Well, I made the coffee cake & although it was yummy it was dry - any suggestions, tips, etc…

I made this cake using the optional apple slices. I really liked the result. The apples contribute flavor and moisture and also prevent the batter from buckling over the streusel as it rises.

Cathy

bakerinabarn, this was the topic of an earlier thread.  you might hind some answers here:

http://www.realbakingwithrose.com/index_ee.php/forums/viewthread/29/

I’ve made this recipe many times and it comes out moist. (I prefer it without the apples)
One time, I accidentally grabbed the Wondra flour box instead of the Cake flour box… and it was very tender and moist. (it did sink a little towards the middle)

Do you weigh your ingredients?

Try it again. It really is a great cake!

Tammy

I don’t have any other suggestions that haven’t been suggested as to why the cake was dry.  Sorry!  But I did want to mention that I add blueberries to my cake (instead of the suggested apples, in with the middle topping layer) and it is SO good.  I had always made blueberry buckles after the picking season, when I have pounds and pounds of berries in my fridge/freezer.  But once on a whim I tried adding blueberries to the sour cream coffee cake recipe and now I’ll never go back.

Gia - 22 September 2008 01:18 PM

I add blueberries to my cake (instead of the suggested apples, in with the middle topping layer) and it is SO good.

Wow! That sounds delicious! I’m going to try it next time.  Thanks for sharing.

I love this cake, it is one of my favorite recipes.  We always include fruit in the middle, usually apples but sometimes peaches.  (That blueberry one sounds lovely, too!)

It shouldn’t turn out dry, even without the fruit.  It seems like a common problem with dry buttercakes is overbaking (too long/hot or pan too large; reduce temp by 25 if using convection fan). 

Other possible problems that could make this recipe dry include not using all yolks, using too little sugar or butter, using too much flour (did you weigh the flour and sugar?) or not using real sour cream.

Hope that helps!

I’m going to chime in as well.  I make this cake all the time…it is the first cake that I made using one of Rose’s recipies.  I’ve made it with and without the fruit and it has never come out dry.  Check your pan size, be sure you are measuring your liquid accurately (I recently discovered that when I weigh my liquids, I always have more than when I use the measuring cup…apparently my cups are slightly off…and I often, being inherently lazy, don’t always check to be sure that I am measuing to the bottom of the meniscus (yes I spent too much time in science class).  Hope this helps… and good luck. You seem like a pretty experienced baker…so I’m sure you know all of this…but perhaps you’ve overlooked one detail.

To pick up on something Julie mentioned, large egg yolks nowadays are never as large as they used to be (in my experience—especially if you are using organic, cage free, etc.).  I find that only extra-large or jumbo yolks match the older size specified in the cake bible, so I always weigh my yolks now—if you don’t have a scale, I would use a larger size of egg for yolks or add an extra—you can also measure yolks by volume.