Yellow Cake Problem

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that enjoys cooking.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

Andy M.

Certified Pretend Chef
Joined
Sep 1, 2004
Messages
51,288
Location
Massachusetts
As part of my continuing quest for a great yellow cake recipe, I made this recipe: All-Occasion Downy Yellow Butter Cake Recipe | Epicurious.com

I made the recipe exactly according to directions. I used two prepared pans 9" cake pans.

I cooled the pans on a rack for the specified 10 minutes and maybe a little longer. Then I ran a tool around the edges of the pans and inverted them to remove them from the pans. Both layers broke apart. I am really really angry.

What the heck caused that?
 
the first thing that caught my eye is that the butter is mixed separately from the sugar. Every recipe that I have ever seen, the sugar is beaten and mixed in with the softened butter. Then the eggs and vanilla are added. The dry ingredients are alternately added with the liquid ending with the dry. This recipe does everything backward from what I have always learned.

Then in the last part of the directions, they expect the cake to fall apart.

To prevent splitting, reinvert so that the tops are up and cool completely before wrapping airtight.

Nice of them to let you know it stands a good chance of failing. :angel:
 
The recipe calls for just egg yolks? I believe that is your problem. I would beat the egg whites to soft peaks and fold them into the completed batter. I've seen a lot of cake recipes that call for just the whites, but never just the yolks.
 
the first thing that caught my eye is that the butter is mixed separately from the sugar. Every recipe that I have ever seen, the sugar is beaten and mixed in with the softened butter. Then the eggs and vanilla are added. The dry ingredients are alternately added with the liquid ending with the dry. This recipe does everything backward from what I have always learned.

Then in the last part of the directions, they expect the cake to fall apart.

To prevent splitting, reinvert so that the tops are up and cool completely before wrapping airtight.

Nice of them to let you know it stands a good chance of failing. :angel:

This is what's called the reverse creaming method, it doesn't cream the fat and sugar in the traditional way. It helps produce a light moist crumb, in an almost foolproof way.
 
As part of my continuing quest for a great yellow cake recipe, I made this recipe: All-Occasion Downy Yellow Butter Cake Recipe | Epicurious.com

I made the recipe exactly according to directions. I used two prepared pans 9" cake pans.

I cooled the pans on a rack for the specified 10 minutes and maybe a little longer. Then I ran a tool around the edges of the pans and inverted them to remove them from the pans. Both layers broke apart. I am really really angry.

What the heck caused that?

I always line the bottom of my pans with parchment. I've seen a trick where you can use the butter wrappers in the bottom of the pans, this will cover most of an 8" pan.

I find that the parchment holds on to the cake in most cases, giving it a bit more stability.
 
I've made a few reverse creamed cakes, and in spite of their popularity, I've never been happy with the results. They remind me of the cakes I can get at the grocery store bakery. Acceptable in a pinch, but never outstanding.

I would look for a more traditional recipe.
 
Cake is not usually in my vocabulomentarium. But I can put together a terrific trifle and perhaps even sub cake bites in a tiramisu instead of using crispy lady fingers.
 
This is what's called the reverse creaming method, it doesn't cream the fat and sugar in the traditional way. It helps produce a light moist crumb, in an almost foolproof way.

Not in Andy's case. :angel:

That's why I said almost!

I always line the bottom of my pans with parchment. I've seen a trick where you can use the butter wrappers in the bottom of the pans, this will cover most of an 8" pan.

I find that the parchment holds on to the cake in most cases, giving it a bit more stability.

The cake is delicious, with a light moist crumb. That's not the issue.

If you look at the recipe you'll see there is no instruction on how to prepare the pans. It just says to pour the batter into the prepared pans. I assumed that meant greased and floured.

The other part of the issue is that the cake layers broke apart when I inverted the pan and tried to get the cake out. Considering the recipe stressed mixing for certain times to "build structure"...
 
Back
Top Bottom