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Rose's Heavenly Cakes

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My Method for Mixing Layer Cakes

Dec 17, 2005 | From the kitchen of Rose

Altaf Question:
I've tried your lemon poppyseed pound cake recipe. They are delicious, my family loved them.

My question is: the mixing methoed you used is strange to me ( To mix the dry ingredients then add the add butter,liqiude.

Can you please explaine the name of that method why did you choose it?

Rose Reply:
i appreciate your asking this! the lemon poppyseed is my signature cake. the method of mixing i use for all my cakes in which butter is softened as opposed to melted as in genoise or oil cakes as in chiffon, is called the two-stage method in the cake baking industry. it had always been used only with high-ratio shortening but my claim to fame is that i worked out a way to use it with butter. this method results in a cake that is faster and easier to make and is more even and tender in texture. there is no disadvantage to using this method but it is important that the butter be cool room temperature (65 to 75 degrees F.) tbe best description is cool but squishable.

woody in reply to comment from Cecilia
03/09/2011 09:38 PM

Hi Cecilia,
The Rose factor applies to butter cakes has proven to work for the basic butter cakes which will include the White Chocolate Whisper for all of the components except the baking powder. You will have to experiment with the baking powder level, using the Rose factor as a starting point. You may want to read our blog articles on the Power of Flour to see our varied results when converting "The Cake Bible's" 9 x 1-1/2 pan recipes to 9 x 2 pan recipes.
A 12-inch pan by the formula converted up from the Base Formula for Butter Cakes on page 491 is a factor of 7, which is a x2.3333 factor for the ingredients on page 50, with the baking powder bring the exception that you may want to start with 7-7/8 teaspoons as per page 492's chart.

Cecilia
03/08/2011 09:42 PM

Hello: I am making a 3 tier, 12" round cake (2" tall pans). I would like to make your "White Chocolate Whisper Cake" pg 50 CB. Can I apply the Rose Factor for me to double,triple(?) the recipe for this cake to work on a 12" pan 2 tier cake??

thanks!
Cecilia

woody in reply to comment from Teresa Parkinson
03/08/2011 12:16 PM

Hi Teresa,
Yes. In Rose's Heavenly Cakes,we have recipes for the All-Occasion Downy Yellow, but it replaces the milk with sour cream, on page 295 and White Velvet on page 298. Both are two-thirds recipes of the Cake Bible for making 14 to 16 cupcakes.
Also, on page 164 in the Cake Bible, Rose states the baking powder levels for cupcakes.

Teresa Parkinson
03/08/2011 11:09 AM

I have recently come across yout Cake Bible and I found it extremely interesting. Your method of mixing cake batter is very new to me. I have asmall cupcake baking business and I have yet to find a perfect vanilla cupcake recipe. I want something full of flavour with beautiful texture. I want people to say wow this is lovely, rather that thinking its just a plain boring cake. Would any of your vanilla recipes translate to cupcakes? Teresa

Lisa
10/17/2008 10:31 PM

Rose,
I just finished a marble cake, using your suggestion from a previous post to use bittersweet chocolate in 1/3 batter for sour cream cake (4 oz chocolate per 10.5 oz flour); however, I used the yellow base cake, as I needed to convert recipe for a 16-inch wedding cake layer. Found it worked well (texture was lovely), though I may have preferred a more "chocolatey" dark marble. I didn't want to risk overdoing the melted chocolate in the batter. I know from an unfortunate experience that the two parts of the marble have to be of similar consistency to bake evenly together. What would you suggest?
Thank you, thank you for sharing your wealth of knowledge!

Rose
03/09/2008 05:04 PM

if you're not traveling with the cake there is no need to drive a stake through the layers but if you do, it will be helpful to drill a hole a little larger than 1/2 inch in the middle of each support round or cut a cross to make the sharpened 3/8 inch dowel penetrate better. alternatively you could cut a 1 inch long X in the middle of each support.

i wouldn't worry about small holes or tunnels which may be a result of the butter being too warm or too cold or mis -measuring--i.e. too little leavening can cause tunnels.

