Thank you for your compliment. Scratch baking is fun and not as hard as one may think. For me learning to make a cake from scratch was such a huge accomplishment. It made me feel like there was nothing I couldn't make. It will empower you, go for it.

Okay, here's why it didn't match up. I just looked up my Wedding Cakes You Can Make book, and what you just listed above is for her 2- 9 inch layer cakes. This is NOT what I posted. I did say in the post that it was her recipe for 2 - 10 inch layers that I made. I've often made the 9 inch recipe with no issues.

I have. The first several times I made the cakes strictly as written, and I was happy enough with them that I decided to buy the book since the library so cruelly wanted their copy back.

I have used the yellow cake recipe to carve it a couple times. You can see the photos on my page - one is a number 2 shaped cake, and the other, recently I made an OSU Stadium cake. I didn't do a LOT of carving with these, but with the number 2 I cut up a couple different cakes, and with the Stadium, I made two Wilton horseshoe cakes and a mini loaf, and then carved away the top of the top horseshoe to make the sloping of the stadium.
And the cakes both held together without cracking or crumbling apart, or spliting. So yeah, I think it worked out good.
After carving the Horseshoe before crumb coating, I did douse the whole thing in (Dede Wilson's recipe) for a vanilla simple sugar, though, just because it felt a little crumbly. I didnt't taste a big bite of the cake, but the person who ordered the cake DID become my facebook fan afterwards, so I'm *assumming* she liked it well enough.

I say go for it.

JoyFull posted both the 9 inch recipe for Dede Wilson's yellow cake, which I've always had great success with, and another recipe called "quick and easy" which looks to be another cake altogether, since it has melted butter.

I did post the recipe I used today for my smaller cake. So now you can see all three - the 6 inch recipe, the 9 inch recipe (that Joyfull posted), and the 10 inch recipe. Just ignore the Quick and Easy, since it would make the comparison apples to oranges. (I like apples better, anyway.)

Originally Posted by LindaF144

Scratch baking is fun and not as hard as one may think. For me learning to make a cake from scratch was such a huge accomplishment. It made me feel like there was nothing I couldn't make. It will empower you, go for it.

Agreed. Frustrating at times, like this weekend, but so worth it to be able to say "this cake is made with only ingredients that I can pronounce".

Its true, we all have our own way of interpreting the written word. I may have be hasty in reading the title the way I did, but to me it seemed to say Dede Wilson's recipe did not work.

The recipes I posted are the originals as written in the book. The ingredients are posted twice as there is two recipes for yellow cake. One is Yellow Cake, made with the creaming method. The other is Quick n Easy Yellow Cake, made by combining the wet with the dry, then melted butter added last. No creaming involved.

Both recipes make 2 nine inch layers.

I realize the OP is trying to alter the recipe so she will have more batter. But I think some of the alterations made are too much or too little, and that is why the recipe is not working for her.

Both recipes in the book call for 1 1/2 cups sugar, yet the OPs sugar has been decreased to 1 1/4 cups. The OP has increased the flour by 3/4 cup & added an extra 1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder which is too much BP for that 3/4 cup flour.

I'm truly not much of an experienced scratch baker. I've had more failures than successes I'm sure. I do know from past experiences if you start altering an original recipe, increasing this ingredient or decreasing that ingredient, nine times out of ten your cake is going to fail.

Thats what I was trying to explain to the OP.

Okay, seriously? Are you kidding me? Really, are you joking? I hate that I know that 'tone' can come across compeltely wrong via the written word, so I want to give you the benefit of the doubt, but really -- did you NOT read the above, like, two pages of posts before once again posting that I tried to modify the recpe you posted?
In case it's still not clear, I will try one more time to make this as clear as possible:

I did NOT change the recipe as posted except for the asterisks I noted, for the 10 INCH CAKE. I found the recipe, just to be crystal clear, on ***page 62*** of the book by Dede Wilson called "Wedding Cakes You Can Make". The 9 inch recipe you posted, which you repeatedly say I am trying to modify all on my own and then wonder why it doesn't work, is the recipe right before the 10 inch one. There is a recipe listed in the book for a 6 inch cake, an 8 inch cake, a 9 inch cake, a 10 inch cake, a 12 inch cake, and a 14 inch cake. This particular book of hers was bought by me FOR THIS REASON. The exact same cake, different sizes with the different amounts listed per ingredient.

Like I've now said about six times, the ONLY modications I made to the 10 INCH RECIPE ON PAGE 62 OF THE BOOK WEDDING CAKES YOU CAN MAKE are the items I noted with an asterisk.

I did not take the 9 inch recipe and guess to make the bigger cake size.
I did not change the flour, nor the sugar, nor the butter, nor anything else in the essential ingredients for the 10 INCH CAKE listed.

I hope this is understandable. I really hate any form of confrontation; growing up as the middle kid I really just want people to get along, but I hate feeling like I'm being attacked and patronized even more than I dislike having to stand up for myself. (Like I said, I know this might not be your intent, but it is completely how it came across on email: "the OP doesn't know what she's doing and then wonders why it didn't work".)

