Recipe Vanilla Dream Cake

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I was looking for a simple cake to make and stumbled on this. I omitted the icing and used one pan and in the end my cake was not nearly as light or fluffy as I would like. Some think I might have over mixed my cake as it did not even rise fully. Then there was the suggestion the flour have had issues and I am wondering if I should have followed the instructions for a two layered cake. Any ideas?

INGREDIENTS:
  • 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
  • 
2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups water
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1 vanilla bean, scraped
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 3 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • up to 3 tablespoons milk

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter two 8 inch round cake pans. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In a medium saucepan over medium high heat, combine water and sugar. Bring to a simmer and stir until sugar dissolves, about 1 minute. Remove from heat and add butter, stirring until melted.

Let cool completely (about 20 minutes in the fridge) and then whisk in vegetable oil, vanilla extract and the scrapings from the vanilla bean. Beat in eggs. Whisk in dry ingredients, until smooth.

Divide batter evenly between prepared pans and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let cakes cool in pans until cool to the touch - then frost.

Vanilla Buttercream:

In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream butter until light and fluffy. Add powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition.

Increase speed to medium and add vanilla extract. Add 2 tablespoons of milk and beat for 3 minutes. If your frosting is too thick, add remaining 1 tablespoon of milk.

To assemble:

Assemble the 2 layers with a thick layer of frosting in between the layers. Then apply a thin crumb coat on the top and sides. Pop the cake into the freezer to harden the crumb coat for about 10 minutes.

Apply one final thick and even layer around the outside of the cake. Store in the fridge if not serving within the next couple of hours. Let cake come to room temperature before serving (let cake sit on counter for about 30 minutes before serving to warm up!).

Source...http://www.thenovicechefblog.com/2013/08/vanilla-dream-cake/
 
I was looking for a simple cake to make and stumbled on this. I omitted the icing and used one pan and in the end my cake was not nearly as light or fluffy as I would like. Some think I might have over mixed my cake as it did not even rise fully. Then there was the suggestion the flour have had issues and I am wondering if I should have followed the instructions for a two layered cake. Any ideas?

INGREDIENTS:
  • 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
  • 
2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups water
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1 vanilla bean, scraped
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 3 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • up to 3 tablespoons milk
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter two 8 inch round cake pans. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In a medium saucepan over medium high heat, combine water and sugar. Bring to a simmer and stir until sugar dissolves, about 1 minute. Remove from heat and add butter, stirring until melted.

Let cool completely (about 20 minutes in the fridge) and then whisk in vegetable oil, vanilla extract and the scrapings from the vanilla bean. Beat in eggs. Whisk in dry ingredients, until smooth.

Divide batter evenly between prepared pans and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let cakes cool in pans until cool to the touch - then frost.

Vanilla Buttercream:

In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream butter until light and fluffy. Add powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition.

Increase speed to medium and add vanilla extract. Add 2 tablespoons of milk and beat for 3 minutes. If your frosting is too thick, add remaining 1 tablespoon of milk.

To assemble:

Assemble the 2 layers with a thick layer of frosting in between the layers. Then apply a thin crumb coat on the top and sides. Pop the cake into the freezer to harden the crumb coat for about 10 minutes.

Apply one final thick and even layer around the outside of the cake. Store in the fridge if not serving within the next couple of hours. Let cake come to room temperature before serving (let cake sit on counter for about 30 minutes before serving to warm up!).

Source...http://www.thenovicechefblog.com/2013/08/vanilla-dream-cake/


What does it look like when it's done?
 
@winterybella, I'm struggling as to why you think this is a simple recipe! I'm no great cake maker but I don't think it sounds the easiest. The easiest recipe for cake I know is 'all in one cake'. Literally that - bung all ingredients in a bowl, mix and then decant into cake tin and bake. If I get time I'll make one and post the recipe.

Its hard to know what went wrong with your cake... perhaps you beat the mixture too much as has been suggested.
 
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@Shermie, it looked like this.

20160511_200149_resized-jpg.jpg


I was so disappointed I did not take a picture once I sliced it, but it had some slight air holes and was not nice and fluffy as shown in the link. @morning glory, I looked up simple recipes on Pinterest and since I never intended making any icing, this recipe seemed simple enough.
 
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@Shermie, it looked like this.
20160511_200149_resized-jpg.jpg
I was so disappointed I did not take a picture once I sliced it, but it had some slight air holes and was not nice and fluffy as shown in the link. @morning glory, I looked up simple recipes on Pinterest and since I never intended making any icing, this recipe seemed simple enough.