Valerie Matteo
03/08/2008 07:23 PM

Rose...you rock!!
I am making a 5 tier wedding cake [4-6-10-14-18"]. I Have made your "Rose's favorite yellow cake" [and many others]. I Love it more than downy yellow butter cake due to the added flavour and texture from the sour cream. It is a dream to slice. 3 questions;
1] I will be driving a dowel throuth the centre of the 5 tiers to prevent any shifting. How wide of a diameter should this main dowel be. The rest of dowels in each tier with be 1/4". I understand I need to sharpen the dowel and drive it into the cake with a mallet. I have this vision of me standing on a chair, driving the stake into my newly finished creation, at the wedding hall and it getting STUCK!! How does it go through the cardboard cake board under each tier. Sharpened yes, but it it really going to be sharp enough? Common sense tells me to cut a round 1" hole in the card board cake boards to allow it to pass with ease?? I am concerned these holes may end up weakening the structure too much.
2. The cake I will be using is your "favorite yellow cake", from this web site. I have scaled the batter into 6" square and doubled the recipe for scaling into 10" square pans with great success. How do I go about adjusting the baking powder for the 14 and 18" pans [I will be using 9" semi circle pans for the 18" tier as my oven will not accomodate 18" pans]. Hopefully, and I suspect, you will just tell me I can use the "Rose factor" charts using the basic butter cake in TCB as my base recipe and adjust the baking powder according to the rose factors. RIGHT?? This would simplify things eh.
3. Sometimes [not always] there are holes or tunnels in the yellow cake above. Am I overmixing or under mixing and at what stage in your 2 stage process am I needing to address this?
Again, you are the best!! It was a happy day when I added your Cake Bible to my collection. It was like finding the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. By the way, who makes glorious cakes for you?

Sincerely greatful Valerie Matteo from Canada.

Valerie Matteo
03/08/2008 07:22 PM

Sincerely greatful Valerie Matteo from Canada.

Darlene
02/11/2008 08:02 AM

Apricot glaze question?Is the glaze supposed to be hard after appling to the cake?I did let it boil and it is more of a rubbery texture rather than hard.Thanks for any help you can offer.Darlene

Matthew
08/04/2007 09:29 AM

Donna, re: White Velvet, I believe the Rose Factor charts are for 9x2 pans, whereas the recipe in the beginning of the book is for 9x1.5 pans.

Rose
08/04/2007 08:29 AM

p.s. keep in mind that unless the square pan is perfectly square and not tapered, you will have to fill it with water to know the exact volume.

Rose
08/04/2007 08:27 AM

sorry--i've been thinking about it and maybe the solution to it balling up in the mixer is first to cream it by hand the old-fashioned way til it softens a bit. sure you can try the dough hook if that works instead.
as for the genoise--yes you can bake it in square pans--just figure out the difference in volume as per the cake bible pan size recommendations.

nushera
08/03/2007 07:40 PM

may be Rose and Hector are too busy to reply. Is there anybody else... Elicia, Patrincia, Matthew, Zach, Rozanne, Lori,...to solve the problems of the above 2 posts?

Anonymous
08/01/2007 02:44 AM

i have 2 questions:
1.while following recipes using the 2-stage method the mixture tends to ball up thru the beaters. though it becomes ok when all the liquid ingredients are added . can i mix all the ingredients using the dough hooks(i use a hand-held mixer) before finally beating them with the beaters?
2.is there any rule of thumb as to adjusting the amount of flour or eggs in sponge type cakes when baking in different size pans(ie, with different height of batter)? can i bake the French Genoise dividing the batter into 2 8" square pans(instead of 1 9"round pan)?
thanks in advance for any help.
regards, jenna.

Donna
07/29/2007 10:05 PM

Hi,
Why does the batter amount of the White Velvet Butter cake recipe on pg. 46 not equal the 9" White Butter cake/Rose factor cake on pgs. 490-491? Do they have differnt application?
Thanks,
Donna

Babs
06/17/2007 03:47 PM

Thank you very much, Rose.