Finally, I need to say something in regards to why I titled this post the way I did.
No, it was never to slam Dede Wilson.
The short answer is, I ran out of character room. I couldn't make it any longer.

I shortened it to the words I did for a specific reason.
First, I wanted to attract attention of other scratch bakers, because I really needed help from people who have more experience than I do with baking from scratch. I did not want this topic to evolve into a discussion of "oh just go get a box mix like I do and you'll never have this issue again". I specifically wanted to discuss this with scratch bakers. And from the response I got, this was sucessful. (Again, thank you SO MUCH ladies for your help in the chemistry. I'm still amazed at you. <3 )

Secondly, I added Dede Wilson's name, not to drag her through the mud, but so that those who are familar with her recipes would see the post and not skip over it as one of the hundreds that come through this site a day. One of the first responses was from someone familar with the reputation of her recipes, so again, this also was successful. Anyone can do a google search and see posts all over the internet about how "dry" Dede Wilson's cakes are. Dede Wilson herself, in the book I have, states several times that her cakes are typically not the mouth feel moistness of most American palates, so she says to douse every layer in a sugar syrup. In the year that I've been exclusively scratch baking, I have used her recipes hundreds of times and have always had really amazing results, so I *like* her recipes, obviously. And I want to continue using them if I can get this large cake problem solved.

Which is why I added the words "ALL WRONG" to the title. Perhaps it would have been better had I written "First time of many that my Dede Wilson recipe cake came out ALL WRONG", but I didn't have enough room. I'm sorry if someone read that and thought I was saying ALL her cakes are "all wrong". But I think if you read just my first post alone, you could quickly ascertain that I have had GREAT success with her recipes, and I just needed help with the larger sizes because something was just off and I didn't know what it was.

I hope this answers your questions.

I really posted this topic because I needed some help finding out why the large cake recipe didn't work when the smaller ones I've made are amazingly yummy. (I'm still surprised every time I drop off a cake that *I* actually made this thing...)

Hoping that these questions are now answered and we can go back to the topic, will someone please take a look at the ingredients I listed for the small cake (which was so good yesterday), and compare it to the ingredients I listed for the 10 inch cake (which turned out ALL WRONG) and let me know if there is something intrinsically wrong with the larger recipe? I'm wondering if perhaps there is even maybe a misprint in the book for the larger recipe amounts, or if they are, ratio-wise, equal and correct, then let me know that as well. If it's the latter, then I'm going to suspect that this weekend's cake disaster was simply a matter of either smaller egg yolks than I normally add, or just cooking it too long (even though I used flower nails, and it tested goopy just four minutes before I ended up taking it out of the oven.)
Just so it's all in one place (and because this post isn't QUITE long enough yet - haha), here are the recipes "side by side":

6 inch (I used a 5 inch pan plus a couple cupcakes)
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1 1/2 t baking powder
pinch salt
1 stick unsalted butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 t vanilla
2 large eggs
1/2 cup whole milk

(**added the extra sour creme and veg oil to the milks. Also added 1/4 t of baking soda, thanks to the tips received above.)

10 inch
3 3/4 cups cake flour
1 T plus 1 3/4 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
2 1/2 sticks butter
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 t vanilla
5 large eggs
1 1/4 cups whole milk

(**added extra sour creme to the measured milk, lowering the amount of milk itself. This may have been one issue.Also added in 2 T of veg oil to the final batter. For the small cake, instead I added it in along with the milks.)

Just looking at the recipes as specifically stated in the books, even if it looks like too much egg or not enough sugar, mathmatically, are the ratios off so much that you think it might be misprinted?

Thank you all SO much for your help. I feel like I could just hug you all.

Yeah, I'm telling ya - this has been better than watching Alton Brown!
I've heard several times over recent months that The Cake Bible is a great resource for learning about this, but I haven't seen it yet personally. I'm sure others can give better suggestions.

Okay, this explains a lot. Like why her sugar is so low and not equal to the flour. She has written the recipe as such so by adding the syrup it sweetends it up. And I guess it moisturizes it too. I have never put a simple syrup on a cake (on my list to try), but I thought I read here somewhere that a simply syrup will not make a dry cake moist, but make a moist cake moister. If I find the link where it said that, I'll post it.

I would definitely up that sugar based on what I wrote in a previous post, edspecially if you are not using a simple syrup. You want the weight to be at least the weight of the flour. Sugar will tenderize the cake and make it moister. I'll recheck everything else in the recipe tonight. I can see why you want to keep this recipe because she gives it for the different size pans. I'm thinking that if you put back in the cake the sugar and liquid that is taken out by the assumption of a simple syrup, it will be more tender and moister.

Are you using a weight scale or measuring? Because without using a weight scale you will get a slight variation every time. Does Dede give weights for her recipes? Hopefully she should. If I try a recipe without weights, I measure it out the conventional way and then weigh it. If it works out I then remake using the weights and not volume.

I'm clear now on which recipes you are using too. I hope this is helping you. Now you have me curious about this book. I'll have to look for it my local library.

