I made it the other day, and the flavor was fabulous but I was wondering if anyone else found it dry like I did.  When I measured out the flour, I may have lost count and put in an extra 1/4 cup of flour (I know, my boyfriend has recommended measuring by weight instead of volume before). So that could be the culprit, but did anyone else find the cake not as moist as hoped? If so, I thought some added milk or eggs next time could help.

irleshay - 18 November 2007 04:41 PM

I made it the other day, and the flavor was fabulous but I was wondering if anyone else found it dry like I did.  When I measured out the flour, I may have lost count and put in an extra 1/4 cup of flour (I know, my boyfriend has recommended measuring by weight instead of volume before). So that could be the culprit, but did anyone else find the cake not as moist as hoped? If so, I thought some added milk or eggs next time could help.

Your boyfriend must be a baker at heart (or a chemist).  Weighing is the most wonderful way to go!  My baking changed dramatically when I started weighing ingredients - first I did so in lbs. and oz., but now I’m weighing by grams.  It’s so wonderful to know you are measure exactly the right amount of ingredients, which naturally result in perfection every time!

I have found this recipe to be extremely moist, so I bet something did go wrong measuring the flour.

I also have found this recipe to be quite moist.  I religiously weigh everything when I bake, however, and I truly believe that makes a huge difference in the finished results!

Thanks for all the quick replies!  I’ll definitely be making this again, AND investing in a scale!    I was reluctant to give it a second go if I’d wind up with another dry cake, but sounds like it was my error.

Let us know how it goes!

Irleshay I believe I solved your cake"DRYNESS” problem. I do believe you may have employed more cake flour than you had intended. Here is how, The recipe requires 2 cups of “SIFTED CAKE FLOUR”. That means you must sift the flour first & then measure out 2, cups. If you measured out 2, cups first & then sifted you will have more flour then the recipe required you to employ.
EXample:
cake flour sifted weighs 3.5, oz per cup or 4, oz if lightly spooned, or 4.5, oz if the dip & sweep technique is used.
SOOO, Irleshay, only you would know if you sifted first & then measured, or the opposite, if not, then the chances are you used too much flour than the recipe required. I hope this helps you understand of the WHY your baked product baked dry.

~FRESHKID.

I agree with fresh kid.

1/4 cup flour is a lot of extra flour. 

Also, I’ve snuck in an extra tablespoon or two of sour cream when making this cake.  Doesn’t seem to hurt it… and I’d like to think it is just a touch more moist.

It has been a long time since I measured flour, but if I recall correctly, the procedure Rose uses is to sift the flour directly into the measuring cup—not to measure the flour after it has been sifted, which could cause compression.

I’ll “weigh in” for weighing ingredients. It has really helped my baking, especially cakes.

It took a while to fit it into the household budget, though. What helped while I was waiting for the scale was to be very careful about measuring ingredients exactly the way the recipe specified.

Now, if I look at a baking cookbook and it doesn’t have a section somewhere that tells you “how to measure ingredients,” I get annoyed. Rose, you’ve raised my standards!

I agree about weighing to measure ingredients.  No matter how wonderful the recipe or cookbook I think a little less of it if weight measurements are not given.  Extra marks are given if volume, imperial, and metric are covered!