Adding boiling water to cake recipe?

ReadWriteLearnLove

ReadWriteLearnLove

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Yesterday I was baking a chocolate oreo cake for my son's birthday. It is a recipe I found online and ultimately it turned out pretty well, but one part had me wondering: For the cake part of the recipe, it called for adding a cup of boiling water to the batter, which made it very watery and thin. Since I've never made a recipe like this one, I followed the directions, but I'm wondering what that did for the recipe? Is it just because there were cookies on the bottom of the pan and thinner batter softened them as they baked?
 
I never heard of doing something like that with a cake. I have heard of people adding, some sort of carbonated beverage to cake, or liquor, or coffee, but not really boiling water. However, I think, there are some old fashioned type, "crazy cake" type recipes that may call for boiling water. As to what actually did with the batter I am not certain, maybe someone here will know, or google is also a possibility, since almost everything you search for. seems to have an answer somewhere!
 
You have to follow the recipe and trust it,and it works ,I've seen my niece who does the cooks for a private family in the Alps now,it's a great method!
 
I did end up following the recipe, and the batter turned out so thin that I had my doubts as to whether the cake would turn out or not, but it did. It is very moist, even two days later. I'm not sure if it's just me, though, but the cake tastes moist yet not as chocolately as I had thought it would be. It might just be my mind playing tricks on me because I know the water was added (LOL). It tastes as if it were (and it was) watered down....but, it is still a delicious cake and everyone loved it.
Thanks, guys!
 
I would think that the hot water is what made the cake so moist and to stay moist.
The batter was thinner so the cake was moister. I was going to ask if you found
it tasted watered down because that was my first thought when I see the subject
of this post! Then I seen where you posted that it did. I have never heard of such
a thing but as long as it worked and everybody loved it, then that is the main thing.
 
Ive added milk and water to a batter before to thin out a batter that seems a little thick, but not boiling water before. I wonder if this makes it mix better? Either way, as long as it worked and the cake came out moist, thats the main thing! :) And I love Oreo cake! My mum made me Oreo cupcakes for my last Birthday, Oreo on the bottom and top, and they were amazing!!
 
I have never added boiling water to a cake receipe. It does sound strange but if it can out okay which is the important think it must have been the correct thing to do. I think just for my own knowledge I would do the receipe without boiling water just warm water to see what the difference is.
 
To be honest, the water I used was just a degree or two below boiling. We have a hot water dispenser attached to our kitchen sink, so I used the water out of it instead of waiting for a pot of water to boil. I don't know that a few degrees different would've made much of a difference.
 
I've never heard of adding boiling water either but I'm a great believer in following the recipe come what may. I even made Rose Beranbaum's chocolate mayonnaise cake although I was very dubious. Not my favorite, but she was right, you don't taste the mayonnaise.
 
Adding a little hot water is said to improve the flavour of chocolate cake. I wonder if it brings out the flavour in the Oreos perhaps? I've only ever had them once and I remember them having a dark chocolatey flavour. I'll try and get some so I can try your recipe. It sounds intriguing.
 
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