I like pie, I like cake...

I have a problem. I judge you. Bad, right?

I know I shouldn't, but I do. In reality, I only judge you for two things. Hotmail email addresses and cake mix. If you frequent both... I don't think we can be friends. Let's address -

Hotmail email addresses: I don't think I can trust you, you seem a little sketched out. Can you just get gmail already? You'd make me a lot less nervous.

Cake mix: Ok, maybe we should actually be discussing this here. So sure, cake mixes are "easy" I thought you couldn't over-mix them because of all the stabilizers... I was proven wrong on that one. But this is beside the point. Cake mixes taste like preservative laden over sweetened fluff. That, ladies and gentleman, is the point.

So do me a favor. Next time you think of picking up a cake mix, call me, drop by my house for emotional support, just put down the cake mix. Or just refer back to this post. We're all friends, right? Right.

I'm going to give you some recipes now. I think this will make everyone feel better.

Yellow Cake It's moist, it's delicious, a great standby.

Chocolate Cake The frosting is also pretty rockin'.


Still scared? Alright, here's some tips.

Tip #1
Cream that butter and sugar! You want to do this for a solid few minutes, it will lighten in color and be nice and creamy. This, in addition to the baking powder, will lighten the cake. I want to stress though, do this ONLY when the butter and sugar are in the bowl. See below.


Tip #2
This is the difference between light, fluffy cake and a chewy muffin. Do not over mix your cake batter. So important! I can't stress it enough. You know how cake mix has you beat it for a few minutes when you have everything in there? Never do that with a creaming method* cake batter. Ever. I'll find you, and we'll have a talk about how you're never going to do that again.
Why? Gluten. The protein in flour develops as you mix it, that's why bread flour has a high protein content (about 14%) and cake flour has a low protein content (about 8%). To sum up, you want lots of gluten in bread, and as little as you can in cakes. So after you add the flour mixture, only mix just until everything is incorporated (I'd say 10-15 seconds).'

*The chocolate cake I posted does not use the creaming method of creaming the butter and sugar together, so tip #2 does not apply to that specific cake. Now, I don't have a specific answer for why they have you beat the batter for 2 minutes, but my educated guess tells me it's because there is a high cocoa content (which doesn't contain gluten forming proteins), and oil/boiling water to keep things moist, so you don't have to worry as much.

Keep the questions coming!