Sausage Buns and Giveaway Winner!

My supposedly fixed oven slightly overcooked my buns, but they didn't taste burnt at all.

I saw these buns on Hearty Bakes and knew that I needed, wanted, and deserved to make them pronto. The dough was easy to put together, but the instructions in the first recipe were lacking some detail for me, so I looked up another recipe on Fresh Loaf that was basically the same but with more steps. I used the recipe from the first and the shaping instructions from the second. The compilation of the two recipes is below along with some process photos.

The dough was still so soft and had just the right texture due to the mixture of bread and AP flour. For the hot dog portion, I used Nathan's hot dog wieners, which were longer and skinnier than the average wiener. Consequently, I had to make the dough rope longer. When you make these buns, make the dough rope slightly more than double the size of the wiener for proper coverage.

With this recipe, I ended up with double the amount of dough needed for 8 buns, so I plan to use the other half of the dough for monkey bread or more sausage buns. They are sitting in the freezer waiting for their purpose in life :). I hope you make these buns soon. They are fantastic. If you're a yeastaphobe, these are a pretty easy and fun introduction to making bread.

Paella Pan Giveaway Winner: According to the Random Generator, out of 51 valid entries, the winning number is 26, which is scrambledhenfruit!! Congratulations! Email me ASAP with your contact information.

I am submitting this post to yeastspotting!

Sausage Buns

Adapted from Hearty Bakes and jleung on Fresh Loaf

If you possess a scale, please weigh your ingredients instead of using measuring cups.

400 g (1 3/4 cup) Bread Flour
100 g (almost 1/2 cup) Plain Flour
1 Tbsp instant yeast
100g (almost 1/2 cup) castor or granulated sugar
1 tsp salt (I used kosher)
220 ml (~3/4 cup) warm water (110 degrees F)
75 g (1/3 cup) soften butter (I used unsalted)
16 Hot dogs or sausages (I put 16 because with 8 wieners, I still had another bunch of dough left)
Egg wash (1 beaten egg + 1 Tbsp water)
 
Preheat oven 190 degrees C/350 degrees F.

Mix bread flour, plain four, yeast, sugar, salt in the mixer bowl, and slowly pour in water. Knead the dough till gluten is formed. Add butter and knead till dough smooth & elastic. Leave aside to prove till double in bulk.

After proof or bread has risen, weigh and slice dough in equal weight (50g each/ping-pong ball size), and shape it round. Leave aside to rest for 15 minutes.

Next, roll the dough into individual long rod shapes, and allow them to rest for 5 minutes to relax the gluten. Roll out each log again and gently stretch them into thinner, longer logs. They'll need to be long enough to wrap around your sausage, so make them a bit more than double the length of the wiener or sausage.

[If you want the middle bulge of your bun to be bigger, you could also at this point taper the ends of your dough log by rolling the very ends a bit thinner until they form a point at each end.] 

Wrap the log around the sausage and try to leave both ends on the bottom. That way, you can easily form a better seal by pressing the dough-wrapped sausage down on the ends. You'll want to place the shaped buns on a greased baking sheet, parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.

Wrap dough over the each sausage, and place them on baking tray. Cover tray with plastic wrap or a damp cloth.

Leave them for final proof till double in size, estimated time about 30 minutes. When they start to look puffy, brush them lightly with the egg wash and sprinkle sesame seeds and/or sea salt (if using) on top.

Brush with egg wash on top of buns, and bake buns for about 20 minutes. Bake on the middle rack of a preheated 200C (~400F) oven for 8 minutes, and then 180C (~350F) for 5 minutes, or until they're golden brown.

Chocolate Sybil Cake

I don't know who Sybil is, but she gave Paula Deen a fantastic recipe for Texas Sheet Cake. It is easier to make than another version I've made, yet tastes the same, if not better. I halved this recipe, and baked it in an 8x8 square pan, but I have posted the full recipe below. It is rare that I take a bite of something and have a food orgasm, and this cake definitely did that for me. I gobbled one of these slices so fast that I didn't realize I had eaten it all. It is so rich that I paired it with (skim) milk instead of vanilla ice cream, but if you have the stomach for it, go for the gold!

Since I didn't have any chocolate syrup at home, I made it myself using Alton Brown's recipe (posted below). It was easy to put together and gives you more than enough to make at least half of this cake. I have so much syrup left now that I can use the rest either for another one of these cakes or for chocolate shakes, ice cream, or chocolate milk.

