Thanks, Woody..I had a feeling that pure lemon juice would effect the ingredients, which is why I thought I'd ask :) Will try lemon oil as suggested by you. Haven't got RHC yet..will do soon.

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Hi Yasmin,
If you have Rose's Heavenly cakes, take a look at the Woody Lemon Luxury Cake. The formulation is basically the Golden Luxury butter Cake (page 48) in the cake Bible with the addition of lemon zest. You can enhance the lemony flavor with adding some lemon oil. Maybe a 1/4 teaspoon to start and experiment to how much you want to use.
I would skip the lemon juice as a substitution as it will effect other ingredients including the leavening.

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Hi Rose. I read your comment recently on the Red velvet cake where you said that one could simply use one of your yellow or white cakes and substitute equal qty of fluid with a bottle of red food colouring. Could the same hold true of lemon juice? I want to try converting the Downy Yellow cake to a lemon cake by adding lemon zest to the batter..I wondered if I could decrease quarter cup milk and substitute with lemon juice?

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I ate a cake once that the baker told me was made by poking holes in the cake, a syrup was poured over the cake which when cooled produced little rivulets of crunchy candy-like flavor throughout the cake. Do you know of any recipes like this

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Hi Sandy,
What vanilla cake are you making?
Does the recipe suggest soaking with a syrup?
A simple syrup for soaking the cake is usually sugar dissolved in water or juice complimentary to the cake.
They are an essential part of a genoise cake to add moistness and sweetness that are not part of the cake's batter. For butter based cakes, the syrup is used either to add some sweetness and moistness as in the Golden Lemon Almond Cake or for wedding/event cakes where the cake is being made a couple of days ahead to keep it moist. In The Cake Bible there are syrups mainly for her genoise recipes while in Rose's Heavenly Cakes there are several cakes with accompanying syrups ranging from sweetened fruit juices to milk chocolate and cream and there formulas. In most cases the sugar component is dissolved in the liquid and the syrup heated to near boiling point.

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I'm kind of new to cake decorating. I bake but I'm making a cake for a baby shower. What is simple syrup and what does it do? I want to make a vanilla cake with custard and strawberry filling.

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Kristina, sponge cakes (Genoise and Biscuit)need more syrup than butter cakes b/c they are dry and need the extra moisture. In fact syrup is mandatory for these types of sponge cakes. Butter cakes need very little or no syrup as they are more moist. If your butter cake was soggy after you brushed the syrup maybe it was moist enough by itself and didn't need any syrup or maybe you used too much of it. On pg 483 in the Cake Bible (US edition) Rose recommends "3 cups syrup for every 6 1/2 cups of sugar used to prepare the cake batter".

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Hi,
I am learning more and more about using simple syrup to keep cakes moist i made your chocolate butter cake and brushed a simple syrup pretty generously and it came out soggy...what is the rule of thumb on how much to soak a cake and do butter cakes need less than sponge....thanks.

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13 years soaking. WOW! Are you able to soak dried fruit with other ingredients this long? I am thinking of adding brown sugar & white sugar mixed with boiling water to make a syrup, then adding rum. Maybe even adding a conserve (marmalade or ginger marmalade). And did your alcohol eat into what you stored it in?

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Is piping gel transfer the best way to write on a cake? In the Cake Bible there are more formal fonts, but when I create a computer generated design, I want the letters to look flawless...What do you suggest?

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What is the longest amount of time you can soak dried fruit in alcohol before making a fruit cake or plum pudding?

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Hi Rose,

Since the Winter Blueberry Topping will not work, do you think the Raspberry Puree and Sauce would be ok to brush on each cake layer before torting with the buttercream?

Would you suggest also using a simple syrup, or just the Raspberry Puree?
Thanks!

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Thanks Rose... I'll try the syringe.

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Hello Rose,

I recently made your swan cake for a birthday party (I think that's what it is called... the White Chocolate Whisper cake with lemon buttercream and the Winter Blueberry topping.) IT WAS DELICIOUS!!! What a great combination of flavors. A bride-to-be who was at the party wants me to make it for her wedding.
Based on my very busy schedule coming up, I would need to bake the cake, fill and frost each of the three tiers, then freeze them fully completed and decorated for three weeks. Is this okay to do?
Also, I really want to incorporate the Winter Blueberry topping... I was thinking about using it instead of a simple syrup... brushing both sides of each cake layer with the blueberry topping before filling each tier with the lemon buttercream. Have you ever done this, or do you think it will work? Should I add a little blue food coloring, or do you think the blueberry topping will keep it's color being frozen for 3 weeks? Should I also use a simple syrup, or just the blueberry topping?

Also, what is your best techinique for applying simple syrup... I have heard everything from brushing it on, using a syringe, or even a spray bottle...???

Thank you for your help!!! I am just not sure what to tell the Bride...

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I would like to know how to soak a wedding cake. I have had it for the past 3 months.

thnkx

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That makes since, as the level of moisture in layer cakes is already quite higher. As I mentioned, I'm looking for a good chocolate cake with great color that doesn't need soaking syrup....I wish I had time to make every recipe of chocolate cake that's out there. :) Zach

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