Rose
06/17/2007 11:55 AM

you're right, apricot glaze is sufficient to seal in the crumbs before applying a single final coat of buttercream.

Babs
06/17/2007 09:34 AM

Rose, I have a question regarding "crumb coating" a cake. I plan to use your white chocolate cream cheese buttercream for the final frosting. If I brush heated strained apricot preserves over the entire cake, do I still need to put a first coating of buttercream on the layers before I put the final coat of your white chocolate buttercream? Or should I put a watered down thin layer of this buttercream and then frost the cake with the regular white chcocolate cream cheese buttercream?

I tried to ask this question earlier, but I think it got buried under other questions. Thanks very much.

P.S. Am I wrong, or years ago, did cake decorators just brush the cake layers with an apricot glaze to seal in the crumbs, and then put a single final coat of buttercream on the cake?

Patrincia
05/20/2007 04:39 PM

Betsy - I believe the Shufra is from Holland, but I don't know if it's dutch processed or not (also think it's Kosher). What are the ingredients? If it says something like "cocoa processed with alkali" then it is dutch-processed, but if the only ingredient is cocoa, then it's not dutch-processed.

Rose
05/20/2007 07:44 AM

the proof's in the cake! if you want to use it try a small test cake and compare (a 1 egg formula is about right for a 6 x 2 pan.)

Betsy
05/20/2007 07:39 AM

Thanks Rose and Patrincia. I did read that blog post about the dry chocolate cake a while back and had a big aha moment, so thanks for the reminder. Will send photos...

One other question: We went to buy cocoa for the cake and the store owner was trying to talk me out of buying the more expensive Droste and buying Shufra instead. I asked if it was dutch processed and he said that it was and that he knew it was b/c other customers had asked and so he called the company. Anyone ever used this?

Patrincia
05/19/2007 07:18 PM

Betsy - Congratulations to you both.

Good choice on the cake - I used The Cake Bible to make a ganache covered, chocolate butter wedding cake. The smell of chocolate permeated the entire reception hall, and I can't tell you how many people commented on how amazing it smelled (but even more of them commented on how amazing it tasted!).

One word of advice on the chocolate butter cake: be sure to read the thread entitled "Blogger Aaron Solves Dry Chocolate Cake Problem!" (you can find it by putting "dry chocolate cake" in the search box above).

Have a blessed wedding!

Rose
05/19/2007 01:18 PM

what a lovely story--i wish you both great happiness.
i have to say i really recommend three tier and the sheet cake(s) to supplement as they are so much faster to cut but if your dream is of a towering cake, then for the bottom 15 inch tier use 1/4 inch wooden dowels. send photos!

Betsy
05/19/2007 12:32 PM

Rose,
My fiance and I have been using the cake bible to make many delicious cakes over the years, including about 10 wedding cakes for friends and family. We owe much of our success to your book and helpful advice. Next weekend we'll be making our own wedding cake (chocolate butter cake with ganache and orange mousseline buttercream, I think) and we have a question.

Usually we make 3 tiered cakes, but this time we're going to try 4. In the cake bible, you suggest using wooden dowels in the bottom tier to support the other 3 tiers. How big in diameter should these dowels be? Thanks

Rose
05/18/2007 05:16 PM

yes lovely patrincia. and i think they would make terrific cup cakes!

Michelle
05/18/2007 05:01 PM

Thanks Patricia!!

Patrincia
05/18/2007 04:24 PM

Here is Rose's response from a past posting asking the same question:

cupcake-size is usually around 20 minutes, smaller start testing after 10.

fill the liners about 3/4 full. if using silicone pans you won't get dipping in the center but with paper or foil cups which have less stability you probably will get some slight dipping. it seems to help to let the batter sit in the pans for about 20 minutes before baking.