Because my mom is in town, I won't be as active on my blog or visiting other blogs as much I usually do. I hope you all are enjoying your summer and that all the Canadians and USicans :) enjoyed their national holidays!

 I will be posting the winner of the giveaway soon. 

Cocoa Syrup

Adapted from Alton Brown

1 1/2 cups water
3 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups Dutch-processed cocoa (I used Guittard's Cocoa Rouge Dutch-Process Powder)
1/4 tsp kosher salt
2 Tbsp light corn syrup
1 Tbsp vanilla extract


In a medium pot, bring water and sugar to a boil and whisk in cocoa, salt, and corn syrup.

Whisk until all of the solids have dissolved. Reduce sauce until slightly thickened. Remove from heat, and add the vanilla extract. Strain and cool to room temperature. Pour into squeeze bottles or an easy-access container.

Other Uses: Squeeze into cold milk and stir for delicious chocolate milk, or serve on your favorite ice cream.

Chocolate Sybil Cake

Halved and adapted from Paula Deen's friend

Cake:
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
16 oz (2 cups) of chocolate syrup (recipe above)

Frosting:
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup evaporated milk
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (I omitted)


Prepare cocoa syrup first, and allow it to cool while making cake.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 13 by 9 by 2-inch pan.

Cake: Using an electric or stand mixer, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Sift or whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in another bowl. Add to creamed mixture while continuing to beat. Add vanilla and chocolate syrup to batter and mix well.

Pour into prepared pan, and bake for 25-30 minutes. Just before cake is done, prepare frosting.

Frosting:

Put butter, chocolate chips, sugar and evaporated milk in a saucepan over medium heat, and bring to a boil. Stirring ingredients together, boil for 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat, and stir in vanilla and nuts (if using). Pour over warm/hot cake.

The Search for the Perfect Yellow Cake: Part 6

Don't forget to sign up for the GIVEAWAY! The deadline is Monday, July 5th!

I think we found THE cake so far. The recipe comes from the baker at Cake Love, Warren Brown.You may have seen him a long time ago on Food Network's Sugar Rush.

This cake was easy to put together. I made three modifications based on previous cakes: 1) I used 1 egg yolk plus 3 eggs instead of 4 whole eggs; and 2) I used 6 oz of all-purpose flour with 3 oz of cake flour (9oz total) instead of 7oz of AP with 2 oz of potato starch (9oz total).

We plan to try out more yellow cake recipes, but so far, this one is my favorite. Lydia thought I had put oil in it, but it doesn't have a lick of oil in it. The batter is AMAZING. I would give the batter a 10 because I kept licking the beater and ended up licking the bowl and spoon once everything was in the oven, and I have never done that with any of these yellow cakes.

THE GOOD:
The texture of the cake is soft, light and fluffy, yet it is sturdy enough to be used in a strawberry shortcake cake or something requiring a wet or moist filling. It tastes close to, but better than a cake-mix cake in my opinion. It isn't spongy or oily. I would not call it moist; however, I wouldn't call it dry either. It just has a perfect texture. You could easily eat it without frosting (like Warren Brown did in his video that I posted below). In fact, that is what I did with the fallen pieces of cake that didn't get frosted.

I would pair the chocolate frosting with a quick type of buttercream instead of the "gourmet" one that requires melted chocolate and 3 sticks of butter. I used the latter, and my friend, my mother (SHE'S IN TOWN!), and I agreed that the frosting was overwhelming and distracted you from the cake too much.

THE BAD:
I can't think of anything bad about the cake. My mom couldn't either. That doesn't mean it was perfect, though; it was just really good.

THE UGLY (aka ratings): (ratings in bold because they were not present in the original post)
Memoria: 9/10 (C1: 6.5/C2: 5/C3: 0/Cake-Mix(C4): 8/C5: 7.5)
Lydia: 9/10 (C1: 5/C2: 5/C3: 0/Cake-Mix(C4): 9.5/C5: 7.5)
Memoria's Mom (new rater!): 8/10
Lydia's Husband: 10/10 (C1: 8.5/C2: 9/C3: 4/Cake-Mix(C4): 9/C5: 7)
My Neighbor: 9.5/10 (C1: 8.5/C2: 9/C3: N/A/Cake-Mix(C4): 9/C5: 7.5) He said the cake was moist and fluffy. He loved it.

