I just tried a new recipe that is supposed to be a replica of Starbucks Cinnamon Swirl Coffee Cake. My hubby's cousin wants it for her wedding cake for this coming Saturday. It ended up tasting great, and being moist, but it was totally crumbly! What could I have possibly done wrong? I have never had this happen to any cake I have ever made before! PLEASE HELP! I don't want to serve the cake at the wedding like that!

About all I can suggest is to post the complete recipe so we can analyze it. Never heard of this recipe but it sounds very good

Thanks kakeladi! I guess I should have thought of that! Here's the recipe:

1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup milk
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, cream together 1 cup butter, 3/4 cup light brown sugar and 1/2 cup granulated sugar with an electric mixer until smooth and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well.
3. In a separate bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt. Add this dry mixture to the moist ingredients a little bit at a time. Add milk and mix well.
4. Spoon the batter into a 9 x 13-inch baking pan that has been buttered and dusted with a light coating of flour.
5. Bake cake for 50 minutes, or until the edges just begin to turn light brown. Cool and slice into 8 pieces. (http://www.topsecretrecipes.com)
Serves 8.

Did you let it sit in the pan before turning it out? That's been my problem in the past. Here's a link I love.

http://www.baking911.com/cakes/problems.htm

Hi dandelion,
I did let it sit in the pan about an hour (or more).

I would love to see your link, but something won't connect. Could you re-post please?

I've had a couple people try it now and they all say the same thing: it's more of a crumbly texture that totally turns them off from the otherwise yummy tasting and moist cake. What is going on?!

Thanks a bunch!

Crap, don't know why the link won't come up. It's *moderator edited* & type in cake problems . And coffee cakes are not exactly a firm cake (at least the traditional ones). So, is it like a cake or a traditional coffee cake? Are you saying you let the cake sit in the pan 1 hr after removing it from the oven? I've never seen more than a 15 min recommendation to sit in a pan before turning it out.

Thanks dandelion! It pretty much says the cooling thing, but this time I don't think that is the problem because I do that with all of my cakes. I guess I'm just going to have to find and test a new recipe before Saturday. There's nothing like the last minute!!

Cake troubleshooting charts:

http://tinyurl.com/2p5bdu

http://tinyurl.com/32goqe

http://tinyurl.com/6lpjww

http://tinyurl.com/6c745g

You're going to need lots of batter to make a wedding cake....

When scaling up a home recipe, it's necessary to cut back on the leavener:
(Unless you're using a professional formula that has the leavener as a % of the total ingredients.)

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-610783-.html

HTH

One cup of butter to two cups of flour seems like a lot. Maybe tweak that. And don't let your butter get very soft. Let your mixer do the work of incoroporating it.

The idea with leaveners and multiplying recipes is valid, at least on paper. However many many bakers were absent that day so jillions of people do not abide by that and have great results.

I would switch the milk for buttermilk or sour cream.

A few recipe thoughts for you.

I'm with K8Memphis...that seems like a lot. I've found that I can't soften the butter too much because it makes mine crumbly as well....HTH!

Ah Ha!! Thank you so much everyone! JanH, the links are great! K8memphis, I think I will switch to either buttermilk or sour cream. Which one do you prefer?

Also the butter thing...I was bad and "softened" it in the microwave. I guess I shouldn't have skimped on time!

If your cake is crumbly or falling apart the main thing wrong with it is there is not enough eggs-- add 2 and you'll thank me.

Would it be awful to scratch the whole thing and just use a box mix and try to figure out how to add a cinnamon swirl? I am baking for the wedding tomorrow and couldn't try another time tonight because I had another cake to decorate. I'd rather not use a box mix, but I don't know what else to do at this point.

OMG yes use a mix by all means.

Thanks k8memphis! Now I don't feel so bad about it! Box mix here I come!!!! Now I just have to figure out the "gooey cinnamon sugar swirl" in the middle of the cake! Any ideas?

Cinnamon Swirl scratch and doctored mix recipes:

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-609700-.html

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-45109-.html

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-45109-.html

HTH

Thanks JanH!!!! I just finished baking, so we'll see how it comes out! I kind of used a combo of a couple different recipes that I found on your links. It smells really yummy so that's a plus!