That Takes The Cake

Cake Baking Tips and Recipes

Cake First Aid

Cake cracks- the oven temperature is too hot

This cake has fallen due to low oven temp

Cake falls- under baked, leavening is old, oven too cool

Cake is dense or tough- overbeating, or not enough fat

Cake is crumbly- too much fat or sugar

Holey cake- too large eggs, not enough sugar, oven too hot or not mixed well

Tips

If you burn it use a serrated knife to cut off the burnt part, and use a glaze under the frosting to retain moisture

Use vegetable oil spray on your cooling rack so the cake won’t stick

The cake is done when it begins to pull away from the sides and is springy.

Basic Frostings

Royal Icing

1 egg white or 3Tbs. meringue powder

1lb. powdered sugar

3 ½ oz. warm water (slightly less than ½ C)

½ tsp. cream of tartar

Combine ingredients, mixing slowly, then beat at high speed for 7-10 minutes. Keep covered at all times with a damp towel or it will crust over, makes 6C. Dries candy hard, good for cookies, gingerbread houses and decorations such as roses etc. Be sure all utensils are grease free or it will break the icing down.

Butter Cream

1/3 C. butter

2C. powdered sugar

½ tsp. vanilla

1-2 Tbs. milk or cream

Place butter in a small bowl and using a mixer beat until creamy. Add sugar ½ C at a time beating well after each addition. Add vanilla, then milk. Store airtight in the refrigerator. Beat before using. This recipe can be varied considerably by using different extracts such as almond, lemon or peppermint or by using cocoa powder for some of the sugar and also by folding in nuts, coconut or chips.

 1 C. frosting is enough for one 8-9” square or round cake or the top of a 9” X13” cake pan.

2 C. will frost 2 layers or 30 cupcakes.

 

Cake Topping

½ C. sugar

½ C. chopped nuts

¼ C. butter

1 tsp. cinnamon

Sprinkle over cake and bake 10 minutes

Sugar Glaze

¼ C. water

1 Tbs. light corn syrup

3 C. sifted powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

Combine first three ingredients in a saucepan, heat to lukewarm, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Tint with food coloring if desired. Drizzle over cake, cinnamon rolls etc.

Easy Decorating Ideas

Use stencils on top of a cake and sift powdered sugar or cocoa powder over the top of a cake. Use letter stencils for a name or monogram, holiday stencils or a child’s favorite animal.

Here is the stencil I used for the cake above. Save and print it full size.

Use candy to decorate a cake:

Crushed peppermint on a white frosting is pretty for Valentines or Christmas.

Place candies polka dot style, Neco wafers, M&M’s etc.

Flatten gum drops on sugar covered wax paper and then cut with small cutters or scissors. Form into flowers or animals.

Pastel or shaped marshmallows make pretty cake decorations, especially for Easter.

Use cookies to decorate a cake:

Use large cookies around the edge of a round cake.

Cut cream filled wafer cookies on the diagonal to make two long triangles, use for an ice cream cone then fill with frosting “ice cream”.

Animal crackers, teddy cookies or any decorative shaped cookie make cute decorations.

Reduce Fat Add Flavor

Fruit puree yields a moist dense cake

You have probably heard that applesauce can reduce fat in baked goods. It works very well in cakes, but you don’t just have to use applesauce, other fruit purees work well. Applesauce does not change the flavor of the cake but other purees will which can be a bonus. Some to try are apple butter, pureed fruit cocktail, plums, or pureed apricots. You can even use pureed pumpkin or squash as well. My husband’s aunt Theresa Lyday did this for a family reunion one year when she had some leftover pureed apricots. The cake disappeared and many asked for the recipe. Generally you can replace at least half of the fat called for in the recipe with puree.

$1000 Prize Cake

From the collection of Stella Martin. This was a winner from a cake contest and is very similar to Hershey’s perfectly chocolate cake recipe. In my opinion this is the best chocolate cake recipe, simply delicious.

$1000 Prize Cake

½ C. butter or shortening

2 C. sugar

6 Tbs. cocoa powder

¾ C. sour milk

2 C. flour

1 tsp. vanilla

2 eggs

1 tsp. baking soda

1 C. boiling water

Heat oven to 350°, grease and flour pan. Sift together dry ingredients, add eggs, milk butter and vanilla. Beat well, stir in boiling water. Batter will be very thin. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes. Frost with vanilla butter cream and top with shaved chocolate.

