Batter Question?

[cakerookie]

Ok, you often hear about cake batter being dense. But what about batter that is heavy or light? Made a chocolate chocolate chip cake tonight and the blame thing failed miserablely. All of the choclate chips settled on the bottom of the batter after I baked it. I mixed the chips in by hand. Heres the recipe:

1 Box Yellow Cake mix
1 Large box instant chocolate pudding
1 Large box instant vanilla pudding
1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs whole
1 Cup water
12 oz bag chocolate chips.

Anyone got any ideas? Should I have added maybe a cup of flour to it? Had to go to plan B. A strawberry cake with strawberry jam filling and a Cool Whip icing.Not exactly what I wanted to do. This batter density thing is driving me nuts. Thanks in advance. Oh and almost forgot tried that Jello cake thing too and it flopped like a fish outta water. Cake was so saturated it fail apart. Whats up with this Jello Cake thing?

Best Regards Cakerookie...

[panini]

Rook,
The first thing to do is grab a small notebook and start listing you adjectives when cake fail.
Blame thing failed miserablely
flopped like a fish outta water
so sarurated it fail apart
Great book eh?
I really don't have enough experience to help you with your problem. Sounds like a lot of pudding mix. I don't know if flouring the chips would have helped em float.
I will suggest that instead of jam, chop some of those straws and put them in the middle with some CW. My second favorite dessert is the store pound cake slice done this way. 1st frozen twinkies

[cakerookie]

Best way I know to describe it Pan. This darn baking stuff has about got me wanting to go back to sugar work agian full time at least with that I knew what I was doing somewhat. Do people ever test these recipes when they put them out?

Best Regards Cakerookie...

[panini]

I think it's extremely difficult to start mixing amd matching things that are full of chemicals and additives. I think from a trouble shooting point of view, I would go to scratch formulas. The box mixes are just scaled ingredients. From what I know of you it might be more rewarding. I'll tell you, I have trouble with any box mix because it sort of takes the comon sence out of it. I look and it appears to need more time and bam, overcooked! Try a scratch cake. a good pound cake when mastered sets the tone to try different things.
pan

[auzzi]

The recipes I have are:
CHOCOLATE CHIP CAKE
1 cake mix
1 instant pudding
1 c oil
1 c milk
1 ts vanilla
4 eggs
6 oz choc chips
Chopped nuts, if desired
bundt pan. 350oF 50 to 60 minutes.

CHOCOLATE CHIP CAKE
1 cake mix
2 instant pudding
1 c oil
1 c water
1 ts vanilla
4 eggs
12 oz choc chips
Chopped nuts, if desired
bundt pan. 325oF 50 to 60 minutes.

In both the oil amount is 1 cup, and in the first one, the amount of chips is halved.

The choc chips could be powdered with a bit od cake mix before adding or try using mini chips to reduce chocolate particle weight.

Are you referring to a "poke cake" [poke holes in the cake and fill with liquid jello?] Never done one...sorry...

[cakerookie]

OK Pan I will take your advice. Now you got a good scratch pound cake recipe? And is this the base for all other cakes like chocolate and others. Don't know that much about pound cake except that it makes a great carving medium for those folks that do cake sculpting. I guess I need to do like I did with my sugar work and set aside several hours each week and do some practicing. I mean the Sistine Chapel wasn't painted in one day. Oh, and Pan I have that notebook for my adjectives.

Best Regards Cakerookie..

Auzzi that second one you listed is the one I used. Would not reccommend it to anyone.... Thanks for the input though its appreciated....

[panini]

The pound cake is not a base cake from which to make othere, rather it is a basic formula to cover all the methods, creaming,etc. Look for a basic formula to start, a LB. butter, a lb. flour, and a pound of sugar. 1-1-1. I like to use a cake flour sifted.

[cakerookie]

OK, So you cream the butter and sugar together then add the flour gradually right. Looking for a smooth consistency? I have a Kitchen Aid Heavy Duty 5 Quart mixer it should handle this with no problem. Should the butter be at room temp? Would you use salted or unsalted butter?

Whats a good base formula for say chocolate cakes and others?

Cakerookie...

[AprilB]

Wouldn't you need to dust the chips with flour before folding them in...like blueberries?

Just a thought...

A*

[gsantiago]

The first cake that I ever made from scratch was a genoise cake. It is a very easy and simple recipe.

12 eggs
2 cups of sugar
3 t vanilla extract
1 stick of butter
2 cups of flour sifted(for chocolate genoise, use 1/2 cup of cocoa and 1.5C of flour)

Would combine the eggs, sugar and vanilla extract in a mixing bowl, and heat them up over a pot of water(dont' put to much water in the pot that it is touching the bottom of the mixing bowl, or then you will scramble the eggs up) until the mixture is warm, and then move it to a mixer and mix it up until it has almost quadrupled in volume.

While that is mixing, melt one stick of butter. Then take the bowl off of the mixer, and fold in the butter, and the flour until it is all incorperated, and no lumps are in it. Don't mix the mixture to much, or then you will lose all of the volume that you developed. Then bake it at 350 for about 25-30 minutes.

[Erik]

CR-

Use unsalted butter. And Pan neglected to tell you you'll want 1 pound of eggs as well.

[cakerookie]

Thanks for all the replies. But is there a specific cake formula for all cakes with the exception of pound cake that is. I guess a base is the word I am looking for. Hey Pan very few adjectives this time.

[mudbug]

Originally Posted by cakerookie

...is there a specific cake formula for all cakes with the exception of pound cake that is.

It depends. There are many different types of cakes which use different combinations of ingredients.

If you want a basic cake recipe, look for a vanilla cake recipe. Also, don't ever overwork the dough when you mix or it will come out heavy and tough.

Classic White Cake Recipes

I prefer recipes that use buttermilk because they always result in cakes that are moist and taste better.

[cakerookie]

Thanks mudbug. I guess a vanilla cake could have numerous variations. And thanks for the links.

Best Regards Cakerookie...

[panini]

Rook,
I appologise, I wasn't posting a formula, just suggesting one. Mudbug is right on the money. Lots of different formulations for many types of cake. The use of buttermilk is a great suggestion. Chances are 9 out of ten people will prefer the cake with buttermilk in a blind taste/ My Italian cream cake is supposedly to dye for. The only ingredient out of the ordinary with my other cakes is buttermilk.
My suggestion to you would be to follow formulas to the tee to start, then when you are actually feeling the cake perform in the oven, then you can start experimenting.
cupcakes are really in now. we sell tons. We pipe ganache in the middle, dip in ganache and ice. 2.50 a piece
stay ahead of the game like this bakery in Minn,
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060524/...ch_community_1
pan