I cant remember if the yellow tier was all occasion yellow downy or the butter one that has milk LOL well anyway I havent tasted the choco cake but it tasted good I heard.. I used the rose factor since the base had more butter I believe I red on the blog LOL.. it was iced in SMBC with fondant accents.. the princess on top is an edible image printed on fondant with tylose in it.
my choc cake was a lil tough on the edges (overcooked? or pan spray? or both) but since it was carved it was ok.. the yellow was a lil too crumbly for a topsy turvy cake in my opinion..
Your cake looks lovely! I have to comment on your remark that the yellow cake was too crumbly. I have very little luck myself when using cake flour to make cakes, even though Rose calls for it. I use King Arthur cake flour exclusively, and my cakes are always too crumbly and not to my liking. I have solved this problem (at least for me) by substituting bleached all purpose flour for the cake flour, and I am very happy with the way all my cakes turn out now.
Your cake looks lovely! I have to comment on your remark that the yellow cake was too crumbly. I have very little luck myself when using cake flour to make cakes, even though Rose calls for it. I use King Arthur cake flour exclusively, and my cakes are always too crumbly and not to my liking. I have solved this problem (at least for me) by substituting bleached all purpose flour for the cake flour, and I am very happy with the way all my cakes turn out now.
MrsM
Hi MrsM,
Where is it that you live? I live in a high altitude environment (5,280 feet, approximately), and I cannot use cake flour either in cake recipes. Using cake flour results in cakes with not enough structure, so they just crumble or fall apart. High altitude baking usually requires bleached all purpose flour for cakes instead of traditional cake flour.
One of the reasons I don’t bake many cakes from scratch is that every new cake recipe has to be tested in my kitchen at least 3-4 times for high altitude adjustments. It’s such a pain in the neck. HA baking requires adjustments in leavening, eggs, flour, sugar, and liquids. Most of the time, baking a cake ends up being more trouble than it’s worth.
Your cake looks lovely! I have to comment on your remark that the yellow cake was too crumbly. I have very little luck myself when using cake flour to make cakes, even though Rose calls for it. I use King Arthur cake flour exclusively, and my cakes are always too crumbly and not to my liking. I have solved this problem (at least for me) by substituting bleached all purpose flour for the cake flour, and I am very happy with the way all my cakes turn out now.
MrsM
I agree with you MrsM. Sometimes I find the cake flour recipes a bit crumbly (definitely too crumbly for carving) and I also substitute bleached all purpose flour (by anywhere from 50% to 100%).
Sometimes I chill my 100% cake flour cakes to tighten the crumb a little.
I cant remember if the yellow tier was all occasion yellow downy or the butter one that has milk LOL well anyway I havent tasted the choco cake but it tasted good I heard.. I used the rose factor since the base had more butter I believe I red on the blog LOL.. it was iced in SMBC with fondant accents.. the princess on top is an edible image printed on fondant with tylose in it.
my choc cake was a lil tough on the edges (overcooked? or pan spray? or both) but since it was carved it was ok.. the yellow was a lil too crumbly for a topsy turvy cake in my opinion..
This is so whimsical and pretty. Happy to note that you’ve used SMBC as well, which I love (all fondant is one-note in taste in my opinion).
sometimes I chill my cakes in the freezer.. except when you have baked yourself to death on Thursday and then on Friday you say OMG I gotta bake my daughter’s cake and she wants topsy turvy LOL. thanks for the compliment Julius I love SMBC! I think everyone should love it too, although I do use a meringue powder based, non crusting icing that uses confectioners sugar for most of my cakes.. its like bakery icing without the heavy texture of half butter half shortening icings… I love that one as well, but the meringues are the best to me!
I do have to admit that I prefer cake flour , even when making a pound cake.. I wont usually sub cake flour for ap, but I will gravitate toward recipes that have cake flour as opposed to ap.. I am just starting to look at recipes and analyze them and figure out if I may like them or not.. I used to call my grandmother for all of that advice but she passed on in May so I gotta figure it out for myself..
Roxanne, I am in New Jersey, not in a high altitude area. I have heard on other forums that high altitude is so difficult to deal with when baking. But no matter whose recipe, different kinds of cakes, I have had absolutely no luck with cake flour.
Now, what to do with my cake flour - does anyone know if I can mix with some other type of flour and get a higher protein flour that I can actually use?
I agree with you MrsM. Sometimes I find the cake flour recipes a bit crumbly (definitely too crumbly for carving) and I also substitute bleached all purpose flour (by anywhere from 50% to 100%)
Just be sure not to use UNbleached flour in place of cake flour - the bleaching process is vital to the success of a cake recipe that calls specifically for cake flour. All cake flour is bleached, even if the package doesn’t specify it.
I have a couple of questions—what does SMBC stand for? I figured out the last two letters are “ButterCream”...
And, how in the world do you construct a cake like that? Is it all cake underneath that frosting? (Detailed instructions not necessary, I’d just like the “general theory.”)
As you can tell, I’m not very experienced with cake baking. But I’d love to learn more.
I never use cake flour…. at work.. usually AP or KA special…. the crumble could be a mixing issue?? if it’s beaten too much, you’ll develope gluten..??
I’ve worked a season at Stratton MT in VT, and never experienced a huge difference in regard to HA baking, so I can’t be much help with that, sorry..
I know there hasn’t been a post since November regarding this thread but thought I’d add a comment.
The time I had an issue with the yellow cake being too crumbly, I looked up the Cake Bible and found that I may have under-mixed it. I had thought I might have done the opposite, but I think I also read that when making a bigger batter, this can be the case. So the next 14 inch All occasion yellow cake I made, I gave it a couple of extra seconds when mixing the milk in and then after each addition of the egg and milk mixture. The cake was perfect! My husband even thought I had found a better recipe, but I said “nope, I just followed the directions a little closer”. i think sometimes I just take things for granted as if they are the way they are in any and every state, but as Rose has found in her many many years of research and experimentation, this is not the case. hope this helps any!