Like I said, we will be looking at other recipes to see if there is something better out there, but so far, this is my favorite and is the winner . . . for now.

Yellow Butter Cake

adapted from Cake Love (linked to a great video of him making this cake)

6 oz (3/4 cup or 1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
14 oz (1 3/4 cup) superfine or regular granulated sugar (I used regular)
3 large, whole eggs (room temperature)
1 egg yolk (room temperature)
6 oz AP flour
3 oz cake flour
1 tsp salt (I used kosher)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup half-n-half
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
(Warren Brown also used 2 Tbsp of brandy)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (335 degrees if using a convection oven). Prepare your 8" or 9" cake pans (I used Baker's Joy).

Cream the butter and sugar for about 3-4 minutes. Add in the eggs one at time, making sure the batter is well-blended before adding another egg.

I love how yellow this batter is after adding the eggs!

In a separate bowl, whisk or sieve the flours, salt, and baking powder. In a (2-cup/16oz) liquid measuring cup, mix the half-n-half and extract. Pour in a 1/3rd of the dry and a 1/3rd of the wet ingredients and continue to alternate, ending with the flour mixture. The batter should be thick (and tasty).

No longer yellow but still very delicious!

Pour batter into cake pans, and bounce them on the counter to remove air bubbles and to make the batter even. Bake the batter for 30-35 minutes, or based on your own oven, which I'm sure functions better than my oven.

For the "gourmet" chocolate buttercream I used, go here. For the simple chocolate buttercream I recommend for this cake, look below.

"Cheaper" & "Simpler", Yet Still Tasty Chocolate Buttercream

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3-4 cups powdered sugar, to taste
3/4-1 cup cocoa powder, to taste
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
4-5 Tbsp milk, to desired consistency

Blend the butter on high for about 1-2 minutes. On LOW, add the powdered sugar one cup at a time. Add the cocoa powder. Once mixed well, add the vanilla extract and milk until desired consistency.

Happy 4th of July to all who observe this holiday!

UPDATE:

One of the readers of this blog asked about my reasons behind my changes to the recipe. I actually addressed them on previous posts about the yellow cake, but for sake of simplicity, I answered her questions in the comments section, but I thought it'd be helpful to post my reasons here.

1. 1 yolk + 3 eggs instead of 4 whole eggs: To make the batter/cake more yellow and less eggy-tasting. It didn't make the batter look more yellow but before adding the flour and half-n-half, it looked yellow (look at the next to last photo above). Also, we had another cake that called for 4 eggs, and it tasted eggy.

2. Cake flour instead of Potato Starch: I didn't have potato starch and felt it unnecessary to purchase it for a cake. I also wanted a recipe where most ingredients are accessible and usually found in most homes. Even though not everyone has cake flour, I believe it is more present in homes than potato starch. Since Warren Brown of Cake Love said that the protein amount for the cake flour was different from that of potato starch, I adjusted the ratio of AP vs. cake flour. The cake flour makes the cake lighter, and the all-purpose makes it a bit more dense.

Chicken, Shrimp, & Chorizo Paella & A Giveaway!

Two years ago, my mother and I went to Madrid, Spain. Once there, I was tempted to try paella, but the presence of seafood prevented me from doing so. You see, the only types of unfried seafood I like are very small shrimp (like in fried rice), baked salmon, and tuna fish in a can. The only types of fried seafood I like are fish (like in fish and chips) and shrimp. That's it. I don't like crab, lobster, mussels, crawfish, or anything else that resembles how it looked when it was alive haha. I don't like slimy food either, so yeah, I had to stay away from the paella. I did, however, try to taste just the rice portion of the paella one day, but I had to quickly wash out my palate (not "palette!") because I could still taste the seafood or clam juice in the rice. From that day on, I had decided that the only way I would be able to have paella would be to make it myself, but at that time of my life, I wasn't a cook at all. So, I just gave up on that dream until a few days ago!

After corresponding with Sarah Jay (read how she started the company!), the founder of Paella Pans, which is a small, family-run business,  I received a pan imported from Valencia, Spain in only a matter of days. 

I found a recipe for Chicken Paella on her website and examined it anxiously every day as I waited for the pan. I almost had it memorized. My yellow-cake friend, Lydia, was with me when the pan arrived, and we were both impressed with how the pan looked and how big it was. I was beyond excited to try it out and felt like the luckiest person in the world.