Posted by: Rose Levy Beranbaum | November 5, 2006 3:48 PM

Michelle
05/18/2007 04:19 PM

Wow!! I'm so glad I have found this blog! Rose, let me first tell you how the cake bible completely changed the way I make cakes.....and to rave reviews!!

I have recently moved and have yet to unearth "the bible", so i have a quick question regarding one of your recipes. My absolute favorite recipe is for the Golden Butter Cream Cake (i think that's the name of it)...it's so decadent and rich and I was wondering if it would be possible to make cupcakes with it? If so can you tell me if they would bake for a different amount of time? Thank you in advance for any suggestions you can offer me!

I look forward to your new book!

Rose
05/18/2007 03:48 PM

i wonder if it's the cocoa butter in the white choc. that would make it more yellow and also until set more fluid. you could try setting the bowl of buttercream in ice water and stir gently. more white choc. will also make it firm more but you have to be careful bc white choc. has a "sharp" melting point which means it is solid until it starts to melt and then melts quickly. it also works in reverse, i.e. when it starts to set it REALLY sets fast.

Babs
05/18/2007 06:50 AM

Thanks, Patrincia, for your suggestions. I appreciate them.

Now a question for Rose: Last night I made your white chocolate cream cheese frosting again, and it was so soft that it was hard to decorate with. Do you think I overbeat it at some point? I did notice there was a lot of air in the icing as I was icing the cake. I guess I must have had beginner's luck the first time I made this. Even the color of the icing was not the same. I know my ingredients were weighed properly. I even used a higher quality of white chocolate this time - at least it should have been. It definitely contained cocoa butter, and came from a baker's supply store.

The only thing I can think of is that maybe I added just a bit too much lemon juice, but what would explain the difference in color of the icing?

If this happens again, and this buttercream is too soft, should I just refrigerate it for awhile until it firms up? Or if I am pressed for time, like I was last night, is there anything I could add to it to firm it up a bit? Thanks very much.

Tina
05/14/2007 10:03 PM

I noticed the post regarding using the two stage method for mixing cookie dough. I use this method for virtually all of my cookie recipes, and it works very well.
I always mix my cookie dough with my Kitchen-aid stand mixer, and have never had a problem. It might be a challenge if mixing by hand, but I gave up on that method long ago

Patrincia
05/14/2007 08:59 PM

Babs - I'm not the professional here, but I would think a sugar syrup alone would easily evaporate from a cake, and I don't know about fruit glazes, but I do know that Rose's buttercreams work extremely well - the moisture of the cake won't evaporate through it (at least not within a reasonable length of time of course).

The "decorator's frosting" that you mentioned sounds like what some people mistakenly call buttercream - you know, the kind that is made with tons of 10x sugar, and crusts over as it "dries". Seems to me it was formulated to allow for at least some moisture loss in order to be able to form a crust (maybe not the best thing if you are trying to keep the moisture in). For the record, I think it's overly sweet (horrible tasting really), feels terribly gritty in your mouth, and is neither buttery nor creamy! In my opinion it shouldn't be referred to as, or confused with, a quality buttercream. I honestly don't know anyone who likes it.

I highly recommend you try Rose's recipes. You can borrow The Cake Bible from the library if you're not ready to purchase it (but I'm sure you'll change your mind quickly once you see how fabulous it is).

Babs
05/14/2007 06:48 PM

Thanks, Rose and Patrincia. This makes me think of a follow-up question: what is the best way to seal in the freshness of the cake: with a sugar syrup; a fruit glaze such as apricot preserves heated and sieved; or a crumb coat of buttercream such as decorating's frosting (that's mostly butter with just a bit of Crisco in it - sorry, Rose!) under the cream cheese buttercream; or a crumb coat of the cream cheese buttercream?

Thanks very much.

Patrincia
05/14/2007 04:43 PM

Babs - if you're only planning on storing your cake overnight in the refigerator, it shouldn't dry out if you've completely "sealed" in all the moisture with a layer of buttercream to protect it.

