Your Favorite Home-Made Cake Recipe

[pamperedlinda]

What is your favorite home-made cake recipe? I need a couple of good vanilla and chocolate cake recipes.....other flavors are welcome too. I am a cake snob and I do not like cake-mixes so don't bother telling me about those. I want the real deal. I've always made the basic 1-2-3-4 cake, but that one dries out and gets stale really quick. I am making the cake for a friend's baby shower next weekend and I want a really good tasting cake. I'll be making it in a 9 x 13 pan and cutting it into the shape of a 'onesie' so it needs to be sturdy enough to cut and transport. Thanks!

 

[KateD]

My two favorite cakes in the world are my mom's chocolate pound cake and carrot cake. Neither would work for your cake, though (which I saw the picture you were basing your cake off of - too cute!)Funny "cake snob" story - before I started with PC I bought my mom a new bundt pan at Williams-Sonoma. She had had hers for over 30 years and is a pound cake fiend - she's beloved for her vanilla pound cake, but renowned for her chocolate pound cake. The clerk was just trying to do her job and offered an upsell of one of their (rather pricey, IMO) pound cake mixes. I replied that I thought my mom would be rather insulted by that!OK, maybe it was just funny to me, but I chuckle just trying to imagine my mom's face if I had given her a box of pound cake mix (no matter how good a mix it may be).

 

[pamperedlinda]

Pound cake is my favorite too! Just plain ole pound cake - no icing - maybe a scoop of ice cream and some fresh peaches....yummy!

 

[chefann]

I've always had good luck with recipes from the show Good Eats. There was an episode with a butter cake recipe. I haven't made it, but it's probably yummy.Ok- couldn't find that one, but I found an orange one.Aunt Verna's Orange Cake
1 cup orange blossom honey
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon orange zest
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 pinch baking soda
Butter, for greasingPreheat oven to 350 degrees F.In a large bowl, whisk together honey and eggs until thoroughly integrated. Stir in orange zest. Sift together flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Add slowly to egg mixture. Lightly grease a loaf pan with butter. Add the mixture to the pan and bake. After 30 minutes check for doneness with a wooden skewer. (If it comes out clean, you are done. If not, give it another 5 minutes and check it again).

 

[vwpamperedchef]

My mom makes this pumpkin bread (which is really a cake, made in the bundt pan) every Thanksgiving. She will ONLY make it on Thanksgiving, and by Nov. 1 we are itching to eat it. This year I had to make my own, since I got married, but it is soooooooo good and moist.

To top it off, you make a cinnamon butter to put on it.

Its the once a year cake we all look forward to.

 

[KellyTheChef]

Linda...here are some recipes off of Allrecipes.com
All of them have TONS of super reviews, none of them use a cake mix...
Let us know what recipe(s) you end up using, and how you like them!!

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Best-Moist-Chocolate-Cake/Detail.aspx

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Cream-Cheese-Pound-Cake-III/Detail.aspx

Dark Chocolate Cake I - Allrecipes

Butter Cake - Allrecipes (one of the reviews says it holds together well on themed cut out cakes...)

Crazy Cake - Allrecipes

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Crazy-Chocolate-Cake/Detail.aspx

Barb's Chocolate Cake - Allrecipes

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Kentucky-Butter-Cake/Detail.aspx

Black Magic Cake - Allrecipes

 

[ChefTess]

My favorite cake is the Crazy cake (we call it Wacky Cake). It is so moist, and you can mix it right in the pan with a fork. Top it with some whipped topping and it is good to go.

 

[ChefBeckyD]

Most of the cakes I make wouldn't probably work well for a cut out cake - and I don't usually do cut out cakes. If I did, and I needed a good recipe, I would do what Kelly did, and go to Allrecipes.com - that is the best site for whatever recipe you need!

 

[ChefTess]

I'll be making it in a 9 x 13 pan and cutting it into the shape of a 'onesie' so it needs to be sturdy enough to cut and transport. Thanks!

If you freeze the cake before you trim it into the shape it shouldn't crumble as much. Good luck with the cake. Please post some pics of it when you get it done so we all can see

 

[KellyTheChef]

If you freeze the cake before you trim it into the shape it shouldn't crumble as much. Good luck with the cake. Please post some pics of it when you get it done so we all can see

That is a good idea...plus, you could cover it in fondant (very easy to make) and then decorate from there! Hold on...I will look for the fondant recipe!

 

[KellyTheChef]

Here it is! I made this last easter for my easter egg cake...it was sooooo easy, and so professional looking!

 

[pamperedlinda]

Here it is! I made this last easter for my easter egg cake...it was sooooo easy, and so professional looking!

I've never eaten or used fondant. I heard it doesn't taste too good - what do you think about the taste?

I really want this cake to be good :chef: . All of the attendees are my neighbors (one of which is a real snobby bi-atch and I want to be sure she only says good things about my cake - kwim?! )

I'll check out the all-recipes site. I've had several recipes from there and they are good.

 

[ChefTess]

I have heard that the Marshmallow Fondant tastes good, but the regular kind does not. I would give the recipe Kelly posted a try.

 

[chefann]

mmm.... cake. Now I want some.
I guess I'll eat the last Rice Krispy Treat in the house. It's cereal, right?

 

[pamperedlinda]

mmm.... cake. Now I want some.
I guess I'll eat the last Rice Krispy Treat in the house. It's cereal, right?

Yes it is - and dairy too!

 

[chefann]

It was also vegetable, because I pressed some M&Ms into the top before they set. And that's a veggie (cocoa BEANS). Of course, that's why I am the size I am. :grumpy:

 

[pamperedlinda]

Oh, now you didn't say that they were homemade RKT's! That's even better for you - no preservatives!

 

[chefann]

Yeah- I could tell there were no preservatives. The container DH stored them in has a non-sealing lid (the bird chewed it up). So the RKT was a little crunchy. But still good!

 

[KellyTheChef]

Linda..I think regular fondant tastes like cardboard...this one tastes slightly of marshmallow and vanilla! Very good!

 

[dianevill]

Yeah- I could tell there were no preservatives. The container DH stored them in has a non-sealing lid (the bird chewed it up). So the RKT was a little crunchy. But still good!

So you got your exercise in, too, having to chew it .

 

[dianevill]

Linda,

Here are my two go-to recipes for cakes - both are from Betty Crocker's Cookbook:

Sour Cream Chocolate Cake

2 c all-purpose flour
2 c sugar
3/4 c sour cream
1/4 c shortening
1 c water
1 1/4 t baking soda
1 t salt
1 t vanilla
1/2 t baking powder
2 eggs
4 squares (1 oz each) unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled.

Heat oven to 350. Grease and flour 13 x 9 pan. Beat all ingredients on low speed, scraping bowl constantly, 30 seconds. Beat on high speed, scraping bowl occasionally, 3 minutes. Pour into pan.

Bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 40-45 minutes. Cool. Frost as desired.

Yellow Cake

2 c all-purpose flour
1 1/2 c sugar
1/2 c shortening (or 1/4 c shortening, 1/4 c butter - that's what I use)
1 c milk
3 1/2 t baking powder
1 t salt
1 t vanilla
3 eggs

Follow the same directions as the chocolate cake above.