I like your fridge - if that is what is in the background! :D Re the recipe - I've tried recipes which involve melting sugar in water and whisking in butter/oil and I found them to be heavy. I don't know why. As I said, I'm not an experienced cake maker. I just find that 'all in one' method using just softened butter or margarine works best. Its super quick, which I think is possibly important to keep the cake light.

Haven't we got any experienced cake makers here?
 
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That's a really weird way of making a cake. There are much simpler recipes.

The most immediate issue to me is that you state that you used 1 tin. Unless the tin used was significantly wider than 8 inches, you will simply have had too much batter in the tin for the cake to rise in the intended manner. So if the cake was meant to rise to 2 inches, each tin would rise to 2 inches and putting it all into 1 tin, you would need to spread the batter far and wide enough that it would only rise to the same 2 inches - I hope that makes sense and even then, you would need longer cooking time because the center would not cook at the same speed. (I would hazard a guess at something like 12" but would have to do a volume calculation (2*8" tins do not equal 1*9" for example))
You alternative when using only 1 tin, is to halve the mixture. That is the only way the cake would cook as intended.
Your other alternative is that you opened the oven too soon to test if it was cooked and it wasn't. This would have caused it to collapse (this often happens with bread making) which would make it soggy and less well risen. Combine this with putting the entire mixture into 1 tin that is undersized and needing extra cooking time and I suspect you probably have the cause of the problems. But like I said, I would need to do a volume calculation assuming a set depth (say 1 inch) to work out what a batter mixture for 2 8inch tins would equate to 1 inch deep in another larger tin.... and I'm sorry at this very instance I don't have time. :(
 
That's a really weird way of making a cake. There are much simpler recipes.

The most immediate issue to me is that you state that you used 1 tin. Unless the tin used was significantly wider than 8 inches, you will simply have had too much batter in the tin for the cake to rise in the intended manner. So if the cake was meant to rise to 2 inches, each tin would rise to 2 inches and putting it all into 1 tin, you would need to spread the batter far and wide enough that it would only rise to the same 2 inches - I hope that makes sense and even then, you would need longer cooking time because the center would not cook at the same speed. (I would hazard a guess at something like 12" but would have to do a volume calculation (2*8" tins do not equal 1*9" for example))
You alternative when using only 1 tin, is to halve the mixture. That is the only way the cake would cook as intended.
Your other alternative is that you opened the oven too soon to test if it was cooked and it wasn't. This would have caused it to collapse (this often happens with bread making) which would make it soggy and less well risen. Combine this with putting the entire mixture into 1 tin that is undersized and needing extra cooking time and I suspect you probably have the cause of the problems. But like I said, I would need to do a volume calculation assuming a set depth (say 1 inch) to work out what a batter mixture for 2 8inch tins would equate to 1 inch deep in another larger tin.... and I'm sorry at this very instance I don't have time. :(
Probably right about the one tin. I too, think the recipe is weird. If I have time I might try it out to see what happens! Presumably, the idea here is to make a feathery light "Dream" cake. I can't say I've ever done that but I can make a decent sponge cake using the all in one method.

I looked at the feedback posts on the blog http://www.thenovicechefblog.com/2013/08/vanilla-dream-cake/. There are quite a few people who say it doesn't work. Its meant to be a very liquid mixture according to the author of the recipe. Was your mixture very liquid @winterybella ?
 
Probably right about the one tin. I too, think the recipe is weird. If I have time I might try it out to see what happens! Presumably, the idea here is to make a feathery light "Dream" cake. I can't say I've ever done that but I can make a decent sponge cake using the all in one method.

I looked at the feedback posts on the blog http://www.thenovicechefblog.com/2013/08/vanilla-dream-cake/. There are quite a few people who say it doesn't work. Its meant to be a very liquid mixture according to the author of the recipe. Was your mixture very liquid @winterybella ?
It was very liquid and you definitely read more than I do. Since I am no expert baker I wondered if it wasn't too runny but went ahead thinking I had right. You make sponge cakes? I want so badly to make one of those but I get the impression it is not as easy as I once thought. I wan to make that light 'feathery' type of cake which is a cake I honestly enjoy eating.
 
OK - I made this Vanilla Dream Cake today. As you will see it is a disaster. I followed the recipe faithfully (despite my instincts!). The first half of the cake fell to bits when I turned it out. The second half held up but is full of holes on the inside (and you can see the holes on the surface of the cake). Its heavy, stodgy and tastes of curdled eggs. I hope this will cheer you up @winterybella!
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