shaloop

I agree. But I do use a springform pan. I chill it in the cooler so that I can remove the outer ring, then freeze it. Lined with parchment, the bottom comes right off. ← Also adding my agreement for lining pan and freezing. If I used a one piece 3" pan I lined with parchment circle and after cooling I freeze only for a couple of hours and then remove from pan and finish chilling overnight before cutting. If using a springform pan, I wrap the bottom in foil and spray with nonstick spray and after cooling, freeze for a couple of hours and then remove outside and firm cheesecake will lift right off the foil. And of course chill overnight before cutting. This way, I can reuse my pans for the next batch (was doing 2 batches of 4 each in just my home oven and had to reuse the pans.) The cheesecakes were placed on cardboard circles after removing from the pans and put into 10X4 cake boxes and either further refrigerated or frozen before cutting. Cheesecakes slice well when partly frozen or very, very chilled. I would run my tap water hot and have a clean towel ready and between each slice rinse the knife (long, thin, very sharp straight blade) and dry and make the next cut.

Do you use a heavy duty stand mixer? After I got my kitchenaid I started having that problem. I had to learn to mix my pound cakes differently. I beat my butter on med speed till soft, then add my sugar and cream till light and then add my eggs and mix, still on med, just till they blend in. Usually by the last egg or so it starts to look a little curdled. I stop the mixer and scrape down then bowl. Then I turn my mixer to speed 1, STIR, the lowest it can go. I add 1/3 of my flour and mix just till incorporated, 1/2 my liquid, 1/3 flour and 1/2 liquid. Stop, scrape down again. Back to speed 1 and last 1/3 of flour. As soon as that's in I turn it off. I scrape bowl again and make sure all ingredients are mixed in well, if not, I fold with my scraper (rubber spatula.). I think I was beating in too much air with the adding of the dry and wet ingredients and since I've changed my method it comes out beautifully.

I would love to. I made the semolina bread today. I made more of a long loaf (like french bread) but I thought it came out well. A tad salty for my tastes, but otherwise good and very easy. I need to finish reading this entire thread so that I can pick out where to begin and see everyone's feedback on their baking. As this was my first thing to make from the book, starting anywhere you'd like would be fine with me.

After looking at you recipe in Recipegullet I realize that I just made your pound cake last week. It's the same one in my Southern Living All-time favorite recipes magazine. I reduced the milk to 1/2 cup and added 1 tsp baking powder and 1 tsp salt. I know, It's not your recipe anymore, but close. I felt it was wonderful except it could use a bit more moisture. I'm sure the extra 1/4 cup milk yours called for would have made the difference. I've been playing around with pound cakes to find the "perfect" one and one from which I could make variations based on a perfect base recipe. (hence the addition of baking powder which should help ensure rise even after adding additions such as sweet potato puree or banana, etc.) Anyway, your recipe was in my opinion, almost perfect! ← I made it again this afternoon with the full amount of milk (well, actually I halved the recipe and baked in a loaf pan and so used 3/8 cup milk.). I did, however, add salt and baking powder as I did previously. It was very, very good. So far this is my favorite plain, all butter pound cake. My very favorite is still the cream cheese pound cake, but this is second place. edited to add picture

After looking at you recipe in Recipegullet I realize that I just made your pound cake last week. It's the same one in my Southern Living All-time favorite recipes magazine. I reduced the milk to 1/2 cup and added 1 tsp baking powder and 1 tsp salt. I know, It's not your recipe anymore, but close. I felt it was wonderful except it could use a bit more moisture. I'm sure the extra 1/4 cup milk yours called for would have made the difference. I've been playing around with pound cakes to find the "perfect" one and one from which I could make variations based on a perfect base recipe. (hence the addition of baking powder which should help ensure rise even after adding additions such as sweet potato puree or banana, etc.) Anyway, your recipe was in my opinion, almost perfect!

Well, I am just ready to start baking from it. My mom sent me her copy recently and everything looks so wonderful. Finding this thread pushed me over the edge. I hate that I found it so late. I think i'm going to start with the semolina bread.

Maida Heatter has one with walnuts and spices. It's wonderful. I've had lots of requests for the recipe each time I've made it. I'll try to find out the name (checked the book out of the library and have returned it.)

Great Job!! It's gorgeous and sounds delicious. Can't wait for round two!

Here I can buy Imperial Margarine for $.50/lb and the cheapest store brand butter is $2.50. LOL is about $3.00/lb. (That's the best we get around here.) Although I much prefer baking with butter, I test some recipes with margarine or half and half and then make the "real thing" with all butter. Do you have "fancy" margarine in your area?

Do you mean that you use an Italian Cream Cake recipe but simply omit the coconut and pecans? Does it still have buttermilk in it and cream cheese frosting?

Don't semi-ripe persimmons make your mouth pucker?

Kim, your cakes look great! Glad you liked the cheesecake!

Do you have a particular recipe for the chiffon cake that you make as layer cakes? I'd like to use chiffon layers for cream filled or fruit filled cakes but want to make sure I have proportions right. Do you grease and flour the pans? Do you use water or milk, etc? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Agreed. Southern cake. Rich, white, buttermilk cake with coconut, cream cheese frosting and pecans.

I know this is a really old post but I hope you can help me. I would like to make a lemon cake using a lemon chiffon cake and filled with lemon curd/cream. I want to make a layered cake, say 9". What recipe do you use for this? I noticed that you said you don't use extra whites or cake flour. I've seen some recipes that call for 6 eggs, some for 7, some for as few as 4 with 2 extra whites, some with anywhere from 1 3/4 c flour to 2 1/4. Do you have a go to recipe for this application? Any help would be appreciated.

So glad to hear a good report. Thanks for letting us know!

Pear Upside-Down Cake

I made the FC lemon curd a few days ago but used 1/2 c lemon juice and 1/2 c butter. It came out wonderful!!! It was firmer than when made using the recipe as written (as I'd hoped) and still just the right tartness and sweetness for me and so smooth and creamy. I used half, lightened with whipped cream for a cake roll for a friend and the other half got eaten, spoonfull at a time, straight out of the fridge. I bought more lemons.

Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecake Yum!

Your oven racks or even your oven may not be level. I have this problem and therefore all of my cakes come out somewhat lopsided. It's not much and now that I'm aware I make sure I level all of my cakes. My kids love to eat the scraps so there's no waste but one day I'm gonna level it!

Would you mind posting the recipe?

Do you grease the parchment? For that matter, do the rest of you grease or butter the pan? With what? I thought about using parchment. Glad to hear it works.

Well, I didn't put brown sugar in the bottom, some must have oozed out overnight. I only sprayed the pans with nonstick spray. I'm trying to make cinnamon rolls, not sticky buns.

I made cinnamon rolls last night and baked them this morning. I used a soft dough and used soft butter, brown sugar and cinnamon inside as a filling. I sprayed the bottoms of the pans with nonstick spray before placing the cut rolls on them. This morning before final proofing I noticed that there was some runny brown sugar in the bottom of one pan. After baking the pan with fewer rolls (spaced farther apart) I noticed that the bottoms were quite dark and crunchy, caramelized I guess. I want soft bottoms on my rolls. Any thoughts?

"Baking With Julia" is another good book for basics. It contains basic recipes in the first chapter that are used to make most all of the items in the book. She says that once you master those ( I believe, 8) base recipes you can make almost anything. There's a thread on e-gullet somewhere based on cooking through that book.