A couple of days later, I made the yummiest paella I had ever had (out of two paellas total haha!). Lydia said that it looked incredible, and my neighbor said it looked like the real thing even without the big prawns and mussels, and they both used to live in Spain. 

The pan from various angles: I stuck the tag back on this pan so you could see from whence (hehe) this pan came.

So, first let me talk to you about this company and this pan that was graciously given to me for me for review. It is a 14" pan made of carbon steel, which is considered the most popular and most used in Spanish households. The company, also sells pans made with enameled steel, stainless steel (so shiny!), pata negra (literally means "black foot/paw (of an animal)"), and flat-bottom pans. Not only do they have pans on their site, but they also sell authentic ingredients for paella, such as bomba rice, chorizo, pimentón (with an accent on the "o"!) dulce or sweet paprika, and saffron or azafrán of various sizes. They also have recipes and tips on making a successful and authentic paella. Okay, enough links for now! I'm just really excited about this company, its products, and especially the founder. She is such a lovely lady with whom I've interacted via email for quite some time now.

The bottom of the pan and its handle: look at the bubbles or dimples at the bottom of the pan; they are there to promote even heating.

As an instructor of college-level Spanish, it is refreshing to see how her excitement for the Spanish language and culture encouraged her to start a business for importing paella-related products directly. Now, that's what I call ambition and drive. I hope some of my students get that excited about learning Spanish and various cultures different from their own.  

Anyway, back to the paella. Because I wanted to make this paella asap, I did not get to try out the ingredients on the Paella Pans  website, but I did use similar products. 


For instance, I used bomba rice that I obtained from Williams-Sonoma...

 That's the most classiest-looking rice container I've ever seen. 

I also used Spanish chorizo...

 Yum!

...pimentón dulce (purchased in bulk for only .39 cents!), and saffron. 

 You can see the packaging of the chorizo in the top right corner.

The chicken as pictured was not fully done, so I had to cook that some more when I returned home from my friend's house (I don't have a photo of that because it was devoured quickly by my neighbor and me for dinner). Lydia, her husband, and I gobbled up the shrimp and chorizo, though, while pushing the lemon slices aside haha. 


As Sarah writes in the recipe, don't pull out any plates for this dish; eat the paella directly from the pan itself. YUM! I want to make this again very soon. 

 ¡Buen provecho!

 After some serious damage, I still had plenty of leftovers. I still need to work on making the socarrat or the crusty, crispy layer formed under the rice, but look at that garlic!

I made only two additions to this recipe - the chorizo and shrimp. I cooked the deveined and peeled shrimp in a separate pan, but you could cook up all the meats together since the pan is so large or one at a time and then place them in a separate plate to rest. Don't cook the shrimp up too much because it will go back in the pan along with the rice later on. Just cook them until they turn a slight peach-looking color. Make sure the chicken is cooked pretty well, though. I had to cook the chicken for about 30 minutes, and that still wasn't long enough, so cook it longer than that. The chorizo is already dried and cured, so you don't need to cook it for very long. For the full recipe, go to the site. 

For your entertainment, I have some process photos below and a special announcement you don't want to miss!!

PAELLA IN THE MAKING:

 Boil chicken broth; toast and crush saffron, and add to boiled broth.

Cook the peppers and garlic; cook the meats and veggies and set them aside; peel the covered, hot bell peppers

 Make the compote comprised of grated tomatoes and onions.

 Add the Spanish or short/medium-grained rice before adding the broth and the rest of the ingredients that have been set aside while keeping the whole garlic in the middle of the pan.

ANNOUNCEMENT!

Okay, now for the exciting news! Paella Pans has graciously allowed me to sponsor a giveaway for one of their 14" carbon steel pans - just like the one I now have - to one of you all!! 

MINIMUM QUALIFICATION: Because this is a small company, this giveaway is open to residents of the contiguous United States only. 

TO ENTER THE PAELLA PAN GIVEAWAY: All you have to do is go to their site and tell me what you would like to either make or buy there if you could.  

DEADLINE: Monday, July 5th, 2010. ¡BUENA SUERTE! GOOD LUCK!

HAPPY CANADA DAY!! 
HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!

