Cakes........

[HollyElise]

Have i shown you folks this website?

http://www.cakecentral.com/index.php

[HollyElise]

Dang! There are some good ideas on this site but the problem is most of them use mixes or other funny ingredients. I can "translate" them to make from scratch, but its a bit of a pain.

Anyone know of a different cake site that does more from scratch?

[HollyElise]

OH MY GOODNESS!!! IT'S A CAKE MIX CONSPIRACY!!!

help.


I'm having the hardest time finding a Kahlua cake recipe that doesn't use a cake mix, a pudding mix, Crisco, or some other yucky thing.

And i'm not looking for a Russian cake either... no nuts, cinnamon, etc. And i'd prefer one that is not heavily chocolate, i'm thinking something like a white chocolate icing of some sort or a very light mocha flavor to the cake, but not overpowering.

I saw some recipes with sour cream added to the cake, which i think would work nicely. I saw some others with buttermilk, but they were dark chocolate Kahlua cakes, and i don't think that would work as well without the dark chocolate (it might then overpower the Kahlua, you think?)

I might have to invent this.

[HollyElise]

okay, i'm beaten. Can't find the recipe i want, so i think i'll try adapting this one:

http://www.mindspring.com/~cborgnaes...ocolate%20Cake

Old-Time Sour-Cream Chocolate Cake - Chokoladekiksekage
Makes 1
½ cup soft butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg yolk -- beaten
½ cup sour cream
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1½ cups flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons cocoa
¼ cup boiling water
1 egg white -- beaten stiff
1 tablespoon cocoa
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2/3 cup sugar
½ cup cold water
1 tablespoon butter
½ cup hot water
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons hot water
2 egg whites -- beaten frothy
Cream butter and sugar. Stir in egg yolk.

Stir the soda into the sour cream.

Sift the dry ingredients together twice.

Add all ingredients to the butter-sugar mixture in the order given.

Bake in 2 buttered and lightly floured layer-cake tins about 20 to 25 minutes in a preheated 350º oven. When cool, spread top of one layer with the filling:

Mix filling ingredients in order given and cook 20 minutes, stirring often so mixture will not scorch.

Center plain layer over filled layer and frost top and sides with frosting:

Boil sugars and water until they spin a thread. Pour slowly over the beated egg whites. Frost the cake.

Melt 2 ounces (2 squares) of unsweetened chocolate over hot water. Pour over cake and let drip down the sides.


Wish me luck!

[suzy_homemaker]

Boy, HollyElise and Polwarth! You guys bake your cakes from scratch? That's too cool! When I bake a cake, it's usually from a cake mix, either Betty Crocker or some other store brand. Some cake mixes are horribly sweet, others seem to have a tolerable amount of sweetness. But, one of the reasons I generally don't do cakes from scratch is that they request a special "cake" flour rather than regular, and I know it's available at the store and all, but it's just more money. I did do a cake from scratch a number of years ago, my very first attempt, and it was an Orange Dream Cake. Actually turned out pretty good, if I remember correctly.

The appeal to me in making a cake from scratch is you have control over the amount of sugar that goes in it, as well as the other ingredients. The only thing is T-I-M-E.

[Polwarth]

Frankly, I find the 'chemical' taste of packet cake mixes really off putting. I have a friend who assures me they taste the same as home made... YEAH, right.

I look at some recipe sites, and find that many of the cakes submitted by Americans start with 'take a 'yellow' cake mix' or 'take a white cake mix'... What's that about...? Cakes aren't baked by colour, but by taste or type - sponge, angel cake, choc cake, madeira cake, sultana cake etc...

My Christmas cake has pounds and pounds of mixed fruits and peel in it, I then marzipan it and then ice it. I wouldn't dream of buying one from a shop!

[HollyElise]

Polwarth, you probably know this already, but the "yellow" and "white" are terms that pre-date mixes. I shudder to think how they "yellow" it now, but what it used to mean was a yellow cake used both egg whites and the yolks (sometimes seperately added and sometimes not), and the white cakes used only the whites. "Angel" cakes also used only egg whites... lots of them to make them light, and "Devil's Food" used the whole egg, usually put in whole, as well as chocolate.

Suzy, you might give baking from scratch another try. I find it really doesn't take any more time than a mix, and unless it's critical to the cake (for example if it needs to be particularly light), i usually use all-purpose flour and not cake flour. I do however, usually sift the dry ingredients together with a sifter, but even if you didn't do that, i think you'd convert because of the better flavor. I mean, what's the flavor of carageenan or palm kernel oil or who knows what they put in cake mixes these days?