Hi all,

I am going to attempt making my son's first bday cake...I am very new to cake decorating, just make the simple cakes at home. I want to make a basic vanilla cake (using martha stewart recipe) but am baking the cake Thurs to be served Saturday (need time to decorate Friday). Can I brush with vanilla simple syrup? I am very concerned about the cake becoming tooo sweet. When do I brush the cake? Can I cut some of the sugar out of the initial recipe and then brush the cake? Please help! Thanks in advance.

If the cake is baked properly (not overdone) then there is no need at all to brush it with anything. Pay attention to the smell of the cake while it is baking, regardless of what time the recipe says. As soon as it smells "done", look at it and LIGHTLY touch the surface of the middle to see how it springs (done) or not (give it 5 more minutes).

Once it's iced, it can't dry out... the icing will hold in the cake's moisture.

Martha Stewart recipes are notoriously dry. Hopefully this won't be one of them.

Onc the cakes are cool, wrap them in plastic wrap and just leave them out for next day decorating.

I am also not a fan of putting simple syrup on a dry cake. I make sure my recipes are balanced. But because you are trying a new recipe and have no time to re-bake, if you find you need the syrup, just do it. But after that, come back on here and we can help you find a good recipe.

Thank you all for responding. I decided against the Martha Stewart cake. I did a test run. Its way tooo dry. Does anyone have any suggestions for a good yellow cake. I may just use a box mix if I run out of time.

I just rried fromscratch's white cake with the yolks. I also used the full buttermilk. It was easy. Use lots of vanilla.

http://fromscratchsf.wordpress.com/category/white-cake-2/

Do you have a conversion for it because I don't have a kitchen scale

Hi IAN,

I'm afraid to convert someone else's recipe. There are several weight conversion charts out there with conflicting information. I may have a different chart. All charts work because eventually you will get so good at adjusting reipes that your own note will be ot to the side and it will be your own recipe.

Scales are expenive. The good ones are about $50.00. One CC memer bought a postal scale on Ebay and it worked. It was $20.00. Make sure if you use a postal scale that you don't get it wet. Someone suggested puttin it in a plastic bag and zipping it up. e sure it has a "tare" otion on it. This allows you to add one ingredient, go bac to zero and add another weighed ingredient on top of the first.

So if a scale is not in your budget right now, I will suggest another recipe. It's Warren Brown'son his Cake Love site. He has both measuremets and a video tutoral. I love the cake, bu I don't like it for cupcakes. It separates from the liner a little. Thats why I tried FromScratch's.

http://www.cakelove.com/podcast_yellow.php

I know it's a little late for my comment but I had to mention the WASC cake recipes. They are a doctored box mix and quite moist. The recipes are in the recipe section. I hope your cake turned out well and your son has a happy b'day