Falling Apart

[loreesbakery]

Hi, I have baked a Buttermilk Pound Cake and Banana-Nut Bread.. They both just fell apart... I used the recipes out of "The Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook"..Any Suggestions.. Thanks for Any ahead of time.. Amanda =

[momoreg]

Hi Amanda,
Please post the recipes, so we can help you.

[loreesbakery]

Buttermilk Pound Cake

1/2 Cup of Butter or Margarine
1/2 Cup of Shortening
2 Cups of Sugar
4 Large Eggs
1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 Cup Buttermilk
3 Cups All-Purpose Flour
1/8 Teaspoon Salt
2 Teaspoons Lemon Extract (WAY TO MUCH )
1 Teaspoons Almond Extract


Beat Butter and shortening at medium speed with an electric mixer 2minutes or until creamy.Gradually add sugar, beating 5 to 7minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating just until yellow disappears.
Dissolve soda in buttermil, combine flour and salt;add to butter mixture alternately with buttermil, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Mix at a Low speed after eachaddition just until blended. Stir in flavourings,Pour batter into a greased and floured 10-inch tube pan. Bake at 350 for 1 hour or untill a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.. Cool in pan on a wire rack 10-15min. remove from pan and cool completely on wire rack...




Banana-Nut Bread

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup of Sugar
1 Large Egg Lighten Beaten
1 cup of Mashed Ripe Banana's (approx. 3)
1/2 cup of Milk
1/3 Cup of Vegetable oil
1/2 cup Chopped Pecans

Combine first 4 ingredients in a large bowl; make a well in center of mixture. Combine Egg mashed banana,milk and oil; add mixture to dry ingredients,stirring just until moistened. Stir in pecans. Spoon Batter in to Large Loaf Pan Bake at 350 for 45-60 min...Cool in Pan for 10min

[Mezzaluna]

For the second one, did you really mean 2-1/2 cups of baking powder???

[loreesbakery]

2 1/2 Teaspoons

[momoreg]

I assume that you greased your pans, and that the cakes didn't break because they were stuck.

The first recipe does not seem to be terribly deficient in any area. It could use more leavener, but that certainly wouldn't make the cake fall apart. I can only guess that your butter and eggs were cold, and maybe weren't able to emulsify correctly. Is this possible?

Your second recipe seems to be short on binding ingredients; i.e. eggs. You might do better with 3 eggs or so, and a bit more flour to make up for the moisture addition.

[mike]

I always follow my great grandmas method with cake mixes. That is to weigh the eggs in the shell & weigh the same weight of sugar , shortening & flour.
Compensate for the dry flavourings with a dash of milk if your mix is too dry.
I always mix in a kenwood hard n fast.
This always works great for me.

[cp1]

Quickbreads behave better when sliced cold.