Rose
05/14/2007 03:31 PM

it may not be safe bc of the cream cheese. it's fine to refrigerate it as long as it's served at room temp so the cake isn't cardboardy! glad you liked the buttercream!

Babs
05/14/2007 02:00 PM

I realize this question does not follow the previous discussion, but I can't figure out how to post a new question.

Rose, I made your white chocolate cream cheese buttercream frosting yesterday for a carrot cake, and it turned out great. Not only did it taste great, and piped great, but the color of the frosting itself was such a beautiful ivory color that I am now thinking of using it for a wedding cake frosting. I'm making the wedding cake next month, and am wondering if this frosting would hold up if the finished cake were left in an air-conditioned room overnight, and then of course, the following day at the wedding reception. The cake will be a simple yellow cake (1-2-3-4 cake) with lemon curd filling.

I plan on brushing it with a sugar syrup (with some liqueur added) on the cake before I fill and frost it.

Do you think I need to refrigerate it? Or will the cake itself become too dry if I do that? Thanks so much for your help.

Patrincia
05/14/2007 07:16 AM

Merryll - Have you tested your thermometer to see what temp. it reads at just the moment when water comes to a boil?

Rose
05/14/2007 05:48 AM

wanda i've tried cornsyrup for this type of syrup as well and it doesn't work well, i.e. you still have to bring the mixture up to a specific temperature unlike in the neoclassic where you just need to bring it to a full boil. the best thing is to be sure to remove it from the heat just before it gets to the right temperature as most pans continue to hold the heat and the syrup rises. it could be your thermometer isn't accurate but in any case speed is essential in transferring it from the pot as soon as it reaches temperature.

Patrincia
05/13/2007 10:13 PM

Can't wait to hear how it turns out! Please report back to us all.

Merryll
05/13/2007 08:05 PM

Dear Rose and Patrincia,
I thought I sent an answer to you both about my failure with the chocolate pound cake but can't seem to find it online. Guess I'm not great there either.
First, I'm amazed with this site, actually overwhelmed, and appreciate all this help and information.
I did use bleached cake flour, measured everything. But tomorrow I'm going to try the yellow cake and see how that goes. A friend thinks my problem might be my oven.
Merryll

Wanda LaLoggia
05/13/2007 02:39 PM

Rose, I tried the Lemon Curd and OMIGOSH is it WONDERFUL!. I added it to the Mousseline buttercream and it is really good, but it took me two tries to make it. The 1st time when I poured the sugar water into a glass container, by the time I turned around, it had solidified into a giant sugar cube.. (Obviously a little too firm ball... and I did use a candy thermomitor) I tried again and and it seemed to work, but when I tried to scrape the remainder from the jar, it too turned into a hard sugar ball as soon as the scraper touched it. I ended up leaving it out. I was wondering if I can use the corn syrup and water technique you describe for Neoclassic buttercream for the Mousseline? Thanks as always for your great advise.

Wanda

Rose
05/13/2007 09:28 AM

thanks patrincia. incidentally, i never made this recipe in a larger size and doubt it would work well. but it does work well as a small loaf. meryll, you are using bleached cake flour right?

Patrincia
05/12/2007 07:56 PM

Merryll - Are you using Rose's "chocolate bread" recipe? If so, did you use Rose's suggested method for creating an attractive loaf by splitting the partially baked loaf as directed in the recipe?

As for the dryness - assuming you didn't over bake, is it possible your cocoa/boiling water mixture might have evaporated too much as it cooled, thereby affecting the moisture in your finished product? Rose does make a note in the recipe that you can add extra moisture by brushing with simple syrup (directions included in recipe).

