Squirrelly Cakes

Heehee, hhmn, well the other one used to be "fat and 40" and that is the easy one to work on instead. There are always options for those that are ahead of the game, haha. As to the other problem, hhmn, duct tape? Haha ok, duct tape and Krazy Glue. I keep a supply handy...

Well see, my strawberries don't weep, they bleed out. It just sounds more graphic and I am watching far too many C.S.I.'s. So call the paramedics instead! There you go, easy solution, put bandaids on the cut edges and problem solved!

Haha, well SusanNS, at almost 52 I can say this to a youngster such as yourself. 40 is the best age to do anything in the world you want to try. At 40 you don't have the fears of not succeeding that hold many back at 20, you don't feel like you should have accomplished more before turning 30 and look back with regrets. You are a fearless 40 willing to give anything a shot and you will succeed! That is the wonderful thing about being 40. You get this attitude that you may as well strive for the stars because you have nothing to lose. Your knees are starting to give out anyway, so no point in crawling on them pretending humility as you will likely never be able to get off the floor. And haha, also by 40 you get a mouth. And you basically get to use it without anyone thinking you are an arrogant youth, because hopefully by 40 we have learned how to choose our words with respect to the recipient. Hopefully by 40 we have learned that it is more important to compete with ourselves and to improve, rather than to compete with others. Hopefully by 40 we have learned that working as a team and helping others benefits us all. At 40, you are going into this course with home and life experience and as others have stated, there will be those in your classes that have never baked a thing in their lives before taking this course. And the advantage is, at 40, when you graduate you will not have some of the arrogance that some young people demonstrate after they are accredited and not think because you have your papers and 10 months experience, you know everything there is to know about pastry baking. And probably the best thing of all is at 40 even though you have found your mouth, you usually know when it is appropriate to shut it. (Oh, just to warn you, at 50 you still have your mouth and still know when it is appropriate to shut it but joy of joys, sometimes you open it anyway because you just don't care about the reactions, haha! At 60, well you are considered senior so basically you get away with almost anything as folks think you are in that doting stage anyway. I can hardly wait, haha! And the big advantage is, that stage lasts until death do we part! ) All the best of luck. I am sure you will fit in. And you will learn because you have a great attitude. Hugs Squirrelly Cakes

I would make a collar all around the cupcake using a product called Cakeband. And then wrap in cellophane, gather above the cupcake top and tie with a bow. There are individual cupcake disposable containers available but they are pricey. Here are a couple of links to products: Cakeband can be purchased by the roll in different widths or in pre-cut strips. http://www.marquefoods.com/pastryaccessories.htm http://www.bakingshop.com/sugarcraft/kopykake/kakeband.html

Good point Cognitivefun! On many machines, you can adjust the paddle to insure it goes deeper into the bowl but it is always wise to scrape the bowl bottom with your spatula to ensure ingredients are well-incorporated. In this case, that would be for the mixture before you fold in the egg whites by hand using a spatula. Sorry SweetSide, I tend to always post in detail so regardless of the skill level or whether the person is professional or just a homebaker like me, I have covered all possibilities. I have professionals in the family that are used to commercial products and methods and recipes and I am used to them also. But I do find that there is a difference between home baking type recipes and commercial recipes. And since this is more what I would consider a home baking recipe, I would tend to approach it that way. I am no help with the flour weights because I am using Canadian flours. I am just speaking from 42 years of home baking experience, not professional training. I think the oven and the baking stone are the issue, not the recipe or method. So personally I would take the stone out and raise the position of the rack that I baked these cakes on. That would be my starting point. I cannot understand why the rack position for this recipe is lower than the middle.

