VLOG: Following the Yellow Cake Road

I know I promised to make my yellow cake vlog post sometime during the early to middle of July and somehow we've already reached the end of the month.  This video is a bit different from the others; rather than walk you through a recipe, I actually geared this toward explaining the effects of using butter versus oil in a cake recipe.  I've baked butter based yellow cakes and oil based yellow cakes and a combination of the two.  The butter cake has a taste that is absolutely divine, but was crumbly in texture.  The oil cake was super moist, but lacked a rich flavor.  The combination of both butter and oil resulted in a flavorful cake but I wasn't able to combine the positives from both cakes without negating the negatives.  For me, this is still a work in progress...but one in which progress won't be made anytime soon because I must admit, I am not a fan of yellow cake.  I will provide you with the butter based recipe and the oil based one and you can decide on your own.  I apologize for not being much help on this one, but as I said, this vlog is more about the science behind the kinds of fats you use than the recipe.  And as a bonus, I also discuss a bit about cake batter techniques too!

Yellow Butter Cake (Using Butter) from Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients for a two layer 8-inch cake and 12 cupcakes

4 cups plus 2 tablespoons (480 grams) cake flour (not self-rising)

2 teaspoons (10 grams) baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon (5 grams) table salt

2 sticks (1 cup, 1/2 pound or 225 grams) unsalted butter, softened

2 cups (400 grams) sugar

2 teaspoons (10 ml) pure vanilla extract

4 large eggs, at room temperature

2 cups buttermilk (475 ml), well-shaken

Directions

1) Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter two 9-inch round cake pans and line with circles of parchment paper, then butter parchment.

2) Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy, then beat in vanilla. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well and scraping down the bowl after each addition. At low speed, beat in buttermilk until just combined (mixture will look curdled). Add flour mixture in three batches, mixing until each addition is just incorporated.

3) Spread batter evenly in cake pan, then rap pan on counter several times to eliminate air bubbles. (I like to drop mine a few times from two inches up, making a great big noisy fuss.) Bake until golden and a wooden pick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool in pan on a rack 10 minutes, then run a knife around edge of pan. Invert onto rack and discard parchment, then cool completely, about 1 hour.

Martha Stewart's Basic Yellow Cake (Using Oil) from The Martha Stewart Living Cookbook

Ingredients for a two layer 8-inch cake

4 & 1/4 Cups Flour

3 & 1/3 Cups Sugar

3 1/2 teaspoons Baking Soda

1 & 3/4 teaspoons Baking Powder

pinch of salt

3 Large Eggs plus 1 Yolk

1 & 3/4 Cups Warm Water

2 Cups Buttermilk

1/2 Cups Vegetable Oil 

2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract 

Directions

1) Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 8-inch round baking pans. 

2) Stir together sugar, flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in warm water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans. 

3) Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely.