(no subject)

[which_chick]

I'm in the middle of making the cake (the one I practiced up for last weekend). As I've said, I only make the one cake. I could make other cakes -- they're not terribly difficult -- but I don't like any other cake as well as I like this one. If I made some other cake, I'd be all irritated with it for not being the proper cake. Since most people do not like their cake served with a side of grumbling over how it's not the proper cake, it's easier to just make the proper cake and save everyone a little heartache. Or, y'know, I could make pie instead. I do that a lot.

Anyway, I'm taking a survey. How many of all ya'll out there in reader-land have ever made an honest-to-dog cake from scratch, using ingredients like sugar, eggs, butter, and flour? If it came from Mr. Hines or that Crocker woman, it doesn't count. Box cake is not good enough. Show of hands, or whatever: Have you ever baked a cake? Did it come out okay? Tell me about your cake experiences or lack thereof.

Comments

[cassandramorgan.livejournal.com]

I baked a cake with a little help from my mother. (Mostly guidance because I tend to second-guess myself when I cook.) My grandmother has handed down this awesome chocolate chip cake recipe but...as all handed down recipes seem....it's only partial instructions. So we all kinda wing it a bit and that is where I start to second guess myself.


Anyway, it turned out pretty good. Not as good as my grandmother used to make but then again, she had the full recipe committed to memory.

[which-chick.livejournal.com]

All my family recipes are sort of incomplete, too. When I figure out how they're supposed to be made, to taste right, I make notes so that I don't have to figure it out more than once.

[cassandramorgan.livejournal.com]

That's what we're currently working on. Unfortunately, no one wrote that stuff down when my grandmother was still around to remember the missing pieces.

[ornery-chick.livejournal.com]

I make honest-to-goodness cakes upon occasion. Usually they turn out pretty well, but this one time, I don't know what my problem was, but it came out tough! That sucker could have been a very sweet loaf of bread.

[sara-merry99.livejournal.com]

I've made an honest cheesecake from scratch once, does that count? It came out very nicely, though the texture was a little off somehow. Cheesecake is not too difficult to make, if you can beg or borrow a springform pan, anyway. And it impresses the hell out of people.

[not-your-real.livejournal.com]

I almost made The Cake for my parents' visit last weekend. Mom and Eric have the same birthday. Too bad I was too flustered about cleaning...

I might have made a cake in childhood, possibly from the Winnie the Pooh cookbook, which featured a "Hippy Pappy Bthudthday Cake" (I hope I remembered Owl's misspelling of "Happy Birthday" right; I think I left out a word).

[ladyivy.livejournal.com]

I've made cakes from scratch; I was telling you about one earlier today (this is what I hate about being away from my computer for a few days; I get so behind). I will admit I use cake mixes more often than I do from scratch cakes b/c they are less messy (not as much measuring and fewer containers) but when I do make cakes from scratch I remind myself how easy they really are and that I should do it more often.

Cake

[tgreenwillow.livejournal.com]

I make solid cakes like bricks. You could build a house with them. I understand I am not beating them enough. Apparently the more you beat the fat, the lighter they will be.

Unfortunately, it did not occur to me to try this with anything less than a pineapple upside down cake, which is supposed to be solid. And it fluffed up all over the sides of the pan.

Tasted good, though.

Your cake for Tom was excellent!

[en-ki.livejournal.com]

I did a few for various family occasions a decade and more ago, most likely directed by my father. Near as I can remember they came out OK, a bit on the heavy side.

Also: Duncan Idaho cake mix: every time you make it, it looks exactly the same, but sometimes it randomly tastes different. Will kill on command.