Just out of curiosity, are you planning on making the wedding cake out of this chocolate bread recipe? If so, what size pans are you going to use?

merryll
05/12/2007 05:59 PM

Problemo:
I made two batches of your chocolate pound cake. One in an evening session, the other, in the morning. I baked the first one in a 4 cup loaf pan (1 lb. English loaf pan) and the second in two 1/2 loaf pans. I had the same result with all cakes: the sides and edges rose first, then the center. By the time the center rose, the edges cracked in the middle and I ended up with a very strange loaf with a cross shaped crack and very unattractive. The cakes were a bit on the dry side.
I'm just not sure what went wrong. This has actually never happened to me. I'm preparing/exercising so I can make my granddaughter's wedding cake next month, but this took a lot of my confidence away. Weighed the ingredients carefully, beat according to your instructions in the book, etc.
Sorry for such a long question, but I just don't understand this result.
Thanks.

Rose
05/12/2007 09:22 AM

it's really unlikeable with the 2 stage to over beat except if you forget it for 5 or 10 minutes and the butter starts overheating.

isabel
05/11/2007 10:24 PM

Hi Rose. Thanks for your response!
Is there a risk to overbeat the cake at this first stage of mixing if you exceed the 1 1/2 min? or is it not possibble to overbeat the cake using the 2 stage method?

Rose
05/11/2007 04:18 PM

isabel, in my new book you will be able to see the exact consistency of the batter. meantime, it is not a dough, it is a thick almost fluffy batter. in a stand mixer it reaches this point after the 1 1/2 min. of beating on speed #4 kitchen aid indicated in the recipe.

isabel
05/10/2007 09:31 PM

Hi Rose!
When you use the 2-stage method, how should the batter look like during the first stage,i mean, before i add the eggs-liquid mixture? I get a dense batter, a dough type like.
I assume that that's when the dry ingredients are moisten and then i proceed to add the eggs. Is that correct?
Loking forward to your new book!
isabel

Rose
02/05/2007 09:19 AM

i don't that would work well bc cookies have so little liquid they might be too tender and fall apart if coating the flour with the butter before adding the egg. you could try it and see.

Sophia C.
02/05/2007 01:33 AM

I was wondering: Can you adapt the two-stage mixing method to cookies? i.e. Mixing dry ingredients first, then blending in butter until it's thoroughly distributed, then mixing in eggs and extract?

Thanks!

Rose
11/30/2006 10:23 AM

i'm so pleased you are now at home with the rose factor. it really does work but when i have to revisit it to try to explain it to someone who doesn't trust it i feel like tearing my hair out!

what i'm doing for marble cake in the new book is removing almost 1/3 of the batter and whisking it into melted no longer hot bittersweet chocolate (4 oz. for 10.5 ounce flour formula) this is with the sourcream cake but i'd bet it would work fine with downy too. do let me know!

Lori M.
11/30/2006 09:27 AM

Hello Rose! I have to admit to being horribly intimidated by the Rose factor explanation (but then, math in general gives me hives... I'm in the wrong business!)... after reading it a few times and then making my husband explain it to me, it stuck! I know use this method faithfully.

I have a question about marble cakes... I read in this thread that someone pulled out some batter and added cocoa to it to make a marble cake... do you have any rule of thumb for that? I need to make a quarter sheet marble cake and I'd love to use your downy butter recipe but I'm not sure how to proceed with the chocolate part.

I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of the new Cake Bible!!!

Lori in Ohio

Rose
10/24/2006 10:30 PM

thank you cora--so sweet! i just love when people report success with the "rose factor" as i worked so hard on it to make what could sound horribly complicated (but is not) easy to follow. i sometimes think it takes a leap of faith the first time one follows it!

Cora
10/21/2006 03:14 PM

You are a God sent. I started baking with UBC of S. Philips for wedding cakes, then I tried your yellow cake and applied the "Rose Factor" it is infact very easy having measured it by grams and so delicious.I only applied the computation for 7 inches pans for the 6 inches pans to have an allowance for the height and it does level very well in the pans. Can't wait for your next book.

Rose
10/18/2006 06:22 PM

dawn--thanks so much for the wedding cake report--i'm delighted it was such a success. i'm also pleased to report that i've now perfected FIVE new wedding cakes for the upcoming book--all of which are amazingly moist with many days room temperature shelf-life--i'm very excited about them.
the book is due to be published fall of 2008 (the cake bible's TWENTIETH birtday!)

