Comments on: best birthday cake

By: Jen

Jen — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:34:31 +0000

I’ve tried various yellow cake recipes… main components using butter, AP, milk or butter, AP, cornstarch, milk and even oil, AP, milk. All produced cakes that were not quite what I was looking for in a yellow cake. The cakes were either eggy, too dense/heavy, too springy/spongy, crumbs were tight, and the recipe using oil of course lacked flavor.

This is The Best yellow cake recipe! Exactly what I was looking for. Results – Moist, perfectly balanced vanilla flavor with NO Eggy taste!. The texture of the crumb is tender and light, but not so tender that it falls apart and just light enough that it has a bit of weight (density) to it. I made half the recipe into cupcakes. Yielded 18 cupcakes (filled 2/3 full). Baked at 325 (I have dark pans) for 18 minutes…Viola…Heaven!

For me, the cupcakes stayed moist (wrapped well and stored in air tight container) for two days. By the third day, it still tasted good, but as expected, a tad bit drier. I did also freeze some on the first day and it stayed moist and held together.

By: Beth

Beth — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:28:12 +0000

Hi, Deb! I’m going to try this. It looks delicious! Can you recommend one of your other frosting recipes that would be good for piping and match this particular icing?

By: Cassie

Cassie — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:14:16 +0000

I made this last Wednesday for my Dad’s birthday…and I have to say, THANK YOU FOR CREATING SUCH A FANTASTIC CAKE RECIPE. I loved it, he loved it, my Mom loved it, all the friends I brought pieces to loved it…GAHH. So delicious and perfect. (We hit a big of a snag when I used 8 inch pans instead of 9 and it flowed over a bit, but nothing a cookie sheet couldn’t save.)
The ONLY thing I found was that the day after, it was a bit dry. DELICIOUS and awesome, but a tad dry. Nothing we couldn’t handle, but I was wondering, could that possibly have had something to do with the fact there’s no oil in the recipe?
Again, THANK YOU. I’ll be trying out more of your recipes from now on!!

By: Wendy

Wendy — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 20:05:08 +0000

I just made this recipe (1/3 of it), and made it in 2 4 inch round cake pans and a couple of cupcake wrappers. The cakes sunk big time when I took them out of the oven. Any ideas why? I think I’ll have to rebake them for the cake I’m making.

By: Laurie

Laurie — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 05:32:22 +0000

I made this cake for my boyfriend’s birthday. I found the frosting bitter, even with a mix of 2/3 bittersweet, 1/3 milk and even with close to 1/2 c. of corn syrup (used the Guittard disks, which have never steered me wrong). It’s too bad, because it’s a very easy, beautifully spreadable frosting. I also found the cake dry, but I think I overbaked it. I will try the cake again, because it couldn’t have been easier to mix, the batter tasted divine, and it rose beautifully. This is my third cake in a row from the site (did the carrot and the double chocolate previously) and the first disappointment. Guess you can’t win ‘em all!

By: Sally

Sally — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:32:30 +0000

Thank you for another great recipe. I made this for a friend’s b-day tomorrow, and it is delicious! I know this because I realized too late that I only had one round cake pan (where is that other one?) and had to use a square pan and cut off the corners. I think I might do that more often. The corners were a great dessert. I did put too much espresso powder into the frosting, but that was just an error in my measuring. Oh–I used good Greek yogurt as I had no buttermilk. Just as moist and really buttery cake came out of the substitution.

By: Emily

Emily — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 06:40:02 +0000

Just made this tonight. I haven’t tried it yet except for the batter and the scraps I trimmed off evening the edges, but those are delicious. I did an 8-inch square layer cake, which I really enjoy the look of. It required just a slightly longer baking time. The frosting tastes wonderful, but it looks nothing like yours in the picture. Mine is slightly paler and not shiny at all, and it was quite stiff to spread (very manageable, but no way was it going to spread evenly and prettily on the cake) immediately after I stirred in the chocolate, no refrigeration time. It looks more like a lighter-colored version of the ganache on your double chocolate layer cake from July 2007. I can’t figure out why it turned out this way.

By: Michelle

Michelle — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:57:47 +0000

I made this cake back in August, and forgot to post about it. The cake was delicious, and it’s now my go-to recipe for a yellow cake. I didn’t make the frosting though, instead choosing a different chocolate frosting recipe that I’ve made before. The flavor of the cake was excellent and the texture was great. I wish I still had some now.

By: petunya

petunya — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 06:05:29 +0000

I loved the cake recipe, seemed a little dense so I subtracted 2 T of flour and added 2 T of butter and that improved the texture. Had tried it as written twice.
My daughter and I both tried the sour cream frosting and it doesn’t quite make the cut. My favorite chocolate frosting is from the Silver Palate p 89, 6 T of cream, powdered sugar and 21 Dove dark chocolate promises. That is not exactly her recipe but it works great.
Thanks for the cake recipe. I am going to try the Swiss buttercream which my daughter says is great!

By: Laura

Laura — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 01:34:47 +0000

Finally tried this! The cake turned out beautifully, the icing tasted good on its own, but I didn’t love the combo. Still, the fact that the cake was so easy and so yummy means it’s becoming a regular in my house too!