Unfortunately she does not list weights in the book. It would be very helpful, yes. I do have a kitchen scale that I use whenever possible, so maybe next time I have some time when making a cake, I'll measure the ingredients, throw it on the scale and note what the weight is.

I have another 10 inch square vanilla ("yellow", I suppose it's called, but it's not really THAT yellow!) cake as part of a wedding cake this weekend, so maybe I'll try upping the sugar on it. How much sugar addition would you suggest, not knowing the weight yet?

And yes, this is so incredibly helpful. You have no idea how much. I've been dedicated to being a scratch baker ever since I discovered how many ingredients are in box mixes that are foriegn to our bodies, but after this weekend, I was in tears and starting to doubt myself, thinking I was going to have to go back on my stance on hydrogenated oil, HFCS and the like just to get a decent large cake. I even panicked and bought four boxes of white cake mx on Monday. My daughter is really sensitive to hydrogenated oil (makes her vomit, actually), so the thought of making a cake with it again was so disheartening, but I was really upset about what happened. (Which is funny, BTW - yesterday after I had the amazingly yummy 5 inch cake for the wedding tasting, I callled my aunt to apologize for the terrible cake and I offered to bring her the remaining cake from the testing. She had no idea. She LIKED the cake! I don't know if she was really just being nice or what, but she said when I explained about the dryness, "well, ignorance is bliss, I guess, since I've never had your cake before, but I thought it waw good!" Ha, ha..eh.....
Well, *I* know it was terrible and dry.

Debby,

Assuming you are using the recipe I quoted above for the 10" pan, I would add 2 cups of sugar. This is assuming that sifted cake flour has a weight of 3.5 ounces and sugar has a weight of 7 ounces. 2 cups of flour is 106% of the weight of the flour and this is fine. You could get technical and do 100% of the flour which is 1.875 cups, but really it is within 20% so 106% (2 cups) should equalize it and make it a little less dry. The more sugar the more tender it will get, but then there gets a point where it is too sweet. You can have a much higher percentage of sugar to flour with a chocolate cake, but this one is not chocolate. I have seen yellow cakes with the ratio as high as 117%, so this should work fine.

And I would definitely start weighing what I measure in volume, and write it down too. If the cake comes out to your liking, you can then use the weight the next time to get the cake you want.

I found the book you are using at my local library. If you want to talk more through PM, feel free to contact me. I'll won't have access to my computer from Saturday through Wednesday. I am going on vacation and I am determined to not take my computer with me. We'll see how long that lasts. If you hear from me Saturday night, you'll know it didn't work.

Let us know how your cake works out. And I hope I'm not too late for my suggestion.

Originally Posted by DebbyJG

LOL. Yeah - I say that too, but then I have my Blackberry.

Not too late - I had a 14 inch chocolate cake to do today, so the smaller vanilla cakes will be tomorrow morning. I will keep you posted!!!
And again, thank you SO very much...

Debby,
You may be in a time crunch so this may not work this time to change this.

But I have been reading that baking soda is also a tenderizer. This is probably why you see a lot of cake recipes that are over leavened according to all the places I see that give guidelines on how much baking soda and baking powder to use. Mostly on non chocolate cake recipes I see something like 1 tsp of baking soda and 1 or 1 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda.

Your recipe lacks baking soda and has a lot of baking powder. Like Pterrell said earlier, it probably has too much baking powder alone. With 3 3/4 cups cake flour and baking powder alone you only need 3 3/4 teaspoon baking powder.

This is hard to tweak to be the correct amount of over leavening because too much baking soda can give a baked good a very soapy taste. And too much baking powder will deflate and toughen your cake. My MIL has a drop chocolate cookie that is cake like that she has made forever. My DH remembers eating them since he was a kid. Well lately they have been dry, tough and no chocolate taste. She gave me the recipe and showed me how she made it. She uses 4 tablespoons of baking powsder. Yes I said tablespoon. That is enough to leaven about 12 cups of flower. However she uses 3 cups. On top of that she does not use a measuring tablespoon, but rather an eating tablespoon that she heaps and puts in the batter. When I measured that it came out to more like almost a 1/2 cup of baking powder. So I took the recipe and tweaked that to the amount of baking powder and baking soda needed to make it leavened correctly. My DH took one bite and said this is the cookie he remembers as a child. So I would consider that a success.

When you are ready to tink, you may consider changing this part of the recipe around to see what you get. That will be hard to determine the proportion for each size because Dede has all the recipes for each size laid out for you. I have tried leavening cakes to the exact amount according to the baker's rules for leavening mentioned here earlier. But the result is not always perfect. Often times I get a dry, tough cake. I need to do a lot more research on this to figure out more. But I have found that the cake recipes I have tried that are over leavened they are more tender. There are exceptions. Cakelove cakes are correctly leavened, but his butter cakes are variations of a pound cake recipe with everything being about 100% of the flour, except for the sugar which is 200%. Perhaps this is why he can correctly leaven because the sugar tenderizes.

Can't wait to see what you get.