Sunshine Cake

From the collection of Viola McWhorter. She was locally famous for this angel food type cake and was credited in the Granddaughter’s Inglenook Cook Book 1942.

1 ½ C. sugar

½ C. water

6 eggs separated

1 tsp. vanilla

1 ¼ C. cake flour

½ tsp. salt

½ tsp. cream of tartar

Cook the sugar and water until it spins a thread (220° on a candy thermometer). Beat egg whites until stiff. Pour sugar syrup on the egg whites and beat until cool. Add beaten egg yolks and vanilla. Sift flour, measure and sift 5 times (WOW!) with salt and cream of tartar. Fold in quickly; pour into un-greased pan and bake 1 hour at 325°. Allow to cool in the pan at least 1 hour remove and frost.

Old Fashioned Spice Cake

When my mother Deborah Wallen, was a teenager she cooked for her family while her mom worked. She said that her dad thought he had to have cake at every meal and this was one of his favorites.

Old Fashioned Spice Cake

2 C. flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. salt

¼ tsp. nutmeg

¼ tsp cloves

¼ tsp. allspice

½ C. raisins

1 C. chopped nuts

½ C. shortening

1 C. milk

1 egg

Sift flour, salt, baking powder and spices together. In separate bowl cream sugar and shortening, add egg and beat well. Add sifted ingredients alternately with milk. Pour into prepared pan. Bake 30- 40 minutes at 350°. Top with whipped topping lightly dusted with cocoa powder.

LaVerne’s Lemon Cake

My Grandma Vernie was an amazing cake baker. She often made cakes for Shut-in’s from her church or former customers from her beauty shop. This lemon cake was a favorite and she passed it on to my aunt Karla Rice who is now famous for this lovely cake.

1 lemon cake mix prepared as directed on the package

1 box lemon Jello 3oz.

½ C. boiling water

1 box lemon instant pie filling 3oz.

1 C. milk

1 tub of whipped topping 8oz.

To the prepared cake batter add ½ of the package of Jello and blend well. Pour into a prepared pan and bake for 20-25 min. at 350° (cake will be under-baked). While cake is baking add boiling water to the other half of the Jello. When the cake comes out of the oven, poke holes in the top of the cake using the end of a wooden spoon. Pour the Jello mixture over the top. Mix the pie filling with the milk and fold in the whipped topping and use it to top the cake.

Grandma Vernie made many unusual cakes. One she often made was a candy cake. She used the leftover boxed chocolates no one wanted or chocolate covered cherries my aunt Jeanne gave to my grandpa (even though he secretly hated them). Then she would cut them into ½” pieces and stud the cake batter with them. We always say that my cousin Cassie Hubbard got her cake skills from her. Cassie also makes an unusual decadent cake called ice cream cake. It is so good we demand she make this for her own Birthday cake!

Cassie’s Ice Cream Cake

1 cake mix any flavor prepared as on the box

3 C. ice cream in a flavor to complement the cake flavor

Melt the ice cream and fold it into the prepared cake batter, do not use a mixer. Bake as directed on the box. Frost while warm but I feel it is so rich it doesn’t. need frosting.

Honeysuckle Cake

This cake is from New Zealand and breaks all the traditional cake rules, but it is so good! Be sure to cut into small pieces because it is very rich.

Honeysuckle cake

½ can sweetened condensed milk oz.

½ C. butter or margarine melted

¾ C. quick oats

2 ¼ C. crushed vanilla wafers

½ C. chopped walnuts

1 tsp. grated orange zest

3 Tbs. sweetened condensed milk

1 C. powdered sugar

Mix the first six ingredients well and pat into a 9”X9” pan. Bake at 350° for 15-20 minutes until a tooth pick comes out clean. Mix together the condensed milk and sugar to make a frosting. Frost when cooled. I like to sprinkle more orange zest on top. This would also be great with a honey glaze instead of the frosting. You could also use different cookies and nut and flavor combos for an original creation.

Honeysuckle cake garnished with orange zest