Cooking For Engineers

[Michael Chu]

[Guest]

I've noticed that some chocolate cakes call for boiling water added to the batter... Why does the temperature of the water matter? And what is the best way of adding this boiling water to the batter without "scrambling" the raw eggs in it?

And a similar question: when making 7-minute frosting, most recipes call for adding 2 Tbsp or so of COLD water. Again, I would really like to know the rationale behind this as the sugar/egg/syrup/water mixture is going to be mixed in a double boiler anyway...

It would be great is some science whiz could answer my questions! ) This is a very informative site, btw!

[Anon]

This recipe is for a cake every bit as good as cake made by a professional pastry chef. I'm not a big fan of buttercreme (you might as well eat spoonfuls of raw butter), but this cake could come from any premium bakery.

[Molly]

Michael-- I just wanted to say thanks for this delicious recipe. I have made this cake several times now. It has boosted my baking confidence tremendously!

[AdmNAismith not signed in]

cake/frosting recipe I have found. This tastes/looks/feels every bit as good as a cake from a Parisian bakery. If you want to impress someone- this is the recipe to do it with.
It also made me realise I don't like proper Buttercream Frosting. You may as well as unpeel a stick of butter and eat it like a banana!

[newbaker]

Can you make this cake in a Bundt pan? What adjustments do you have to make to the recipe - baking time, etc?

[barooo]

made this last night, and was setting up my mise around 9:00 and realized I didn't have any brown sugar (which is odd, I use it a lot), so I used 280 g of "sugar in the raw" + 20 g dark molasses. The flavor and texture of the finished product were outstanding although I was surprised at how thin the batter was while making it and was worried I didn't have enough flour or something.

Also, your gram weight of sour cream in the intro is for a whole cup, I caught it when I was assembling becuase the correct weight is listed in the table, but I had gotten out the full amount, and had to re-measure before dumping it in.

I ended up making cupcakes with an Italian buttercream instead of the american one listed because they were for a potluck and I wanted stability at room temp. They were a hit.

[Michael Chu]

[loves chocolate]

This site is awesome. I'm a mechanical engineer myself and am always thinking analytically. I enjoyed the ingredient scheduler chart at the bottom of the recipe...reminds me of a Gantt Chart!

[microbe cook]

I just tried this recipe, and it was my very first cake from scratch! Everyone LOVED it. Thanks for the awesome recipe!!!! More cake recipes please!!!!!

[Rachelm]

How much vanilla extract do I use?!
It calls to add the sour cream and the vanilla extraxt about half way down, but I don't see how much vanilla extract to use. You're recipe seems so precise and I don't want to mess it up! (Or am I blind and just didn't see where it was?)
Thanks, I can't wait to make it!!

[Michael Chu]

[Sarah]

I am in LOVE with this cake! It's still moist four days after I've baked it! I added a teaspoon of instant espresso powder to the cocoa/chocolate mix to give the cake and extra kick of flavor. The next time I make this, I plan on decreasing the butter a tad bit to see if it will still retain a good amount of moisture.

[eatcakes]

I was wondering why this recipe called only for baking soda and no baking powder. Would there be a difference if baking powder was also added in?

[Rachelm]

I've made this cake multiple times for many different occasions now and everyone always loves it, so thank you!
Sometimes I need a bigger cake though to feed more mouths, could I bake this in a 9" by 12" pan and if so for how long? Or do you have any other suggestions? You're help is much appreciated (and so are your recipes!)