Rhubarb Cake (Help, Please)

"Squeezeweasel" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Melba's Jammin said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

Squeezeweasel said:

>
> Just make a plain yellow cake.

Problem is, in the UK, a 'yellow cake' isn't something that exists in
the vernacular. We've got sponge cakes, Victoria sponges, Madeira
cakes, and God knows what else...but in years of baking from scratch
from British cookery books, I've yet to come across anything describing
itself as 'yellow', or anything that's sufficiently close to the crumb
and flavour of a US boxed yellow cake mix. Something to do with the
flour type, I think (I've had very different results cooking with US
flour), and it's also very heavy on the vanilla essence.

I've experimented a lot with this recipe, and it's my sad conclusion
that a boxed cake mix is essential if you want it to be the very best
it can.

--<Snipped recipe and saved!>

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

-Barb
<http://jamlady.eboard.com> Updated 5/29/2006, What They Did For Love
"If it's not worth doing to excess, it's not worth doing at all."

Brilliant! Thanks so much - this weekend's baking is now planned. Do
you have any idea what is meant by 'cake flour'? In the UK we have
three basic kinds; strong bread flour (which obviously isn't it), plain
flour and self-raising flour.

According to Victors FAQ it's self raising flour. I've made the cake with
Tesco's cake mix but needed 2 as they're a bit skinny compared to US
cakes!
I just wanted to try 'the real thing' !
Sarah

"Sarah" <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

According to Victors FAQ it's self raising flour.

Check the dictionary on epicurious.com, search on
flour:

http://www.epicurious.com/cooking/how_to/food_dictionary/entry?id=2556

nancy

Squeezeweasel wrote on 09 Jun 2006 in rec.food.cooking

Quoted message said:

Melba's Jammin said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

Squeezeweasel said:

>
> Just make a plain yellow cake.

Problem is, in the UK, a 'yellow cake' isn't something that exists
in the vernacular. We've got sponge cakes, Victoria sponges,
Madeira cakes, and God knows what else...but in years of baking
from scratch from British cookery books, I've yet to come across
anything describing itself as 'yellow', or anything that's
sufficiently close to the crumb and flavour of a US boxed yellow
cake mix. Something to do with the flour type, I think (I've had
very different results cooking with US flour), and it's also very
heavy on the vanilla essence.

I've experimented a lot with this recipe, and it's my sad
conclusion that a boxed cake mix is essential if you want it to be
the very best it can.

--
www.gastronomydomine.com

Here's from an old Pillsbury cook book -- a shower gift when I
married 40 years ago. Instead of using two rounds, use one 9x13x
2-1/2 or 3. Check the r.f.c. FAQ file for conversion info - I'm not
up for doing it myself.

Yellow Butter Cake - a scratch cake to use in the Rhubarb Custard
Cake dessert

2-2/3 cups sifted cake flour
2-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup butter
1-3/4 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 cup milk (whole or 2%)
1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 deg F.
Grease and flour bottoms of two nine-inch layer pans. Sift flour
with baking powder and salt. Cream butter in large mixing bowl.
Gradually add sugar; cream at high speed of mixer until light and
fluffy. At medium speed add eggs, one at a time, beating well after
each. At low speed blend in sifted dry ingredients alternately with
milk and vanilla extract, beginning and ending the dry ingredients.
Mix well after each addition. Pour batter into pans. Bake at 350
deg F for 35-40 minutes until cake is golden brown and springs back
when lightly touched in center. Cool 15 minutes before removing
from pans. --
-Barb
<http://jamlady.eboard.com> Updated 5/29/2006, What They Did For
Love "If it's not worth doing to excess, it's not worth doing at
all."

Brilliant! Thanks so much - this weekend's baking is now planned. Do
you have any idea what is meant by 'cake flour'? In the UK we have
three basic kinds; strong bread flour (which obviously isn't it),
plain flour and self-raising flour.

Cake flour is less 'strong' than plain flour...That is it's gluten
forming capibilities are less than plain flour...The fix for this is
adding 1 tbsp of corn flour/starch to make 1 cup (I could be wrong). I
believe the RFC FAQ has a means of converting plain flour to Cake flour.
It isn't truely that important...Plain flour will work just fine. It just
won't have quite the same crumb...So don't enter the cake in any contests
or invite the queen over for tea.

--
-Alan

In article <[email hidden]>,

Squeezeweasel said:

Brilliant! Thanks so much - this weekend's baking is now planned. Do
you have any idea what is meant by 'cake flour'? In the UK we have
three basic kinds; strong bread flour (which obviously isn't it), plain
flour and self-raising flour.

Use plain. Cake flour here is made from soft wheat. It is NOT
self-raising flour and it is NOT strong bread flour. Reduce the amount
of the flour by 5 tablespoons. Common brand here is Softasilk (maybe
you can research it to see what the specs are) by General
Mills/Pillsbury.

--
-Barb
<http://jamlady.eboard.com> Updated 5/29/2006, What They Did For Love
"If it's not worth doing to excess, it's not worth doing at all."

Squeezeweasel said:

Do you have any idea what is meant by 'cake flour'?

From section 1.1 of the rfc FAQ:

US all-purpose flour and UK plain-flour can be substituted for one
another without adjustment. US cake flour is lighter than these. It is
not used much anymore, but if it does come up, you can substitute
all-purpose/plain flour by removing three tablespoons per cup of flour
and replacing it with corn starch or potato flour.

Victor

zxcvbob said:

S
Use the plain flour.

If this was a more delicate cake, you'd substitute cornstarch for a
small amount of the plain flour to make cake flour. You can probably
find the details in a substitution chart somewhere.

A 3-egg cake sounds kind of rich and substantial compared to a box
cake. I'd think you would want something lighter if a box cake mix
is the gold standard for this. I was looking at 2-egg cake recipes
yesterday and wondering if they would work or if they were too "cakey".

Best regards,
Bob

I looked up a recipe in Rose Levy Berenbaum's book, and it called for 6
egg yolks !!!

This seems to defeat the purpose of the original recipe which, because
you use the box cake mix, is blindingly quick and simple. Since I can't
get American groceries without a considerable drive I think I'll just
give the whole thing a miss.

I think I'll just stick to the traditional sponge pudding mix - 100g
butter, 100g caster sugar, 3 eggs and 100g SR flour. Tonight I'm going
to apply it to a combination of apple and frozen mixed berries, and
serve it with custard. The weather is really miserable, cold and
overcast, we need comfort food.

Christine

Squeezeweasel said:

Spitzmaus said:

Someone in this newsgroup is famous for a rhubarb cake, but I've had a brain
glitch and cannot recall who that person is. Bueller? Bueller? Anyone??

A pointer to the recipe would be helpful as well . . .

The name you're after is Barb Schaller. I blogged the cake with photos
last year (used raspberries rather than rhubarb 'cos I couldn't get
rhubarb in the UK in November, but the rhubarb version is the same and
absolutely delicious). It's a fantastic, fantastic cake.

http://www.gastronomydomine.com/2005/11/barb-schallers-famous-custard-cake.html

Hope this helps!

You must be developing quite a sweet tooth! That cake practically
rotted my teeth out using rhubarb and raspberries would make it even
sweeter.
--

Ham and eggs.
A day's work for a chicken, a lifetime commitment for a pig.