I prefer to use cups when cups are called for in a recipe and weights when weights are called for. Also, from what I gather, you folks have some flours in the U.S. that weigh substantially more or less than others even though they are all cake flours. So unless you know exactly what flour brand was used and exactly how much weight the originator got for the cup equivalency, you are never going to find two people getting exactly the same measurement even with weighing as not all scales are exactly the same or used exactly the same. Recipes should allow for the minute differences. When a recipe calls for sifting before measuring, I sift onto waxed paper or into a bowl and then spoon and sweep. I just have always done it that way and it works well for me. Often I sift cake flour before measuring even if this is not called for. I find in most recipes, this works best for me. For example in the Martha Stewart recipe I referred to, it doesn't call for sifting before measuring, but this worked well. And actually I have made both cakes using our Canadian Robin Hood Cake and Pastry Flour and it also worked well instead of cake flour. And the dip in the centre would be how I would determine if I should indeed measure and then sift as opposed to sift and then measure when it isn't stated in the method. I find often when it isn't stated and I just measure without sifting, I get a cake that is more on the slightly dry side. This indicates to me to try the recipe again but the next time, sifting before measuring. And this works for me. I find often recipes with sour cream in them do dip a bit in the centre, it doesn't usually cause any other issues so it is something I can live with. This is quite often the case with a very rich cake. Of course a cake will also dip in the centre when cooling if the centre was not completely cooked. I would post my own worded version of the Martha recipe but after reading the copyright guidelines of Egullet, it appears that it is not exactly a popular thing to do. So though I changed my method and used a couple of variances, I would rather not take a chance of upsetting anyone by doing so.

Well, I have baked it in 8x3 inch deep pans, no problems though of course I didn't get full three inch deep cakes. It is not a super high rising cake. I doubt the soda was an issue but none of the typical tests we always thought indicated our baking soda was fresh, are considered valid anymore. See: http://www.arm-hammer.com/basics/magic/#6 There is no easy test for determining the acceptability of baking soda beyond the expiration date which appears on the bottom of every box of ARM & HAMMER® Baking Soda. For those uses that require optimum performance, such as baking, we recommend purchasing a fresh box. In addition to all of the valuable points others have made, I would like to add this. I don't bake it in the lower third, I bake this recipe in the middle of the oven. I rarely bake any cakes in the lower third even when it is called for. Personally, in my oven, I find that far too close to the lower heating element. I have a Jenn-air convection electric oven. I also never bake on convection, just don't like the results with cakes. But that is just my personal opinion based on my personal experience. I would say if your oven is fluctuating that much, that could create a lot of problems with almost anything. I guess if this is a choice, I would suggest getting the oven looked at by a qualified repair man. Perhaps it can be re-calibrated or the thermostat can be repaired or replaced. Otherwise it will always be hit or miss when baking with an oven in this condition. I give you a lot of credit for having the patience to try to compensate for it though! I don't think the baking stone is a good idea for most cakes. To me, that is another issue. I suspect that is the problem, the bottoms of the cakes are too close to the heat source, in this case the baking stone. Plus perhaps how you mixed it might have been a problem. Another point, I make several cakes where the egg whites are folded in separately and they work well. But one thing I would suggest for someone not familar with that method, often people fail to incorporate the egg whites well when they fold in. Remember you also need to fold in egg whites to the batter at the bottom of the bowl. This often is an area that gets neglected. I find that folding in one third of the whites really well and then folding in the remaining egg whites in two batches, works best for me. Don't overbeat your egg whites. You don't want them to be like foamy styrofoam blobs that you can pick up, you want them stiiff and glossy where they just make stiff peaks. Most people overbeat their egg whites. And one more thing to make note of is you will not get the same results if you are using pasteurized eggs. They just do not work the same way. Omega-3 eggs are pasteurized. Perhaps others won't agree but this has been my own personal experience. This isn't my favourite white/yellow cake out there. But it is ok. My new all-time favourite white cake recipe is the recipe in the Spring 2006 Martha Stewart "Weddings" page 326, "White Butter Cakes". It is the foundation of the recipe for her Neapolitan Cake. I would highly recommend it. It makes 6 cups of batter but it isn't a high riser. I use an 8x3 inch round pan for the whole six cups and get about a 2 1/2 inch high cake. I have been searching for what I feel is the perfect white cake for about 42 years. And this is as close as I have been able to get. Can you tell I am excited about it, haha! Good luck to you, I hope you get better results next time. You have received a lot of good advice, things to try and check.

Well, I would suggest leaving them whole instead of slicing as this will delay the moisture bleeding out.