Dawn Nesom
10/06/2006 11:40 AM

Hi Rose,
I wrote in a while ago and asked about other recipes in your book if they could be " Rose factored" well I thought I would let you know that I stayed with the tried and true recipe of your yellow butter cake but I added a bit of cocoa powder to a couple of cups of batter to make a marble cake the bride had requested. I did a vanilla/rum simple syrup and filled it with a whipped milk chocolate ganache from Alice Medrich Bitter Sweet (She's my chocolate geru, your my cake geru) frosted the whole thing with you vanilla neo classic butter cream and fondanted it. The rave revues were tremendous and the chef loved that it was not only moist but held together very well so it could be plated nicely cause that's important too.It looks like wedding cakes are going to be popular for me to do at the resturant so if you have any more recipes for cakes of different flavors that would work in the size 12,14,16" that would be fabulous. When is your next book due?

Rose
10/03/2006 10:18 AM

wendi, i've tested every one and size of the cakes that go with the rose factor so i can tell you those work. but you ALWAYS have to do trial cakes when working with other recipes and changing the sizes. theory is only a starting point for guidance. the proof's in the pudding and surprises lurk!

Wendi Williams
09/28/2006 01:57 PM

Hi Rose,
LOVE the Cake Bible it has helped me immensely! Regarding your Rose Factor..can it be used with any recipe or just the ones in your book? I have an Italian Creme Cake wedding cake coming up and wasn't sure how to convert the recipe to fit the larger tiers? Also, do your baking powder amounts work for most recipes for converting to larger cakes? Thanks and I look forward to hearing from you!
Wendi

Rose
09/09/2006 12:42 PM

i'm so pleased to think i've playedany part in the success of your business!

the only difference between swiss and italian meringue (aka mousseline) buttercreams is that the swiss meringue syrup is brough only to 140 degrees F. and the Ital. to 248-250 making it much more stable and extending the shelf life. (i can't say how long bc it is dependent on too many external temperature factors.)

as afar as using pasteurized eggs--i've never tried it but would encourage you to do so--first of course doing the standard version with fresh or frozen egg whites. (do report the results as it will be helpful to others who want to use pasteurized egg white.)

pay close attention to the temperature of the mixture when adding the butter and you should have a great success.

Jeanne
09/07/2006 11:20 PM

Hello... I am a devoted fan of your books and have built a successful business using many of your recipes (an apricot linzertorte using imported Italian apricot preserves is a big seller!)

When you write the buttercream section of your in-development cake book, would you be able to describe and contrast the difference(s) between Italian Meringue and Swiss Meringue buttercreams? I'll even offer to help test recipes!! I sometimes wonder if I should use Swiss Meringue rather than Italian, but I've been making Italian for so long, I usually talk myself out of it. Mostly I am curious about the holding time. I go through 45 dz eggs during a busy wedding week just making buttercream and it would be a lot easier to switch to the pasteurized whites (which do not work for Italian - I find I can sub out only as much as one third the weight of processed to fresh whites (10 oz to a 30 oz batch which is the largest batch size I do in my Hobart).

Rose
08/22/2006 08:47 AM

thanks dawn for your lovely comments.
i should explain that gold medal's concept for this blog was as a "baking diary" more than an q & a. but to be accomodating i can't resist answering as many questions as time allows. it not, however, the turkey hot line! i.e. no one should count on an instant response--that would be a full time job!
in my new book i will be offering 5 new wedding cakes, some of which are larger versions of favorites from the cake bible. i did try the white genoise and wasn't happy with it. not all cakes take well to enlarging no matter how much tweaking. the ones that i provided for the rose factor i tested each and every size starting from 6 inches up to 18 so i could be SURE no one would be disappointed.
as far as offering volumes of batter, that's easy enough to figure out when you consider that most of them fill the pan about half full, some between half full and two thirds full. since i do give the volume of all the pans that makes it easy to figure out.

