Dailey

thanks beanie. i wasn't sure if the eggs were accidently left out in the recipe, i'm certain i added them the last time i made the cake. maybe i just threw a couple in there assuming the cake needed it! at any rate, i do remember it being a very good and dense cake. i, too, dislike candied fruit but i want to "dress" them up a bit for the holidays. i usually go all out and make cakes that are very time-consuming but this year since i'm 8 months pregnant i decided to go with something simple but delicious. o wait a minute! that's not the recipe i was looking at previously. it does call for eggs, thanks for posting the link!

i've actually made this cake a while back but i could have sworn there were eggs in this recipe, i'm pretty sure i added them. i just looked over the recipe a few minutes ago and wanted to double check with you all before i started baking. also, every x-mas i make cakes for friends and family and this year i decided to make them wendy's banana bread. i was thinking of adding extra stuff in it to make it more festive but not sure on what to add. do you think candied fruit would be okay or maybe just chopped marachino cherries? i was also thinking of maybe adding choc. chips and nuts as well. i'm thinking a half cup of each would be good, does that sound about right? any sugg. on other things i could add? thanks!

i am a cheesecake freak! its my absolute most favorite dessert in the whole world. however, i am very picky because i don't like creamy ones, i like mine to be dense and rich, to where i can just break off a piece and pop it in my mouth. i used a recipe that came from a new york resturant that is closed now, i think it was called Lindys. i used this recipe for the base for all my cheesecakes, my favorite being dulce de leche. i won't even bother trying other cheesecake recipes because as far as i'm concerned, its perfection! i'll post it later when i go home.

thanks steven for the link, they sound delicious!

i started my cookie baking this morning! actually, i'm a couple days late but i'm off to a good start. made chocolate chip and checkerboard cookies this morning and tonight i think i'll make peanut butter and oatmeal.

thanks you guys! my mom loves oatmeal cookies, i plan on trying CI version, hopefully it turns out well. kate, i love coconut cookies, never thought of adding them to oatmeal, sounds good to me!

i plan on making some oatmeal raisin cookies but was wondering if i have to used rolled oats as the recipes states. can i used quick-oats? will there be a noticable difference? thanks!

well, its officially cooking-making season for me, always start the day after thanksgiving. i usually make about 25 different types of cookies. i usually make all the "basic" favorites: chocolate chip peanut butter neimun marcus white chocolate oatmeal pecan tassies mexican wedding sugar cut-outs gingerbread and then i like to try some new ones, i'm gonna have to pick out some recipes from this post and give them a try!

just wanted to say thanks to those of you who suggested RBL's pumpkin pie recipe! it was a huge hit and definitely the best pumpkin pie i have ever tasted, even my extremely picky brother complemented me and asked to take a whole pie home!

i've been wanting to try the "ultimate butter cake", maybe for x-mas. i was thinking about subtituting some oil for the butter since butter cakes tend to dry out quickly, anyone try this? i did try the strawberry version of this cake and it didn't turn out despite the fact that i followed the recipe to a tee , i'm still on the hunt for the perfect strawberry cake.

kate, i really like "can't you tell?" the best! i'm gonna have to used that! also, jeni really hit it on the head, i think customers think that if my cakes come from a mix, then they should be cheaper. but the recipe i posted is definitley not cheap! that particular recipe cost more then my scratch cakes. i really appreciate all the feedback , thanks everyone!

wendy, i'm glad to hear your feelings about this particular topic! i've had alot of people ask me if my cakes are from scratch or mix, when they are made from a mix, i get the feeling they are no longer "impressed". i hate when people ask me because i would never lie, but it makes me feel like i "cheated". i actually used the recipe you posted for my 3-D cakes because i like the texture, very nice for carving. do you mind telling me what you don't like about the recipe i posted? does it "taste" like a mix to you or is something about the texture/ crumb? i would love to hear your opinion. i made 2 cakes, one white and the other with the butter mix. i always used DH because i can never get the other brands to behave! as far as chocolate cakes go, i rarely used the mixes because i've had such good luck with scratch. actually, i must say thank you because my favorite all time no-fail chocolate cake now is the one you posted by scott wooley, i wanted so badly to make it yesterday as a matter of fact, but find i cannot stop after one piece! not a good thing when you are 7 months pregnant with high blood sugars!