Don't use overly ripe berries, as was noted. Don't hull the berries (remove the leaves at the tops) and instead of washing under running water, use a dampened paper towel to wipe each berry with. Transfer berries to dry paper towels and pat dry. Do not place on cake too far ahead of serving time. Can't be certain but it looks like powdered sugar was sieved over the berries in the first picture. Or it could be fine sugar. I was a bit concerned about not actually running cold water over berries to wash them, considering we had an incident with e-coli being present on Californian strawberries a few years ago. But I am assured that this isn't a regular problem and even rinsing under cold water would not have lessened the risk. So go with the dampened paper towel method but if you feel you must wash the berries, do not hull first as this allows more water to enter the berries. Berries will naturally weep whether refrigerated or not, after a period of time. So try to place berries as close to serving time as possible. Nothing you do to the berries, including using a sugar glaze, will stop this bleeding out of the juices, it will eventually happen.

I wanted to compare the ingredients between the pudding and the Dream Whip but all I have on hand is a generic brand instant pudding, not Jello. However the starch or thickening agent in the pudding I have is a modified tapioca starch. Whereas the thickening agent in the Dream Whip is methylcellulose which affects gelling and also works as an emulsifier. But they both have sugar as the main ingredient, an oil and a form of milk. So in many ways, similar ingredients. It could be the effect of the methylcellulose that I find actually makes the cake seem a bit more dry, I don't know. I think in this case reducing the sugar used, by such a large amount, was likely the problem. So trying to make a cake more moist by adding the Dream Whip but reducing the sugar is actually not the way to go. You are creating a lack of moisture issue by reducing the sugar and adding the Dream Whip will not make up for it. I don't find from-scratch cakes dry but I agree simple syrup will certainly make the exterior more moist and if you soak the cake, more moist still. I seal the cake with a thinned down apricot glaze crumbcoat. I also freeze most cakes overnight before icing as it sets the crumb and makes the cakes easier to handle. It will also soften slightly overdone edges by drawing moisture from the inside of the cake to the outer edges. But it doesn't work miracles on overdone cakes. Hugs Squirrelly Cakes

Do you have time to list the ingredients of the Dream Whip package? I have never added it to a from-scratch cake, I have added an instant pudding to a from-scratch cake as an experiment for a pal, to see the effect. And with that particular recipe, it was fine. But I didn't think it created a more moist cake. I prefer the pudding added to a cake mix over using Dream Whip. But I have to say I honestly don't think either one makes the cake more moist. When I use the pudding, I use an extra egg and sour cream. I think the sour cream improves the flavour and the texture and along with the extra fat in the egg yolk, makes the cake more moist. True that the sugar also creates moisture but I think there is usually more than enough sugar in most recipes, too much in many high-ratio recipes for my taste. Personally I find cake mix cakes already far too sweet so the addition of the pudding or Dream Whip mix, can't make things much worse for "sicky sweet taste". But then I grew up with the original cakemixes and I don't think they were originaly so sweet. The reason I would use either is to give more of a poundcake or dense texture to a cakemix cake that I will be stacking. The cake isn't as squishy when you add these things. I don't often make cake mixes but I find when following box directions, the cakes are not stable enough for stacking. There is gelatine or a thickening agent or a stabilizer in pudding mixes and Dream Whip type mixes and this stabilizes the texture of the cakes. That is the only reason I use them. I find cakemix cakes more than enough moist. I think that you might do well to use another cake recipe if your from-scratch recipe is not moist enough. Sometimes people are trying to duplicate the texture of a cakemix in a from-scratch cake. I just don't think it can be done. Personally I prefer from-scratch cakes but we all have different expectations and tastes. If Sylvia Weinstock's cake was too sweet for you, it is likely a high-ratio cake with the same amount or almost the same amount of sugar as cake flour, right? You reduced the sugar far too much for the sugar content of the Dream Whip. I would go 1/4 cup less sugar at most and see how it turns out. Even that may be too much of a reduction. Sometimes you can reduce by a couple of tablespoons. The reduction in sugar is likely the main reason your cake did not rise much, it needed the extra sugar in the creaming action. By reducing the sugar so much you are actually going to make a less moist cake as that is one of the reasons high-ratio cakes have such a high amount of sugar, in addition to the use of other specific things in their forumula. I would not increase the baking powder. In most cases unless there are certain other ingredients, you are using about 1 tsp. of baking powder per cup of flour maximum - of course there are exceptions. If you don't use large enough pans as called for in the recipe, your cakes will not have room to rise to their full volume. That may account for why your original try resulted in cakes sinking in the middle. You are putting too much batter in the pans if the cakes were meant to be baked in 3 inch deep pans. Hugs Squirrelly Cakes

