Cookaholics Bulletin Board

I am all in favor of shortcuts and don't consider myself a food snob (e.g., just as happy with TB tacos than homemade). But I have a hard time using boxed cake mixes. My mom always baked from scratch, so I have as well. I've come across several recipes that look good except that they start with a box. CC is notorious for doing that.

This Crème Fraîche Cupcakes with Provence Lavender Icing is the latest offender. Does anyone have a standard recipe they use to sub for the box mix for white cake, yellow cake, choco cake, etc.?

We have a lovely lavender bush, but I've never used lavender. I do have some dried in the freezer or could start drying some today. Also have homemade crème fraîche. TIA

Here is my favorite white cake. It's easy if you have a kitchen scale - so easy in fact you'll never go back to a mix. I will double check the weights when I get home because I'm doing this from memory - but I make them so often I should remember. It's basically CI's white layer cake made without the almond extract and using the Rose Levy Berenbaum reverse-creaming method. I also sub out part of the butter for oil - it seems to be softer that way. It works well as cupcakes too.

White Layer Cake
Makes 2 9-inch layers (I have used 8 x 2 pans and it works but they get pretty full)

9 ounces cake flour, plus more for dusting the pans**
12 ounces granulated sugar
1 teaspoon table salt
4 teaspoons baking powder
4 ounces (1 stick butter), cool room temp, cut into 4 pieces
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup whole milk, at room temperature
6 large egg whites (3/4 cup), at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract (or 1 tsp. lemon, or whatever suits your fancy)

Grease and flour the cake pans. (I use parchment and only grease/flour the sides. YMMV.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Measure flour, sugar, salt and baking powder into bowl of a stand mixer. Mix for 30 seconds or until well combined.

In a medium bowl, whisk together oil, milk, egg whites, and vanilla extract.

Add butter and all but 1/2 cup of liquid mixture to flour mixture. Mix on high speed for 1 minute 30 seconds. Scrape down bowl and add remaining liquid mixture. Return to high speed and beat for an additional 20-30 seconds.

Pour batter into prepared pans and bake 25-30 minutes or until cake springs back when touched lightly.

**I have subsituted all-purpose flour for the cake flour in a pinch. The crumb isn't as fine but it's not bad.

After perusing your link, I'm thinking about subbing 1 cup creme fraiche for 3/4 of the milk and the oil in the above recipe. I think I'll need the 1/4 cup milk to keep the batter consistency correct.

One last thing - I'd also use a little lemon juice in the glaze. Lavender and lemon pair so well together.

Thank you so much Darcie. I've never had a good white cake recipe. The sub for the milk is a great idea especially since I never have whole milk. For the lavender cupcakes I am thinking sub the milk, but leave the oil. I am going to try half the recipe and see how it works (plus we do not need that many cupcakes ).
What does YMMV mean?

I have been subbing lemon powder from KAF for lemon juice/zest in recipes (just used it in CC's Lemon Buttermilk Sheet Cake 8/13). The cake has a funny texture (DH described it as disappearing in the mouth) better after being in the fridge, but my adapted glaze is a winner.

Weird, I've never come across a recipe in CC that uses a cake mix. I'm not saying there aren't any, just that I haven't seen them, and I mostly make cakes from CC when I get around to making cakes.

Does loathing Cool Whip make one a food snob? If so, I'm guilty.

Emilie

Marion Burros has cake mix recipes in Keep It Simple, where you end up with a bucket of the dry mix, which I suspect is what you need. If i could find my copy I would be very happy, as I love her cheese sauce mix recipe.

Emilie, I hate Cool Whip too or any premade cream whip type.

I don't buy prepared spaghetti or other pasta sauces, salad dressings, cake, pancake, waffle and cookie mixes (dislike most commercial cookies), pie crusts (though I struggle with them) and abhor premade frostings. The exception used to be Duncan Hines chewy brownies, but since someone on TOBB pointed me to "On the Fence Brownies" I prefer my homemade version. OTOH, even though I prefer my homemade chicken nuggets and french fries, and make them often, I have no problem with Mickey D's if in a hurry and when I really need a fix of fried chicken a couple of times a year, I see the colonel.

Jesbelle, I have been going through all my old CCs reviewing them prior to getting rid of the print copies. My memory is that the cakes shown on the last page often suggest a mix. The ones inside the magazine don't. I just made one from CC a couple of days ago, the Lemon Buttermilk Sheet Cake from 8/2008, trying to use up leftover buttermilk and leftover cream.