thanks for the input everyone! i guess since i've been a "scratch" baker for so long, i feel guilty for using a mix. i don't know why i'm having such a hard time getting over that. my husband loved, loved, loved the doctored mix, he said it tasted so good that it didn't need frosting, and he never would eat one of my scratch cakes w/o icing! i guess what it all boils down to is i consider myself a "baker" as well as a "cake decorator". can i really call myself a "baker" if its not from scratch?

i feel a bit hesitant posting about cake mixes on a site where there are so many professional pastry chefs! actually, i love baking from scratch and never use cake mixes for my family, however, i sell cakes and have noticed many times that my friends (my official taste-testers) will pick out the cakes i make from a mix over my scratch ones. i know its probably because they all grew up on mixes. at any rate, i tried a new recipe yesterday that starts with a mix but had a really good flavor, unlike many cakes i have tasted that were from a mix . its basically a cake mix with 1 cup of flour and sugar added, dash of salt, 3 eggs, 1/3 cup water, 1/4 heavy cream, 1 cup of sour cream, 1 cup of butter and 1 T. vanilla. has anyone tried this recipe before? if so, what was your opinion of it? i'm kinda torn at this point, i'm not sure if i should offer scratch or cake mixes to my customers. i want to do scratch but i also want my customers to be happy. anyone else in this situation?

how ironic! i just stumbled upon this site today by chance, i'm gonna give her pumpkin pie a shot!

kthall, those are so cool looking! are they cookies? care to share how you made them? i especially like the "fingers"!

i'm really glad to see this thread, too bad i didn't read it yesterday when i attempted my first ever pumpkin roll. anyways, since i've never made one before or even tasted one, i'm not really sure mine came out alright. i used wax paper to roll it up to begin with and when i unrolled it, the top layer of the cake came with it! also, the cake was very spongy, is it soppose to have that texture? it tasted good but my mom said that her's usually comes out "denser". so, did i do something wrong? thanks!

thanks sanrensho, i'm gonna give it a try!

i love the cake bible, some of the best cakes i've ever tasted! my all-time favorite white cake is the "white velvet", i also love the perfect chocolate american cake, white whisper, yellow downy, cheesecake. pretty much all of the ones i tried. i'm interested in making the sour cream coffee cake tommarro but am wondering if i can make them into mini muffins? i'm afraid it will affect the outcome of my cake, does anyone know?

freddurf, i love my silpats! that's a really neat idea using them for cake, makes perfect sense! thanks for posting!

i use to used parchment paper for all my cakes but i really hated spending the extra money, i'm a terrible cheapskate! at any rate, i never have a problem with sticking when i used shortening and flour, just with this cake. anne, thank you for posting the recipe for the baker's grease, i mixed some up last night and will be using it from now on. also, i'm really glad you posted the picture of your cake, it looks just like the one i made. i do have a question, though for you or anyone else who is very knowledge about cake. i've been baking for years but i am not a "professional". at any rate, does the size of the holes in a cake mean anything as far as whether a cake is "good" or not? does that makes sense? i don't know why but i was always under the assumption that the tighter the crumb, the better the cake. don't know where i got that from, maybe i read it somewhere long ago, can anyone clarify? that is so funny, anne, about your husbands ex-wife's cake! its really that good, huh? canadianbakin is probably right, i have a recipe for a doctored chocolate cake that everyone thinks is the best! when they ask for the recipe, i tell them its a old-family recipe and i can't share it, (only because i'm too embarrased to admit i used a cake mix)!

just wanted to comment on the "double chocolate cake", it has a very good chocolate flavor, very "fudge-like". however, i was disappointed when it stuck to my pans. i always use shortening and in this case, cocoa powder to dust, so i don't know if this is a common problem or not. also, i did not like the crumb on this cake, i prefer one that is tighter. this one seemed to have largers "holes". i would have to say i like scott's chocolate cake better, all in all.

well, i have the "double chocolate cake" in the oven as i type, i really liked the cake by scott woolley so i just had to see if this one could top it!

yep, they work! i used them often.

oli, out of curiousity, was scott's "chocolate fudge cake" or RBL's "perfect all-american chocolate cake" included in the taste test? i would be interested in trying sue b's cake if it beat out those two! also, what does FC stand for? thanks!