Daring Bakers: Pavlovas, Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse, and Crème Anglaise

The June 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Dawn of Doable and Delicious. Dawn challenged the Daring Bakers’ to make Chocolate Pavlovas and Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse. The challenge recipe is based on a recipe from the book Chocolate Epiphany by Francois Payard.

I did it! Even in the midst of the yellow cake experiment, two upcoming giveaways (yes, you read right!), and a frustrating, DB experience last month, I was able to pop out this lovely dessert for the DB Challenge! Woohoo! Go me!

Okay, with the exception of my favorite white cake, I abhor, detest, can't stand, don't like anything made of primarily egg whites.That includes macarons, meringues on top of pies, angel cake, and ...pavlovas. Needless to say, I didn't make that part of the dessert, but I did make everything else, including the mascarpone.

 This mascarpone was so smooth. Can you tell?

Unlike last month's challenge, everything progressed quite smoothly for this challenge. I made the mascarpone last night, and then I made all of the other components today. The only things that went wrong were the piping of the mousse and whipping of the heavy cream for the crème anglaise mixture.

For some reason, the mousse would not come out completely out of my (new) #1M piping tip. It kept clogging up the nozzle. So, I just spooned out the mousses into the goblets. In regard to the heavy cream, it wouldn't whip up completely for some reason. I've never had that problem before so I ended up making three batches of the stuff until it finally whipped up right.

 Egg Yolks and Sugar: The Beginning of the Crème Anglaise

Clockwise: Mascarpone added to crème; whipped together; whipped cream added; done...I guess.

 

ADJUSTMENTS TO THE RECIPE: I never post the recipe to DB challenges on here because they are so long, and are available everywhere by this time of the month haha. I only post adjustments or additional recipes I used not included on the challenge. Anyway, I added some powdered sugar to the whipped cream that was added to the crème anglaise. Also, after seeing what Barbara did to her mousse, I added some mint extract to my mousse, but I accidentally added too much, which leads me to my impressions of this dessert...

Clockwise: cream, milk and lemon zest; chopped chocolate courtesy of Guittard; chocolate added to milk mixture; chocolate base done

TASTE: This dessert is EXTREMELY rich as you would expect with all the heavy cream in it. I completely understand why this is more of a topping for pavlovas - to contrast with the lightness of it. I think it still tastes good the way I did it; I just won't be able to eat all of one goblet in one sitting, though. I'm not typically a fan of chocolate with fruit, so I just put the blueberries on top for decoration and moved the fruit aside hehe. 

Folding process of the mousse

Thanks for a great challenge, Dawn. To see what the others have done and the recipe, go here.

The Search for the Perfect Yellow Cake: Part 5

This cake was my favorite so far, but it still has a long way to go. It comes from Martha Stewart. I baked it in my oven, so it wasn't fully done in the middle, but it still had the prettiest, external color out of the five cakes we've made :(.

I picked this recipe because it had oil in it just like what is required in cake-mix cakes. The batter came out so runny that I added a little more flour to make it thicker. It was still not very thick, but I didn't want to change the recipe too much so that I could have a fair judgment of the cake. I forged on with this batter because it reminded me of the batter of my favorite chocolate cake recipe, which is also very runny.

For the frosting, I made the cheap variety like I did in the second cake; however, I also added some leftover frosting I made for another cake (I will blog about this later). So, the texture of the frosting was gritty but tasty.

Let's proceed to the ratings, shall we?

THE GOOD: I liked how moist it was. I liked the flavor. It didn't taste "eggy" like the second one did, and it was pretty yellow for not having dye. Lydia liked it and said it would be a good rum cake. I just took her word for it because I don't drink :).

THE BAD: It was also too moist. Some oil even sort of leaked out of the cake as my fork sank through a piece. That could be because it was not fully done, but I really think there's too much liquid in the batter. My neighbor said this cake was spongy. I think that is a good quality, but he felt it was a bad one, and its spongy state contributed to his lower rating.

THE UGLY:
Memoria: 7.5/10 (C1: 6.5/C2: 5/C3: 0/Cake-Mix(C4): 8)
Lydia: 7.5/10 (C1: 5/C2: 5/C3: 0/Cake-Mix(C4): 9.5)
Lydia's Husband: 7/10 (C1: 8.5/C2: 9/C3: 4/Cake-Mix(C4): 9)
The Neighbor: 7.5/10 (C1: 8.5/C2: 9/C3: N/A/Cake-Mix(C4): 9)

As you can see, Lydia and I feel more differently about most of these cakes than the two other raters with the exception of this one and the Duncan Hines cake. Case in point, this cake received the highest rating Lydia and I have given one of the from-scratch cakes and the lowest rating from one of the other two judges. I hope that when we find THE cake, we will all be in consensus or at least close enough.

