I've been making cakes for 10 years, but for me it's the art of it.  Working with fondant, sculpting and such.  I'm trying to make a business out of my hobby now that I'm a stay at home mom, but have no culinary training.  I'd love to stop using boxed cake mixes for my cakes, but don't know of a good recipe.  Anyone have one, or a collection of some, they are willing to share?  I'm also testing out butter cream recipes, but have found a few I've been trying. 

I like a moist cake, but wouldn't mind two recipes, one that is more moist to use for regular cakes, and another that is more sturdy for my sculpted cakes.

Thanks so much for the help!!

Lisa

bakedind.com

APick up your Better Homes & Gardens cookbook, and start baking. The only way I found some 'just right' recipes was to make a LOT of them, take notes, and stick with a favorite. I actually think that was a fun part, but I'm into baking.

Go to beyond buttercream she has great recipes and they are foolproof .  They also taste great. 

AWhite Cake - The Cake Bible

First off all, bring all ingredients to room temperature. Milk, eggs, butter should not be used straight from the cooler. Vanilla - get rid of that immiation and invest in some good vanilla. I use vanilla beans or vanilla paste made from Nielsen Massey.

This makes enough for 2 x 8" pans or 24 cupcakes

10.5oz cake flour 10.5oz sugar 6oz butter 8oz whole milk 4.75oz egg whites 2.5tsp baking powder 1tsp kosher salt 1 vanilla bean

Mod edit: posting recipe methodology is not allowed due to copyright restrictions.

AAlright, and here is my favorite Devils Food Cupcake recipe. I think it's actually from Martha Stewart. Frankly, I can not remember. It is a great recipe. Devils Food Cupcakes 3/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder 3/4 cup hot water 3 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 1/4 teaspoons coarse salt 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter 2 1/4 cups sugar 4 large eggs, room temperature 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 1 cup sour cream, room temperature

Mod edit: posting recipe methodology is not permitted due to copyright restrictions

Thank you so much for both of your recipes.  I will try them both.  :-)
 

Thanks!  I'll check it out.

Wow thanks so much for the recipes, youre very generous to share (plus its a lot of typing)  i cant wait to try them out but im going to find it difficult to source a couple of ingredients. Are there any alternatives/substitutions?

Cake flour -- we have plain or self raising

Dutch process cocoa powder -- we have bourneville cocoa powder which is a very fine powder, not sweet at all and is yucky if tasted

Also could i ask about this cake bible, is it worth purchasing and if so, who is the author please?

.

you might also try Joyofbaking.com they have lots of scratch recipes along with step by step videos. The German chocolate cake is really good . Good Luck!

AYou can use plain flour in both recipes I posted :) I had to google bourneville cocoa powder but I think that should work just fine in the devils food. Is that the cocoa powder you guys use for baking?

I love the cake bible - go to amazon, you should find cheap used copies there :)

I was a WASC baker for a long time I also wanted to get away from the doctored box mix and went scratch... Here is a very very good Chocolate Mud Cake recipe with variations I found on line that I am willing to share....

Best ever Mud Cake by Kel11

ASelling boxed cake mixes (even when "doctored" up) seems to me like cheating. It's like going out for dinner and getting served a "doctored" up microwaved meal

I agree crustdust but when I started baking and only for home and family I was a cake box baker (no internet like we have now in the mid 80's) lol. When I wanted to make my hobby into more i know that I would not feel comfortable using box cake. I have tried and liked many WASC cakes but when it is all said and done, and I say to someone I made that cake I want to know that I did make it. I will admit that at home when the Kids and the Grandkids come over and we want Margarita cupcakes and Watermelon Cupcakes DH here I come...lol  But it has been a lot of trials and mishaps along the way to find good cake recipes. I think the journey of making different cakes and trying them is just as exciting to me as trying to learn a new fondant or gumpaste idea or trying to master a flawless buttercream cake.  Search the internet bakedindy and READ the reviews people leave on a recipe and explore!

AI barley got any of my recipes of the Internet. Books! I spent hours at the library reading recipes and books regarding baking. Anyone can bake a $1.50 cake from a cake mix

Im gonna get the cake bible as it also has sections on decorating including types of icings and piping techniques and making things with fondant.

Ive also read a few reviews and some suggest using less plain flour and adding cornflour. But the amounts arent mentioned. I will continue to search until i get it exact and then update this post.

I hate any waste and the local ducks are getting too fat. I just want to make wow inducing cupcakes, thats my goal.

Now off to order that book, my first piece of equipment,  thanks crustdust thanks everyone xxx

another idea is to buy a used culinary school pastry book

tons of classics plus variations in there laid out one step at a time

nice in depth explanations--some come with dvds

plus how to trouble shoot problems

it' be a nice addition for your library

cant update my post, tesco do their own cake flour, and they have several other brands listed as sponge flour. so problem solved and no worry about substitutions.

darn, i cant use that as an excuse if my cakes flop

Rosie's new book is good too. It's called Heavenly  Cakes. My favorite from that one is Woody's lemon Cake.  I like The Cake Bible but most of the Cale's use 1 1/2 "pans. Good Housekeeping is what I started with and Better Homes and Gardens. I do not trust Martha Stewart recipes. I have had a few disappointments there. 

A

Isn't that everyone's goal?

Oh, and Rose (Cake Bible) has a baking blog Teal Baking with Rosé. You can  follow bakers who made and tested her cakes on the Heavenly Bakers Blog.

The cake bible is totally worth buying! It's by far my favourite cookbook, with the exception of a bootleg copy of Modernist Cuisine. lol

Her chocolate oblivion torte got me into pastry school :-)

Toba Garrett's books are great for her recipes, I would highly recommend those. I especially love her lemon-coconut cake..that is incredible. You can not put in the coconut and make it just lemon, or orange etc and that works well too.

Personally all the chemicals in mixes scares me- and then when I read about extra things like instant/dry/fake coffee creamers being added to box mixes- I'm horrified.

I wouldn't care if it taste like honey from heaven...it's just processed foods making a processed cake. I'm surprised so many people find this acceptable.

I really don't want to intentionally put those chemicals into my body, on purpose. I mean it's hard to escape all those things nowadays so if you can avoid it why not? Also, I would never buy a cake from someone who was putting all that extra chemically junk into my cake either. That would be an automatic deal breaker for me. JMO.

I don't use box mixes either and try to eat raw. But even making cakes from scratch doesn't mean you aren't putting processed food into your body even if it's organic. How are  going to get flour from wheat unless it's processed, or sugar from a cane, etc.? There may be less chemicals. But still processed. Now. I do have relatives in  Sicily and they do, in fact, grow their own wheat and make their flour. And it's possible to do that here.  Baking from scratch isn't for everyone and visa-versa. If you are eating cake you are already not doing your body favors. 

A

So why are you baking and decorating cakes then if it's so bad for you? I have Celiac and can't try most of my cakes, still I LOVE baking.

I am the same way.  I bake and decorate, but I don't eat any of it.  I laugh when people buy organic sugar.  It's still processed people!  All things in moderation...

Yes I draw the line at mixes and instant coffee creamers...that is my opinion- as stated a few times (JMO, Personally) in my earlier email. That's great that those things are acceptable to you..but for me they're not. To each their own. I don't really like my food coming out of a box and everything instant.  

Clearly, as I also stated, you cannot escape processed foods (of course sugar and flour are processed, duh!) but they also do not contain extra chemicals, preservatives, additives, etc to make them taste 'better'. 

A

You forgot cheese out of a can ;) That's scary too!