Haha, more like $52 dollars in Canada. They do make wonderful pans though and they bake so nicely too. Fortunately we are not such big football fans in Canada, otherwise I would have to be making room for yet another unstackable Nordicware pan I don't have room for. Hhmn, wait a second, the field could become an oval hockey rink...He shoots, he scores! Oh-oh! Hugs Squirrelly Cakes

Highchef, actually they work quite well for stacked cakes. I use a stiff buttercream dam before filling with the stiffest cream cheese icing I can make. But the stiff buttercream dam holds up well and as long as the cakes are well dowelled and boarded, I haven't had any issues with them. Surprising, carrot cakes are quite good with buttercream too. Sometimes I use the cream cheese icing as the filling but ice the cakes with buttercream. Mainly to keep the icing colour consistent. But carrot cakes are a wonderful dense consistency for stacking cakes. Hugs Squirrelly Cakes

Well, because if you take the same amount of some types of batter, called for in a 2 inch deep pan following the Wilton charts for batter amounts as a guideline, place that amount of batter in say, a 2 inch high 10 inch pan and a 3 inch high 10 inch pan you often get varied results. What you may end up with in many cases is a 2 1/2 inch high cake in the 3 inch pan and a 2 inch high cake in the 2 inch pan even though you placed the same amount of batter in both pans. And that is because with many cakes, given the room to expand more, they will create more volume and a higher cake in a higher sided cake pan. So if she weights the batter, in many cases, that same amount of batter will still rise higher in the deeper pan than it will in the more shallow 2 inch cake pan. So 1/2 inch height difference between the two layers of one cake is quite noticeable. This is consistently true with cake mixes and often also the case with regular from-scratch cakes like some white and butter cakes, chocolate cakes and some carrot cakes, along with many other recipes from my own personal experience. Hugs Squirrelly Cakes

Hope it all goes well for you! Most people do allow a frozen cake to defrost a bit before levelling or torting. I just level when they come out of the pan to cool and sometimes again after they have been frozen, but it depends on how level they look. Freezing larger cakes makes them easier to torte or level but I tend to torte them frozen. The problem with torting a cake that has nuts or raisins or chunks of fruit in them, is if you are using a leveller, like the Wilton leveller, sometimes it gets caught in the fruit or nuts and doesn't do as smooth a job. That is partly why I prefer to use a serrated knife to torte or level. I agree that a cake doesn't have to look perfect and much can be cosmetically resolved. But this is a bit more of a baking issue, at least the first cake was. It sounded like the cake wasn't baked evenly and parts were more baked than other due to the convection fan blowing the batter around. Today's problem could possibly be resolved by reducing the amount of carrots used as Sarah mentioned due to structural issues. It could be also that you didn't fill the cake pan level, little things like that can make a change. Some batters are thin enough that they level themselves out once poured into a pan, others don't. A minor dip in the centre isn't a big issue and could be the carrot amount or could be that the cake might have stood a couple of extra minutes cooking time. Cakes often will still taste fine and can be cosmetically corrected, that is true. But I think when we are trying to understand why certain recipes behave the way we do, often the recipe has a fault that creates cracking, over-crowning, major dips in the centre etc. and those issues can be resolved by altering the recipes or using a different one. I think overall cake decorators, particularly wedding cake decorators are trying to always achieve cakes of a certain height so that all tiers match etc. So when we start having to level some off quite a bit because it has a badly irregular surface height, whereas another tier may be the full of the pan height, that is where it becomes an issue to resolve. You don't want to add 3/4 inch of icing to one tier and 1/4 inch to another. For one thing, the icing can itself become an issue in the cake's stability and look as too much icing can buckle and droop. So each situation is different. Hugs Squirrelly Cakes