Because Lydia and I think highly of this cake, we plan to work on this recipe to reach the quintessential cake. I will post only the final result. In the meantime, I will have something special for you all on Monday that has absolutely NADA to do with yellow cake.

Martha Stewart's Basic Yellow Cake

slightly adapted and found on Slice of Feist

4 1/4 cups flour (I added an extra 1/4 cup, so I used 4 1/2. I also used half cake flour & AP flour.)
3 1/3 cups sugar
3 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 3/4 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
3 large eggs plus 1 yolk
1 3/4 cups warm water (warm up cold water for 1 minute)
2 cups buttermilk
3/4 cups vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 360 degrees, and prepare cake pans.

In a mixing bowl, sift all dry ingredients together.

I use the whisk to sieve the dry ingredients.

Slowly beat in all of your other ingredients.

I think the the eggs and vanilla should be mixed in a bit before adding the other liquids to avoid small, drier clumps of batter. I also think the amount of liquids should be reduced.

Bake cake at 360 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until slightly brown on top and firm to the touch.

You would think the cake was done at this point, right?

[It was hard to strictly follow these steps above. I really think you should add the wet ingredients in more moderation than is described here. When I revamp this recipe, I will give more detailed instructions.]

The Search for the Perfect Yellow Cake: Part 3 "and 4"

The "diet" cake

Okay, so on Friday Lydia and I decided to make one cake each. She made a "diet" version of a yellow cake from her grandmother that ironically called for a pint of heavy cream but no butter. I don't really know what is "diet" about that cake, but that is what the grandmother called it haha.

The "Cake-Mix" Cake 

(*sigh* my photos are getting worse and worse. I don't know why.)

Along with making that cake, Lydia decided to make a cake mix version of the yellow cake to make a fair comparison of the best from scratch cake. We never planned on doing that, so I was pleasantly surprised she did it. Meanwhile, I made a Martha Stewart recipe that I will blog about next.

So, I drove over to Lydia's house with my cake, and she cut two slices (one for me and one for my neighbor) from each cake she made. After tasting my cake and her two cakes, I became so sick of yellow cake hahaha. We are now both so tired of this stuff! So, after I post about cake 4, you won't be hearing about more cakes until next week (Is that okay, Ingrid? haha). I would take a longer break, but I know that Esi's and Lydia's birthdays are coming up.

Anyway, let's proceed to the good, bad, and the ugly aka the ratings for the "diet" cake...

THE GOOD: I don't think there was anything good about this cake. So, let's proceed to the bad...

THE BAD: Everything. The texture, taste, and look were terrible! It tasted so badly that I had to spit out my first bite.

THE UGLY aka THE RATINGS:
Memoria: 0/10
Lydia: 0/10 (she's disappointed at her grandmother even more now hahaha!)
Lydia's Husband: He probably won't be tasting this since she threw it in the dumpster already haha.
The Neighbor: I didn't bother giving him a slice. That would be mean haha.

I think it would be mean for me to share the recipe of the "diet" cake, so I'll just talk about the cake mix cake. Again, my friend made this cake in order to gain a fair comparison of the scratch cakes to this one. She used the Duncan Hines cake mix. Also, she used store-bought frosting because she messed up her homemade frosting by using granulated sugar LOL! She's too cute. That's something my mother would do. Anyway, here's what we thought:

THE GOOD: The color was great. The texture was even and nice. The taste was just what it was supposed to taste like. What more can I say? haha

THE BAD: They use DYE to make the color great. Here we were working hard to make the cake yellow with eggs, only to find out that we will never reach that level of yellow without dye haha. While the cake was moist, I thought it could stand to be a bit more moist. It lacked in vanilla flavor.

THE UGLY:
Memoria: 8/10 (This may be because I'm so sick of yellow cake, though)
Lydia: 9.5/10
Lydia's Husband: 9/10
The Neighbor: 9/10 (he said it was pretty close to the taste of the second cake; he also said it was moist)

Stay tuned for the next cake! I will post it in a few hours.