Mystery #1 Mystery Of The Fatal Flaw

borinda 16 years ago said:

If you decide to take on this mystery you will need to figure out why an old, loved, and fail-safe recipe suddenly stopped working.

Once referred to by our family and friends simply as "The Cake" because we all constantly made it, knew it was fail-safe, and the ingredients seemed to always be on hand. The Cake was wonderful. It tasted great, had wonderful texture, was light, rose high, and was the least fussy or sensitive batter ever.

Then came "The Crisis". Suddenly we were all phoning one another in shock. Our cakes would start to rise beautifully, as usual, in the oven and then, shockingly, would fall. As it happened to all of us we knew it wasn't our own oven acting up.

The only ingredient I thought might be the culprit was the flour. The recipe called for the blue box Presto flour, a self-rising cake four. I wrote to the company and asked if they had changed their formula and they assured me that had not happened. This was back about 30 years ago when The Crisis occurred.

We all stopped making The Cake but all miss it. An old and dear friend came to visit recently and mentioned she still had The Cake Recipe even though it stopped working.

And this leads us to the MYSTERY OF THE FATAL FLAW OF THE SOUR CREAM CAKE. To create a bit of a challenge and fun I will send a cookbook to the first person who can figure out the fatal flaw and get the recipe to work. Once I bake the cake successfully with your correction I would gleefully love to send a gift as an expression of my appreciation.

So -- let the game begin:

Sour Cream Cake

1/4 lb sweet butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature
2 1/4 cups sifted Presto flour
1 cup + 1 Tbsp sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup chocolate chips or bits

Preheat oven to 325 degrees
Grease and flour a (' or 10" tube pan
Cream the butter and sugar
Add the eggs one at a time, beat after each
Alternately add the flour and the sour cream
Mix in the vanilla

Pour half the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle half of the chocolate chips on top. Repeat with the rest of the batter and then the chips.
Bake for one hour. Cool for a few minutes in the pan and then turn out onto a rack.

Good luck, happy baking, and may the smartest baker win.

Thank you, too!

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thepiggs 16 years ago said:

My first thought was mayo/salad dressing but you don't have that....too much water in the product now. (in certain brands)
Maybe a change in the oil/fat content of the sour cream or they've changed the ingredient that makes sour cream out of milk products..
That would be my guess.

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linebb956 16 years ago said:

Wait... there is no baking soda, no baking powder no cream of tarter, nothing but the eggs for, what do they call it... leveling product? There has to be something that makes the cake rise and as it cooks the bubbles stiffens and keeps the shape somewhat. Right? This is like science class!

Piggs might have it with the change in the sour cream. See if you can purchase a commerical product.. the type restaurants use. It is more like the old fashioned stuff.

There is a site, if I can find it that they have a section that U can actually ask a chef, a baker , etc about recipes... Let me check tomorrow and see if I can find it.. I'll send it to you. Now this has me going! Nothing like a good mystery!
Linda

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linebb956 16 years ago said:

U think that part of the recipe was missing or left out when written? Is it written by hand, or a something out of a book?
I have recipes that I changed and do not write down the changes as I remember them, then when my daughter makes them from the original they don't taste the same.. she is always yelling at me about that!

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borinda 16 years ago said:

FYI -- Presto is a self-rising cake flour. That means it has the leavening in it.

We've used many different brands of sour cream. Would they have all changed suddenly? Fat content would make it a dryer vs moister cake but would that cause the rise and fall problem?

See why I ask that you try to bake the cake successfully?

Welcome to my enigma!

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mksimmons 16 years ago said:

I have looked at many recipes this morning with Presto flour and there really is no different. They don't add the soda, power or tarter. I went back and even looked at the history of Presto and didn't see where they had made any changes. Well, cakes are my favorite things to do so; if I can find the flour here I will be trying this.

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vivian 16 years ago said:

I am going to try this recipe, but what is sweet butter?

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borinda 16 years ago said:

Sweet butter is unsalted butter. For baking, unless otherwise directed, sweet butter is used. Salt butter holds more moisture (water) and can skew the flavor a bit from the salt + any in the recipe.

Good luck!

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thepiggs 16 years ago said:

CHefjeb mentioned the chemical reaction of sour cream and baking soda. IF the sour cream was changed and didn't have the same amount of acid, then the backing soda reaction would also change. Not of much rise in the cake.
Maybe a bit more acidic property in the cake would work.
I'm not able to do baking at the moment so I can try anything, so good luck to anyone who might try!

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borinda 16 years ago said:

Interesting point re. the sour cream. I just don't know as I'd say I have used various brands and we were all spread out. I know when I bake banana cake I mix the baking soda into the sour cream and it bubbles up immediately and is ready to rise the cake sky high.

Like I said -- a mystery.

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linebb956 16 years ago said:

borinda, you might want to try this site: http://forums.chef2chef.net/postlist.php?Cat=1&Board=baking
It is an area that you can ask a professional baker.
I would try making it, but we have been working on my kitchen and have not hooked up the oven as of yet.. I don't bake when it is hot anyway...
Please let me know if you solve this mystery...
Linda

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borinda 16 years ago said:

Update... the case is still open.

I tried the 1/2 tsp. of baking soda as suggested. I mixed it into the sour cream to activate it as I do with my banana cake. The cake rose beautifully and while it is still in the oven it has already fallen.

Open to more ideas...

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linebb956 16 years ago said:

I don't mean to laugh, but I could just see you watching that cake and then pooooof! I have a sick since of humor. LOL

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borinda 16 years ago said:

I love you too!!

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linebb956 16 years ago said:

OK... I sent your recipe to the Presto company.. told them to come to this site and catch the chatter.. I asked if one of their bakers could check out the recipe and see what was wrong... who knows you just might become famous. You do a search on google for Sour Cream Cake and this page pops up... Next we will be having to ask you for autographs! LOL

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birdy 16 years ago said:

It might be your sour cream as well. A lot of sour creams "especially store brands" are full of fillers. Check the container of the sour cream you used for its ingredients.

When baking, it's best to find a sour cream that contains just cream. No other stablizers. Depending on where you live two sour creams I trust are Knutsen and Daisy.

If the air was humid that will cause a fall too.

Birdy...

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vivian 16 years ago said:

Hi Borinda,
i made your cake with the same ingredients that you posted, except for Presto Flour, I used just self raising flour.
Also I used a cake tin, not a tube tin.
It came out perfect , I have taken pictures of it and when I can get my camera to work I will post it for you to see.

What I did find was that the time you said to cook it (1 hour) when I tested it with a thin metal skewer it was not cooked inside, so I left it another 30 Min's and it was delicious .
I have a recipe very similar which does take 1 hour 30 Min's.
I will post it soon.
Vivian

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thepiggs 16 years ago said:

Hooray! Someone made it and it turned out just fine!
Maybe it's the flour then.
Good work!

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linebb956 16 years ago said:

Hats off to Vivian..... This makes her the Queen of cakes!

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borinda 16 years ago said:

OUR WINNER IS VIVIAN!!!!!
Hats off and congratulations to Vivian Her tweaks to the recipe worked and she was smart enough to not only resolve the issues but to try out her logic before making suggestions.
Vivian's changes are simple enough and best of all, the cake smells and tastes and looks just as I recall, just 8" rather than 10". I can surely accept that.
Anyone who'd like to try please do. It is posted as "Roslyn sour Cream Cake".
How lucky am I to know such thoughtful and smart people and know this recipe would get fixed? Very!
Vivian's little thank-you care package will be shipped out tomorrow. I am so thrilled.

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