Hi there kiddo! I answered this on Baking911.com. First of all, I don't know what recipe you ended up using, as your recipe, if memory serves me, has twice the amount of carrots mine does and I bake it in a 3 inch deep pan all of the time. I know you added two tablepoons of bran instead of the two tsp. I use but that shouldn't have made a major difference in how the cake baked. I just multiply my recipe according to the Wilton guides for batter amounts and use that amount of batter suggested. We discussed how different batter bake and rise differently. I have made this recipe in pans up to 16 inches by 3 inches with no problems. But I do not bake on covection. I don't like the results in my oven when used on the convection cycle when baking cakes. You stated that the fan was blowing the batter on one side and that you moved the cake around as a result. To me, that is the problem. The damage was already done and just looking at the picture, you can see that is what happened. I think you will need to experiment with the convection cycle but you don't really have time to do that for this cake. So I suggested you use the oven on regular mode at 325F for your 3 inch deep pan. I can only tell you that my recipe works fine, your recipe may have too much carrots in it to work as well in the 3 inch deep pans, I don't know. I mainly use 3 inch deep pans, without a heating core or any upside-down flower nails or Bake Even Strips and I never have a problem. The centre point of all ovens vary. For me, I use the rack that has about an equal amount from the bottom of the middle of the rack down to the heating element and from that same point of the rack to the upper heating element. I bake cakes in the centre of my oven with equal spaces all around the pan to the oven walls. I don't think the pan is the issue at all, I think it is how the fan blew the batter. It is likely something you will have to experiment with if using convection for baking. Hugs Squirrelly Cakes

Well Linda K, it is one of my favourites too and it is as your describe. I have made it often for coconut and pineapple carrot cake lovers. I prefer a recipe I use that was from a lady who supplied health food type restaurants in my area, back in the 60's and 70's. But it may well be because I am not a huge coconut fan and I don't feel that there always has to be pineapple in a carrot cake. But as you say, you cannot go wrong with it. I have baked it in springform pans, loaf tins, just about anything. It is a very rich tasting cake and has a lovely crumb. I like to call it breakfast! Hugs Squirrelly Cakes

Hi again, Haha, well kiddo I am not a big fan of baking cakes on convection so I don't know the effect on that method. I just haven't liked the results that I get in my convection oven. I won't use two shelves of any oven to bake cakes. I find that I never get the same results. I don't have a commercial convection oven so I am just basing this on a domestic oven. I think Rose may be referring to the results from certain kinds of cakes where the cake is more sensitive. I find genoise and many spongecakes or cheesecakes can be sensitive to the pan they are baked in. Perhaps some tortes would do better in the more shallow pans but I find most tortes do better in the 1 1/2 inch deep pans anyway. I have never tried to bake cakes with the hopes of getting the same results, using one 3 inch and one 2 inch pan. It would be really difficult to gauge how much batter to place in the 3 inch pan to equate the height of a two inch high pan because that is going to vary according to the recipe. In standard cakes like carrot, chocolate, yellow, butter cakes, lemon cakes etc., I don't find my results as far as browning or texture adversely affected at all. I used to rent cake pans from a local bakery and on their advice, I purchased the 3 inch deep pans. I get a nicely rounded crown that doesn't require much levelling and that is actually a plus for a decorator. And I don't use flower nails, heating cores or Bake Even strips in any size of cake pan. I find if the pans are of a good weight and quality and finish, I don't need any of those things. It would be ideal to have both 2 and 3 inch pans and pairs of each size in each shape. But many people don't have the space or cannot afford the costs. Hugs Squirrelly Cakes

Due to an allergy, I haven't been able to eat strawberries for some time so though I will bake a strawberry cake, I have to go by scent, texture and other people's taste comments. But I have never really found that strawberries impart that strong berry taste to a cake, once they are cooked. I think they work better when served fresh, in a coulis or sliced as a fresh filling. Mind you, my late mother-in-law used to toss a handfull or two of fresh sliced berries into an ordinary buttercake, once the batter was in the pan, test it every so often with a knife inserted and she managed to always achieve great success. I have thought of using the dried berries too, if you do try that "The Old Foodie", please post your results. Lots of great suggestions for trial cakes here! Hugs Squirrelly Cakes

Good point Sarah! Heat and humidity can wreak havoc on cakes. And as a decorator, the additional advantage to freezing a cake -if only overnight or for a few hours- is that it sets the crumb making icing that cake, a lot less crumby to work with! Freezing also attract some of the middle moisture to the outer edges of the cake and if you have just very slightly overbaked the edges, freezing will often soften them up. Hugs Squirrelly Cakes

