is GREAT.

Keep trying though - others have found success and she certainly has!

I've had pretty good success with the recipes I've done from the book. The chocolate butter cake is my 14 yo's favorite cake ever. You do have to follow to a T though. My oven never bakes to the time specified in recipes so I always have to be aware of how my cakes are doing. Even with the WASC cake!

Well, my work week is over - Hallelujah! I work flex (10 hours 4 days a week) and this has been a really rough week - feel like I've been beaten with a bat.

I appreciate all of your comments - yep, I did let the pans drop to get the air bubbles out. Maybe I should try again or try a different one. Not giving up yet. A co-worker and good friend is having a birthday next week so maybe I'll try a new cake and decorate with the gumpaste roses I made. I've got to take a picture of them though.

Hope you all have a wonderful Friday and weekend!

Thanks Mike! When I get brave enough, I'll try it again. I thought about it tonight but I was just tired and decide to doctor a cake mix using the extender.

I'm sooooo glad I'm not the only one. I've never had problems baking from scratch before but she made me feel completely stupid. If I have to work that hard on making a cake, give me box anyday.

I mentioned to someone today that I'm bringing cake to Wed. for a co-workers birthday and they said "it will be better than the last one, right?". That's a pretty sad statement on cake.

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but I have to know for sure, Mike.

To bang or not bang the pans, that is the question.

Does this apply to box mix batter as well?

I have always dropped my pans on the counter and spun them around trying to get all the bubbles out like they are a bad thing. Should I stop doing this?

TIA
Kim

I don't drop the pans w/ either. It's less evident w/ a box, but in a scratch you will see it more. Like I said earlier You work so hard putting the air into the butter & sugar why would you want to take it out.

Mike

A much quieter idea for eliminating large holes is to run a butter knife through the batter in the pan back and forth.

Thanks Mike! Never really thought about that. My mom always dropped the pans, therefore I drop the pans.

My ultimate goal is to have an even cake that comes out of the oven taller than the edge of the pan, flat on top, with no holes, cracks, or crusty edges. (Whose isn't?)

Unfortunately, I still haven't figured out the perfect combination that works for me and my oven, but I have made so much progress with the tips I have learned on here.

I have to bake a cake for my sister's birthday this weekend and I can't wait to try your suggestions.

Thanks so much! Everyone is so nice to share...

hmmm...not dropping the pans. That has become a habit 1) prep the pans 2) mix the cake 3) put into the pans 4) wrap with bake even strips 5) drop the pans to remove excess air bubbles and 6) put into the oven. It's almost a habit. I'll have to try not doing that now and see how it works, especially on scratch cakes.

So, today, I bring in a doctored cake mix with raspberry filling and everyone raves about and wants the recipe. I tell them it's my secret recipe (that I got from cake central ). So, some of them finally admitted that last week's chocolate cake wasn't good. I knew it wasn't good because I threw cake away! That nevers happens! It was alllll gone today.