Dawn
08/21/2006 11:08 PM

Rose I think your book is fantastic and very helpful. But I was wondering how to "rose factor" other recipes in your book such as the white geniose. Also,can a person make a pound cake in regular pans,and how come you didn't include final batter amounts so a person would know how many times to make some of your other recipes that don't have rose factors. Thanks for having a website to answer our questions when things go wrong and we're up the entire night trying to figure them out cause the cake is due tommorow.

Rose
07/20/2006 06:42 PM

thank you very much juliana.

actually my new book will have many many photos so some of the written explanations will become unncessary--but i can never resist giving helpful information so not to worry.

layer cakes, at least when i use the term, are cakes that either are thick enough to cut into layers or can serve as layers as opposed to a biscuit that is only 1/4 inch thick. but beyond that, layer cakes also are more dense than a sponge type of cake such as genoise. you can layer a genoise but i still don't think of it as a layer cake!

Juliana
07/19/2006 05:23 AM

Hi Rose,

I truly agree that your two-stage method is wonderful and full-proof, as long as I use the ingredients at the right temp and as long as I beat the batter long enough.

When I used your recipes initially, I didn't follow your method. I thought that it was really strange for you to beat the dry ingredients with the butter and then add the wet ingredients later, so I creamed the butter with the sugar, then added the eggs, then alternated the flour mix with the liquid in thirds, as stated in other recipes. But that was really troublesome for me.

I suppose every cookbook author has his/her own method of mixing cakes so I'm not in a position to comment on that, but because I don't have much table space, your method works very well for me because I don't need to put the ingredients in so many separate bowls. I just weigh the dry ingredients in the mixing bowl, then the butter, using the tare button as I go along. I just need another 1 or two bowls for the liquid.

Another benefit in using your method is that I didn't have to sift my dry ingredients together 3 times. That really saved me a lot of time.

Thank you for writing The Cake Bible. I like the fact that you included the weight of your ingredients instead of just volume measurements because I don't measure my ingredients by volume.

I also like the "understanding" section where you compare your recipes and explain your reasons for adding or changing your ingredients. Most importantly, you also mention how the changes would affect the texture and taste of the cake. I also find the "finished height" section useful.

Please continue to keep these sections for your next book. I believe there are many readers out there who have also benefitted from them.

Just one question: when you say "layer cakes", do you mean that they are thick enough to be cut into layers, or does "layer" mean something else?

Juliana.

Rose
02/07/2006 05:28 PM

i'm happy to report that people have told me that they have converted all their layer cakes to this method with great sucess!

Guy Babusek
02/07/2006 05:22 PM

Hi Rose,

Does the 2-stage method work with old-time butter cake recipes too, or just with your formulas? I really love the way the cakes in your book turn out, and I also really prefer your way of mixing a butter cake batter.

My mom's old fashioned 1, 2, 3, 4 cake with lemon curd is a family favorite, and I'm wondering if this mixing method will work with it too, or if I need to use the old creaming method.

Guy

altaf
12/19/2005 05:44 AM

Thanks Rose for the quick reply.

Rose
12/18/2005 06:13 PM

i'm delighted to hear this. people have reported to me that they now use this 2-stage method for all their cakes with great success and i have found the same thing to be true. there may be exceptions but i haven't yet found one!

Jo
12/18/2005 03:10 PM

I've been baking for many years and was excited to learn only recently about the 2-stage method of mixing. I made the Chocolate Domingo cake and the texture is like velvet and so delicious. Rose, I love The Cake Bible and your show Baking Magic. So far, I've also made the Orange and Lemon Chiffon cakes and the Brownie Puddle, all fantastic.

My question is can you take any cake recipe that uses the creaming method and use the 2-stage method instead?

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Welcome to Real Baking with Rose, the personal blog of author Rose Levy Beranbaum.

Spend A Moment with Rose, in this video portrait by Ben Fink.

Heavenly Cake Bake Along

Hector's Take on Rose's Cakes

My Method for Mixing Layer Cakes