The Cake Bible by Rose Levy Baranbaum

Mama Min & Zalina

The Cake Bible is available at KLCC Kinokuniya, I got it last Sunday (Copies still available - its not on display but you could ask the information counter), price RM140.

Ambika

I tried making Rose's pound cake, same method as what you have mentioned, Andrea. Fast and easy but I think the texture was a little dry. It could be just me who is not used to the texture like you did, Andrea.

Shimi, any thoughts?

Ordered and received my TCB 2 weeks ago after "tak boleh tahan" with the praises from Shimi and gang.Was really impressed with the way Rose wrote the book. Earlier tried the chiffon cake recipe posted by Shimi,it was really good except being a bit sweet.Tried the pound cake few days ago. Cut down the sugar a bit .The cake was a bit dense for me but the taste was excellent and it has the melt in the mouth quality.

Maybe I have a sweeter tooth than many of you I find her cakes to be just nice...

The pound cake and downy yellow cake are 2 different recipes. I've only made the pound cake in the lemon poppyseed version. Since it's syruped after baking I've never had a problem with dryness, and it's very lemony. Some of my relatives like it but some think it's too puckery. It does have a dense crumb because it's pound cake, not as airy as layer cake.

The downy yellow cake is what I use for my vanilla cupcakes (it's the same recipe as the Base formula for yellow cake at the back of the book). I haven't had any problems with it, but I've only made cupcakes; haven't tried it as a layer cake. I find it very soft and melt in the mouth, not much problems with dryness.

Rose does tell you the optimum storage times for the cakes. With the yellow cake, it's perfectly moist the same day as baking. What some people do if they're baking in advance is apply a simple sugar syrup to moisten the cake. Never tried it myself though so can't tell you what the results are like. But the layer cake is not a particularly moist cake to begin with. The sour cream cake is moister, and to me yummier.

The thing about her recipes is that they are rather 'sensitive'. If there is a slight imbalance in the ingredients, then results can be a bit off. I assume you are all weighing the flour as excess flour is usually the culprit in getting dry cakes.

Other than that the only other thing I can think of is the eggs. The book says large eggs, which correspond to size B here. I started weighing my eggs about a year ago and found that even the size B here weighs more than the eggs specified in the book. So now I weigh my eggs even when using recipes from other sources. Plus this way I can take advantage of whenever there is a sale on Size C eggs at Tesco! Doesn't matter how many eggs as long as the weight is right

WOW! Shimi..
u deserve .

Just thought of something else. Sometimes, overbaking also tends to produce dry cakes. For TCB cakes, smaller cakes (9" or less) should not shrink from the sides of the pan until AFTER they're taken out of the oven. If you take it out after it starts to shrink, the cake will be dry. Use the toothpick test to check for doneness rather than the 'shrink' test.

Also, the recipes don't really do well in deep pans. I think she specifies layer cakes to be baked in 1.5" or 2" deep pans. Baking them in 3" deep pans will not get good results either.

Told you her recipes are sensitive

Large eggs are not size A eh?

My cakes are overdosed on the eggs then

Zalina, I'm only referring to the size in TCB and any US recipes. Their large is our size B. Go figure...

I think Aussie large and our size A are the same though.

Hi all,
I just received my copy of TCB last week and reading through it. Need some advice from you seasoned owners. I understand that Rose's recipes are quite sensitive, but is it imperative to bake them in the exact cake pans? Flipping through the book, I noticed that some of sizes are "odd", eg 9x1.5" or 9x2"? Pans I have are all taller than these.

In addition, under the pound cake sections the pan sizes are as follows.
4 cup loaf pan = 8x4x2.5" (pg 25)
8 cup loaf pan = 9x5x3" (pg 32)
6 cup loaf pan = ?

Anyone knows what size is the 6 cup pan?

Thanks.

Shanshine, you can bake the layer cakes in 9x2" pans. Rose's cakes don't do so well in taller pans (3" high), they don't bake up properly. She has said this herself in her blog and other members have agreed. So to get the best results, bake them in the specified size pan.

You can get the 2" high pans at Chang Tung and they have sizes from 6" to 12" in round or square. I think HOI has a good selection too. I'm the opposite of you - almost all my pans are 2" high. I don't like torting cakes so I'd rather bake 2 thinner layers and stack them.

The 6-cup loaf pan fits nicely in 9x4x3 pan, which I also got at Chang Tung. Or if you already have some loaf pans, measure the volume of water each pan holds and that will give you some indication of the capacity of each size pan. Then you can make whatever recipe fits your pan.

Since Rose gives all measurements in grams as well it is easy to scale the recipes up or down to fit your pans; don't have to buy new ones (except for the 2" high pans).

Thanks Shimi for your advice. I guess this explains why when I baked her Chocolate Bread (pound cake) it came up shorter than specified. It was baked in a 8x4x4.5 loaf pan! That's 2" taller than the intended pan. This is really an eye opener as I don't usually pay attention to the height of pans.

Another thing I found is some of my pans are not exactly straight sided either. The tops are 0.5-1" wider than the bottoms.
Looks like I'll need to go pan-hunting in the cake supplies stores around my area (Cheras). If all fails, will go to CT as suggested.

Thanks again.

Shanshine, if you are in KL area (instead of PJ) 1 Housewares in Chow Kit has a good selection of cake pans too, especially for loaf and chiffon pans. And they have Nordicware lookalike Bundt-type pans as well.

Thanks again Shimi. Would you know the address of 1 Housewares, or any nearby landmarks? Not familiar with Chow Kit area.

Don't have the address, but it's right by Chow Kit market and there's a Sikh temple nearby. They have 2 shops, but only one has the baking stuff. The other one is mostly housewares - lots of goodies in both shops! Prices not bad too.