I made a yellow cake last weekend from the Cake Bible and had not so great results.  It was beautiful, rose nicely, and the taste is good, but it is so dry you can hardly eat it.  I used 8” pans and baking strips, did not over bake. 

Anyone else have this problem with the yellow cake recipe, and if so, any suggestions for a moister cake?

TIA,
Cindy

Hi Cindy,

Welcome to the forum. I am sure the experts will try to help you, but I will offer my two cents. I am new to cake making but I have successfully made the All Occassion Downy Yellow Cake. Is this the Yellow Cake you are referring to? I think in order to get the best help you will have to give more information about which recipe you used and what process you went through. Did you weigh or measure? etc. Based on my experience and the help of the experts on this forum, I have learned that in order to make a successfull moist cake from the CB you must make sure the exact weight (or measurments) for the ingredients are used. I prefer to weigh my ingredients to get everything as exact as possible. You must also make sure your oven temperature is correct by using an overn thermometer, and you must follow the mixing instructions exactly. I did learn from experience that the mixing times in the CB are for a stand mixer only. When I used my hand mixer I had to mix about twice as long on high speed than the times indicated in the directions. Also, I take my cakes out of the oven when there are a few crumbs sticking to the tester. The cake continues to cook for about 5-10 minutes after its out of the oven, and this way I don’t risk taking the cake out too late and it is dry. Also, since I live in a dry climate, my cakes tend to come out drier than normal. Sometimes I add 2 tbs of oil or butter to add extra moisture.  I hope this helps. And lastly… If you are looking for a more moist cake, I think the Rose’s favorite cake, the Yellow Sour Cream Cake is extremely moist.

~belasuna

How did u meassure the flour?  By sift and level or by scoop and level?

Was the cake eaten the same day it was baked or later?

I measured by level scoop then sifted.  Made the cake in the am, ate a slice in the evening.  Eating another slice the next day, it was the same.

Next time I’ll measure by weight and will slightly under bake.

CindyD333 - 05 May 2009 07:15 AM

I measured by level scoop then sifted.

Rose’s recipes call for sifted cake flour. Meaning you sift it first then measure. Sift it directly into your measuring cup and then level it off. However if you weigh your flour you don’t have to sift it. Just weigh the amount mentioned in the recipe and proceed. 1 cup of flour, sifted weighs more than 1 cup sifted flour. So maybe you had too much flour in your cake. This is discussed on the blog.

One more thing to add to my comment above…....when making a sponge type cake you have to sift the flour regardless of if you weigh it or not. It mixes in more evenly and deflates the sponge less. For a buttercake you don’t have to sift it if you weigh it.

Rozanne - 05 May 2009 09:02 AM

CindyD333 - 05 May 2009 07:15 AM

I measured by level scoop then sifted.

However if you weigh your flour you don’t have to sift it. Just weigh the amount mentioned in the recipe and proceed. .

are you saying if a recipe calls for 1 cup sifted flour and you weigh it instead you don’t have to sift it?? I always sift right into a bowl on my scale and measure that way. thats not right??

Ski, here are the links. I found it.

http://www.realbakingwithrose.com/2006/03/is_it_really_necessary_to_sift.html

http://www.realbakingwithrose.com/2006/03/what_is_the_difference_between.html

I am so confused haha. So if you are weighing the ingredients you DONT need to sift it. So if a recipe calls 105 g of sifted flour, you can measure 105g of UNSIFTED flour and never have to even sift it..?

This would save me a lot of hassle i HATE sifting!

Ski, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to confuse anyone.

Butter cakes: if you weigh the flour there’s no need to sift. If you measure and the recipe calls for sifted flour then you sift directly into the cup and level.
Sponge type cakes: regardless of the method you used (weigh or measure) you have to sift the flour so it incorporates well into the batter and doesn’t deflate the batter too much.

Sifting is mainly to aerate the flour. It doesn’t really mix the ingredients well (flour, baking soda etc). That is why Rose mixes all the dry ingredients with a mixer b/c it does a thorough job as opposed to sifting.

I hope I haven’t confused you more.

The cake flour I use is labeled as sifted, measure by weight w/o sifting.

If you measure by volume, regardless if the flour is labeled as sifted or not, you need to sift right on the measuring cup and level with a knife w/o smashing.  Do this on a piece of parchment to catch all the flour that sifts outside the cup and toss this flour back to the sifter.

CINDYD333:
  Good morning & welcome to our culinary club. I am sorry to learn of your baking disappointment. Being that I wasn’t in your kitchen when you baked your yellow cake I must resort to simply go to the most obvious reason why your cake baked dry.
Assuming the ingredients were weighed correctly & oven temp were, correct the only thing I can think of is if the butter that you used wasn’t at the proper temp when you began your cake would end up being more like pie pastry.  The temp of butter should be at 65/67 degrees that is optimum….because that is the temp that butter begins to melt. I begin at 63 degrees because by the time I am finished handling it it will be at the proper temp.  Only you would know if you perhaps used very cold butter or not. Anyway I would re~read the many posts that our members submitted to you as they are meaningful for a perfect cake.
  Good luck to you & enjoy the rest of the day young lady.

  ~FRESHKID.

Cindy, Rozanne and Hector are right, it sounds like you had too much flour in your cake.  There is a huge difference between scooping (to measure), followed by sifting, and sifting directly into the measuring cup (the method Rose calls for).  Also consider the sour cream butter cake, which is even richer and moister.

Thanks so much, everyone.  I’ll try again.  I will also try the sour cream yellow cake, it sounds yummy!

Hi guys and gals! I’ve been out of the loop for a while…life sometimes gets in the way…but I’m back.  I have to add my 2 cents on sifting.  Sifting has two purposes (If I’m not mistaken).  I separates the particles and fluffs the flour so that you can measure it accurately (Rose directs you to sift directly into the cup) and also gives the finished cake a better texture.  If you are weighing, you do not have to sift before weighing, because weight is weight and the amount will be accurate…however….I still sift when I weigh because the fluffing of the flour gives a better texture in the finished cake (I believe).  If I’m wrong…someone please correct me and I’ll stop sifting.

BILL:
  Good afternoon. Good to see you are back again.
Bill you asked for any corrections in your last sentence. So, if you do not mind I must state the rule of sifting in Comm bakeries.
  I will write 2 sentences & then I will explain each it’s meaning.

  6, oz of SIFTED cake flour

  6, oz of cake flour SIFTED.

  Now then, In the 1st sentence it means to SIFT the flour 1st & then weigh it.

  In the second sentence it means to weigh the flour first & then SIFT it.

  The reason being is that when flour is sifted it airates it & it weighs less EX” 1, cup of cake flour un~sifted weigh 4.00 oz.
Industry standard. When you sift first & then weigh it will weigh 100grams or 3.5 to 3.625 oz

  Good luck to you Bill & enjoy the rest of the day.

  ~FRESHKID.