Cake is one of my favorite desserts,and who can resist a plate of sweet little cupcakes? There are so many cake flavors and combinations of frostings, icings, and glazes to satisfy your cake craving and creative flare, it is hard for me to imagine there are people out there who still don't like cake - to each his own - I suppose. Modern cakes have an airy, and moist delicate crumb, while vintage, or old-time cake recipes give a rich, dense, and more substantial mouth feel. Cakes made before the advent of modern leaveners such as baking soda and baking powder, were more like sweetened breads, than what we now associate with "cake".
For many people, cake is a lot less intimidating to make than pie, even so, to make a good cake from scratch, it still takes a measure of skill. Over beating, not following the proper order and method of adding ingredients, and improper temperatures can yield discouraging lack luster results. Most of these pitfalls can be avoided by using a cake mix base. Yes - I said - a cake mix. I'll wait for the gasps of horror from the cake police to die down before I continue. A cake mix is a good place for a beginning baker to start. Not much is worse for an experienced baker, than slaving over a mixer, and hot oven only to have your cake not come out right, this is especially true for a beginner. Cake mixes can offer a degree of insurance, as it is really hard to mess them up. So, some of my recipes will include a "doctored up" cake mix, and if a cake mix was good enough for billionaire shipping tycoon: Aristotle Onassis, then it should be good enough for the rest of us!
For many people, cake is a lot less intimidating to make than pie, even so, to make a good cake from scratch, it still takes a measure of skill. Over beating, not following the proper order and method of adding ingredients, and improper temperatures can yield discouraging lack luster results. Most of these pitfalls can be avoided by using a cake mix base. Yes - I said - a cake mix. I'll wait for the gasps of horror from the cake police to die down before I continue. A cake mix is a good place for a beginning baker to start. Not much is worse for an experienced baker, than slaving over a mixer, and hot oven only to have your cake not come out right, this is especially true for a beginner. Cake mixes can offer a degree of insurance, as it is really hard to mess them up. So, some of my recipes will include a "doctored up" cake mix, and if a cake mix was good enough for billionaire shipping tycoon: Aristotle Onassis, then it should be good enough for the rest of us!