But I digress.
After we used Duncan Hines White Cake Mix yesterday, the cakes were a disaster. I don't blame the mix; I think our procedure was faulty. For example, they said to wait five minutes after pulling the cake out of the oven before flipping it out of the pan; that left us with lumpy pieces of cake, some of which didn't appear to have actually cooked. So today I mixed up this batter, which I found on the web:
3 LAYER CAKE BATTER
3 eggs, separate egg whites
1 1/2 sticks butter
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 c. milk
2 1/2 c. flour
Beat egg whites and add 1/2 cup sugar. Sit aside. Then cream together 1 cup sugar and butter. Add egg yolks. Then add egg whites, flour and milk. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes.
That made about a third more actual batter than the mix did. I had a heck of a time apportioning it into pieces, though. I poured the whole shebang into a measuring cup; turns out it made about 4.5 cups of batter. Then I tried pouring it into four one-cup increments, but that didn't work very well. I ended up with, about, 1.8 cups, 1.2 cups, and .9 cups (the rest being the sludge that gets left behind). I baked them for the fifteen minutes (at 350; the recipe says 375, but I was going with what AG said), and then I let them cool for at least twenty minutes. I mean, that cake pan had to be absolutely cold to the touch. And it worked (at least on on the first two; I haven't decanted the third yet). But they came out pretty easily, and they seem to have cooked through. Each one is about half an inch thick, more or less, which is certainly not what AG showed.
And here's what I produced --
So I'm thinking I'd need at least twice the batter I made. I don't intend to do that, but I Made Notes On The Recipe.
I'm leaving it for my daughter to ice, assuming she doesn't just come home, glance at it, and say 'What, only three?'
4 comments:
awesome results! That is great. I've found that to help get the cakes out of a pan, it is essentially to let them cool 5-10 minutes. It also helps if you have greased the pans with PAM and flour beforehand.
Nice work on the pretty cakes. Very Rainbow Brite.
We did grease it, but yeah, I think cooling a lot is essential. I'm looking into those flexible cake pans. We used to have one with a rotating arm as part of the base of the pan, but we tossed it because it was rusty. Wonder if a springform would work okay?
I use Bakers Joy (go to bakersjoy.com) and it works like a dream. Has flour in the spray so you don't have to grease then flour. I was always awful at that, never got it done evenly. This spray really pays off with bundt cakes in particular.
It's as simple as spraying the pan and your done. Plus it smells fantastic. I know I sound like a commercial but it's really great stuff. I think Pam cooking spray also makes it's own version of it. Between that and cooling for 10 minutes, my cakes come out perfect now.
The flexible cake pans I'm on the fence about. I have only used one once and it baked nice and evenly but was very difficult to pull out of the oven without causing a crack in the cake.
I got a good chuckle out of picturing you and your wife thumbing through a Cosmo Girl magazine. I have never leafed through one, but remembering what regular Cosmo is like, I can just imagine. A blemish? Never! Way too much pressure on young girls.
Loved the cake, neat idea and cute decorations!
I've seen the Pam with flour. I think that if I baked more I'd get it, but not now. We keep the Pam in the cupboard with the baking supplies; I can see me wanting to grease something and inadvertantly using the one with flour. Argh. Like a coworker who brought a box of tissues to work, used one to clean his glasses, and then discovered that these tissues were impregnated with aloe.
I don't really like the idea of the flexible pans, but I like having to futz with the pan to get the cake out even less.
Post a Comment