I made this cake (http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1260123) for one of the executives at my office (his wife called and needed a cake for his birthday). I dropped it off yesterday and just got this email from her...

I am so excited. I worried endlessly that the cake would be dry...it's my biggest fear ya know. Anyway, thanks for letting me share my happy news!

It's a darling cake! Very original.

I'm with you - I want it to be great looking, but I always want to know if it was tasty. It's still a cake!

Great job. Sounds like you'll be getting more business from her.

Really cute cake! Sounds like you can expect more orders.....

So cute.

So cute.

So cute.

I agree, I always panic over whether or not my cake will be dry.

Thank you, thank you, thank you! Yes, I seriously panic about it being dry. What do you do if they call you back and say, "hey, that cake was dry." I'm confident I can present a nice looking cake, but what if I over cook for just a minute....EEKS! Do you ever get over that fear?

Yikes, I went to look at your cake and forget to come back here! The cake looks wonderful! I love how you used the checkered flags and the addition of the checks as border is a great touch. You did great with details around the base AND on the board. I don't think the board is "big", per comments, because it looks like a tall cake to me, which looks best on a board a little bigger than I'd use for a shorter cake. Not sure that come thru as making sense. Anyway, Mr. Executive must have about flipped over his cake and you'll be getting more orders for sure. Congrats on the great cake!

Oh, if it's a tried and true recipe I'm using I almost never worry about dryness. If I do any leveling I can taste it to be sure. Whenever possible I bake the day before and refrigerate my cakes a few hours to over night, tightly covered, to lock in the moisture. Works well for me.

I commented on your cake in the gallery. It is a great cake, you did a wonderful job.

Thanks June and Carol. After looking at it constantly, I am so in love with it. Thanks for your kind words and nice compliments.

you did a great job with it!

wow! how cute is that????

i use simple syrup on everything...a little insurance against dryness

Great looking cake. Look forward to more orders. You did a wonderful job.
I too worry that my cakes will be dry. The only time I ever had a customer tell me the cake was dry was with my yellow cake recipe. I bake from scratch so I started adding 1 TBS of sour cream along with the butter and sugar. I whip it for 5-6 minutes so it will be light and fluffy. Then at the end I add 2 tsp of oil. I haven't had a problem since. But I do taste the trimmings to make sure. If I know the cake will sit for a long peroiod of time I add a little simple syrup.