Well I can tell you that I go by the batter requirement charts that Wilton provides, even though they were designed for cake mixes when following cake mix box instructions. But I use it as a start off point and adjust from there. No two cake batters rise the same amount and you cannot do this for all recipes nor for all cake pans. I can tell you that using cake mixes, you can take the amount called for, for a 2 inch deep pan and place that same amount into a 3 inch deep pan and instead of getting a 2 inch deep cake, you will get closer to a 2.5 inch high cake. I do not find there is a difference in the texture or outcome of these cakes. Also, with some from-scratch cake recipes I make, I get the same results. So that tells us that sometimes when batter has more room to expand, it creates more volume in a larger pan. Is this always the case? No. It will depend on that particular batter. Where going by batter requirement charts might get you into trouble is with bundt or angel food tube pans. If you go by volume and try to fill these pans 2/3 full with a batter that is not meant for these pans, you may find yourself with a huge mess in your oven. These pans don't always work with batter requirements or based on volume. For example, if you were to measure the full volume a 10x4 inch high angel food tube pan can hold, you would measure 16 cups. Now if you then used 2/3 of that amount to fill your pan 2/3 full, you would use 10 2/3 cups of batter but that will not work in most cases. In most cases these pans will take about 5-6 cups of most batters to rise to the top. Some cakes are very delicate in nature, with some cakes, you do not grease the pan so that the cake can support itself on the rise, against the sides of the pan. In some cases you use a tube or bundt pan, so that in addition to the centre baking evenly, again the cake can support itself on the rise against that centre tube. So there really is no one set rule that applies to all cakes. You need to exercise caution with chiffon cakes, cheesecakes and some others. As Rose has told you, you can affect the texture by not using the right sized pan in some cases with some recipes. Some from-scratch butter cakes do not rise a great deal, others do. So you really need to know how your batter normally functions and understand if the pans called for, are called for with good reason. I can tell you that I do make butter cake recipes designed for 2 inch pans, in 3 inch pans and most times, once I increase the recipe to make the Wilton batter requirements for the 3 inch pans, I have good results. Sometimes to get the cake to rise the full 3 inches, I may need about 1 cup more batter than stated, other times it is fine. The risk with 3 inch deep pans is most people overfill them and they are a bit more difficult to bake in so overfilled you may overbake the outside before the middle is done. But that can usually be accomodated by lower the temperature by 25F for the larger pans. Sarah Phillips from Baking911.com also cautions that with doubling or tripling some recipes, you cannot automatically increase the amount of baking soda called for without sometimes affecting the taste or outcome. Sometimes you have to make adjustments for leaveners. Just my opinion based on my experience and knowledge. Hugs Squirrelly Cakes

I love Martha's book but then I admire all of her works. Funny, I can't say I have ever had a problem with any of her recipes unless a recipe of hers was copied over and credited to her on another site. But then who knows if the typist made an error or if the recipe was actually from Martha. I found Martha's Baking Handbook to be an excellent book and I think it is also a terrific purchase for a beginner. Anyone who has ever had issues with a perfect Angel Food Cake, the method in her book and the results are the best I have ever gotten and I think I have tried them all. Though most Angel Food Cake recipes are very similar, I think the method stands out on this one. True it houses a lot of old standards and basics but it also has some new twists on old standards and a few out-of-the-ordinary recipes. I have been baking for almost 43 years and have a quite extensive collection of books but I think this is a worthwhile purchase for the home baker. Hugs Squirrelly Cakes

Well it has been many years since I have been to a Lick's but when you are accompanied by small children, the singing is amusing at least to them! I agree with Melianne! I am not a vegetarian either but I went out of my way to eat their veggie burgers, I thought they were amazing! And I truly loved their regular burgers but that was about 10 years ago in the Toronto area. Hugs Squirrelly Cakes Edited to add: I didn't know we had one in Ottawa.

Caroline923, have your tried this? I find that because there is such a difference in the amount of water contained in blueberries and strawberries, that substituting strawberries usually adds too much liquid to many baked goods. So I tend to substitute raspberries for blueberries in recipes, but rarely strawberries. Of course it would depend on the particular batter as to whether or not it can handle the extra liquid. 1.0 cup, strawberry halves has 138.24g of water. 1.0 cup of blueberries has 122.10g of water. 1.0 cup raspberries has 105.47g of water Hugs Squirrelly Cakes

They are absolutely lovely and professionally done. Your presentation is wonderful! Kudos to you for a job well done! Hugs Squirrelly Cakes