13 August 2007

The First Time I Ever Burn A Cake

Sometimes, making an alteration to a recipe just doesn't work out. Usually, I don't post those on my blogs, but I thought that I ought to be honest with this project, since some of you are probably doing the same things. First, my disclaimer with this particular recipe: It's the third I've made from this particular cookbook (Bob's Red Mill Baking Book) and it's my third failed recipe alteration from it. Now, I don't usually have this big of a problem with recipes from a single cookbook, so it might not be just my alterations.

That said, I used low-fat yogurt instead of butter for the fat in this recipe upon the advice of a poster in a recipe bulletin board. That's the last time I'm going to make that mistake. Now, substituting oil for butter changes the type of fat (and virtually eliminates saturated fat), but doesn't cut the entire fat numbers as much. However, now that I've learned the secret of using bean puree, I might just rework this one again.

I did capture my process on film, so for your enjoyment, it's included below.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

It doesn't look bad. When a cake burns, people like to make trifles out of them.

The uneven baking was probally caused by uneven heat in your oven. I read online you can fix it with these cake strips.

http://www.amazon.com/Wilton-Bake-Even-Strips-Standard/dp/B0000DDXL8/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-6704395-3652639?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1187027838&sr=8-1

Deb Schiff said...

You could be right -- my oven is definitely evil.

However, this is the first time I've ever burned a cake using it (and I've lived and baked here for 4 years).

Personally, I think it was the substitutions and the recipe itself. But, I will give it another shot and post on it when I do. Thanks for dropping by, Moop.

Anonymous said...

I've actually heard a few complaints from the Bob's Red Mill book. Try the apple pound cake or the legacy apple cake from King Arthur's whole grain book (pages 372 or 388) with your substitutions. I just made one of the cakes in the book (Lemon cornmeal cake, with blue corn meal and yogurt!), and the results are great!

I had a problem with a recipe today. When I baked a bread made entirely from sprouts, the bread came out like it was soaked in syrup. I found out I sprouted my wheat too long, and the active enzyme in the wheat turned a lot of the starch into maltose.

Deb Schiff said...

Hey Moop,
Thanks for the suggestions. I love, love, love King Arthur's whole grain baking book. However, I hate to give up on Bob's, since I'm a big fan of the company's products. The coconut flour is wonderful. The quality of every thing I've received from them has been so high.
But, maybe their test kitchens aren't that good.
Sorry you also had a baking issue. But it makes me feel better that I'm not the only one. May your next recipe rise to perfection!