The only baking I've done in the past was actually cookies (which, like my cake, I made from scratch) when I was younger. Today I decided to bake a cake. It was a bit more dry than I had hoped, so any tips there would be appreciated. I'm a complete novice. :) [img]http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb284/MisterNathan/11-1-1.jpg[/img] It's a two layer dark chocolate cake with strawberry topping in between the layers, topped with strawberries and melted dark chocolate poured over it all. The frosting I made myself, as well -- it's a dark chocolate cream cheese frosting.

O_O;;; Here is your tip: Put it in a box, and mail to Washington, so that I can consume it. ;D But nevermind... Using more milk , or not baking it as long, should help with the moisture problem. But for taking pictures of your food, use a back or sidelighting. If you pay attention to the good food commercials, they all use back or sidelighting, and it for whatever reason makes the food look more appealing. :P

It really looks good, Nathan. I wanna bite! :woohoo: Ha, ha! :laugh:

So I'm trying the recipe again today with a higher volume, one less egg than the recipe called for, and slightly more sugar. It's gonna be a smaller cake (possibly three layers, depending on how I'm feeling), and I'm gonna use the leftovers to make chocolate cake cookies -- some with chocolate chips in them and some with peanut butter added to the batter. Maybe some with both...I haven't decided yet. Basically, Amy and I are celebrating our one year of being together (and one month of being engaged) tonight, so I'm just gonna have fun with it and hope it turns out tasty. Oh, and everything is in the shape of a heart, of course. I'll post pictures when I've finished. :)

Good Day, Nathan, I think it is amazing that you decided to take up baking and I ask that you maybe give me a recipe or two? I would like to try and bake a cake or brownies. Something, I like food, and enjoy cooking, I just... don't usually have the time or materials for it. Thanks, and I encourage you to keep going! -William (TrueTalent)

[b]TrueTalent wrote:[/b] [quote]Good Day, Nathan, I think it is amazing that you decided to take up baking and I ask that you maybe give me a recipe or two? I would like to try and bake a cake or brownies. Something, I like food, and enjoy cooking, I just... don't usually have the time or materials for it. Thanks, and I encourage you to keep going! -William (TrueTalent)[/quote] Well, [url=http://allrecipes.com/recipe/dark-chocolate-cake-i/]here's the recipe[/url] I based my cake recipe off. My final recipe ended up looking like this, though (to make 12 servings, which is a lot by the way): 2 cups boiling water 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking soda 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 cup butter, softened 2 1/2 cups white sugar 3 eggs 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract If you compare, you'll notice I added sugar and subtracted eggs. After Whatshername's tip, I did some research on food chemistry and learned how these ingredients react with each other, and discovered that adding sugar and subtracting eggs helps moisten a cake. The directions are similar. 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease 3 - 9 inch round cake pans. In medium bowl, pour boiling water over cocoa, and whisk until smooth. Let mixture cool. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt; set aside. 2. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at time, then stir in vanilla. Add the flour mixture alternately with the cocoa mixture. Spread batter evenly between the 3 prepared pans. [To prepare the pans, get a paper towel doused in vegetable oil and coat the bottom and sides of the pan good, then coat over that with cocoa powder. Also, if you're spreading evenly between three 9" pans (and I only had one so I had to find this out later) it will probably fill about 1/3 of the pan.] 3. Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes. Allow to cool. [In my oven, I did it for 25mins but this would vary depending on the power of the oven. Always start with the minimum and check for readiness using the toothpick method.] Last night I baked chocolate-peanut butter chocolate chip cake cookies, and I'd imagine adding chocolate chips to the batter prior to pouring would work just as well for the cake as it did for the cake cookies. You may have to bake it for a little longer to accommodate the melted chocolate chips though...I could be way off on that. Between layers of the cake, I put some chocolate fudge topping that had to be microwaved before pouring (I think it was Hershey's brand but I could be wrong), some strawberry jam, and some strawberry dessert topping (both Smucker's brand). For frosting, I followed [url=http://allrecipes.com/recipe/cream-cheese-frosting-ii-2/]this recipe[/url] and added 1/2 cup of cocoa per one user's suggestion. Over the top I added fresh strawberries, but only do that if the cake it going to be eaten within 24-48 hours, as strawberries go bad quickly, especially when sliced. I also melted some Ghirardelli's brand dark chocolate (I usually go for a percentage that's over 60 and under 75) and drizzled it over the top. It hardens fairly fast (prolly about 20-30mins when unrefrigerated) and adds a nice crunch to a moist cake.

Thank you. I will try it out one day. Would all of the ingredients be divided by 3 to make a single layer cake? D: Sorry if that didn't make any sense. I am new to this cooking.

[b]TrueTalent wrote:[/b] [quote]Thank you. I will try it out one day. Would all of the ingredients be divided by 3 to make a single layer cake? D: Sorry if that didn't make any sense. I am new to this cooking.[/quote] I'd alter the recipe to make it for 5-6 people (one of the reasons I like allrecipes.com is this nifty feature) and see what portions that comes out to, as I think it'd be pretty small if you just divide it by 1/3. The first time I used the recipe, I had it unaltered and I only had enough for two layers in 9" pans.

Ahhhh. I see. Thanks, once again! I will have to make the time to do this! Sounds fun!