Category Archives: Cooking

Only final pictures, since this is the same recipe as last time, aside from three changes: Added two more tablespoons of flour, baked at 360, and I didn’t use the bands around the pans. It’s better: I think the bands improve things; they bake more evenly. That is approximately how they were positioned in theContinue reading “Learning 2 Bake, from Scratch – XI”

I was convinced to be scientific, so I made the high altitude adjustments and switched to milk (instead of the leftover half-and-half). No mucking about with the eggs. Here we go… I ran out of vanilla extract well shy of the tablespoon mark, so I put in a 1/4 teaspoon of the almond extract. TheContinue reading “Learning 2 Bake, from Scratch – X”

The collapse is a typical high-altitude thing. If anyone didn’t realize, I’m in Denver at 5,280 feet (hence the “mile high” city – it predates marijuana legalization). King Arthur has a good page about it. It seems fair to use their instructions since it’s their recipe that I murdered in Part VIII. So, let’s goContinue reading “Learning 2 Bake, from Scratch – IX”

Classic Birthday Cake From: MarkSource: King Arthur box 2 cups (241g) King Arthur Cake Flour [surprise!]1 1/4 tsp salt2 tsp baking powder4 large eggs2 cups (397g) granulated sugar1 Tbl (14g) vanilla extract1/8 tsp almond extract (optional)1 cup (227g) milk; whole milk preferred4 Tbl (57g) butter; cut into pieces1/3 cup (67g) vegetable oil Preheat the ovenContinue reading “Learning 2 Bake, from Scratch – VIII”

The cake from Part VI is not very good. There is a “Classic Birthday Cake” recipe on the back of the King Arthur flour box, which looks like “white cake”, which was the point of trying the Snow Cake. I think it is safe to assume that is a well tested recipe. Classic Birthday CakeContinue reading “Learning 2 Bake, from Scratch – VII”

Snow Cake From: Erna 1 cup sugar½ cup butter½ cup milk1 ½ cups flour1 tsp baking powder4 egg whites (beaten stiff) This looks like a white cake to me, so let’s give it a whirl. The potential problems, which I see already: No instructions at all. What size pan? What temperature? How long? No oil.Continue reading “Learning 2 Bake, from Scratch – VI”

What’s next? Having made orange cake and used orange marmalade as an ingredient, I realized that I have some grape syrup that I made last fall. It was supposed to be grape jelly, but I didn’t use enough pectin, so it’s runny syrup that isn’t really good for anything, although it’s not bad on waffles.Continue reading “Learning 2 Bake, from Scratch – V ½”

No new recipe for this one. This is the Orange Cake recipe from Part III and the Cream Cheese frosting from Part IV. What has changed? New non-stick 9-inch cake pans. I didn’t put parchment paper on the bottom of the not non-stick pans on the third attempt and it was an adventure trying toContinue reading “Learning 2 Bake, from Scratch – V”

Orange Cake – Frosting As I mentioned, I started with Italian Buttercream. Italian Buttercream From: MarkSource: allrecipes.com 1 ¼ cups sugar⅔ cup water – room temperature5 egg whitespinch cream of tartar2 cups unsalted butter – room temperature cut into Tbls1 tsp vanilla extract Bring sugar and water to a boil until 240 degrees.While sugar isContinue reading “Learning 2 Bake, from Scratch – IV”

Equipment I’m interrupting the flow for backstory so y’all know what I have to work with. I have no idea why I even had cake pans, but I have two 8-inch round cake pans. I now have two 9-inch round cake pans. Because the store was having a buy-two-get-one-free sale, I also have a newContinue reading “Learning 2 Bake, from Scratch – III ½”