Help me bake a cake! Please!

otm

I think I can manage this, if it agrees to release from the pan:

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups butter
6 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups white sugar

3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup milk
Directions:
1. Grease and flour a tube or Bundt pan. Do not preheat oven.
2. In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well each time. add vanilla.
4. Add flour mixture alternately with milk. Beat until smooth. Pour batter into tube or Bundt pan.
5. Place cake into cold oven, set the temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and bake for 60 to 90 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean.
6. Top with confectioners sugar or glaze.

MP if you ever baked me a cc cookie I WOULD DIE

well i am not going to send chocolate chip cookies to mexico but if you ever return you better MAKE SURE YOUR WILL IS UP TO DATE or something

Oh hey see, I've already identified a way in which I could've fucked this up. Mexican sticks of butter are a different weight than U.S.!

xpost oh I will return, and I will eat all of the cookies and die

I will leave the bad kitty (Maria) to you.

cake is too hard to make but if you're gonna make one make it a bundt

^^^we are on the same wavelength, you and I

this is like totally semi-homemade but iirc it is v good (though "iirc" from like when I was 14 so). Does not need frosting; is v moist and rich

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/too-much-chocolate-cake/

"This cake won me First Prize at the county fair last year. It is very chocolaty." — Denise

HOW CAN YOU GO WRONG?

Oh shit I don't know if there is a bundt pan here? Checking now. . . fuck, no. Also chocolate chips is not something I am totally sure about, although I could probably figure something out. . . pretty sure I can secure choc. pudding. Gonna bookmark the recipe, it could happen! S. looooove chocolate, regardless of brow-level!

It's like the PopeYes of chocolate cakes.

That is setting a high bar, because iirc correctly, PopeYes is awesome and not something I could ever hope to replicate in my own home!

Pope Yes was one of the best popes, it's true.

chocolate chips = just get a bar of chocolate and chop it up, it totally does not matter

What kind of baking tin do you have? Things cooked in loaf tins always look kinda rustic and charming and therefore need little-to-no frosting, like maybe a dusting of confectioner's sugar if you're feeling faaaancy (nigella lawson's dense chocolate loaf cake is a good option if you want something chocolatey and damp that may sink but still looks super appetizing, and iirc it's not very difficult, and its recipe is available across the internet).

If you only have one round tin then the easiest way to not have to go to the trouble of making buttercream for frosting, while still having it look put-together, is: make sure it bakes until it passes the skewer test, leave it to cool, cut it across horizontally into an upper layer and lower layer, spread jelly along the top of the lower layer (or maybe put some fruit in? maybe some whipped cream? depends how complicated you want to go. NB because of crumbs it is advisable that you use at least one not-totally-dry ingredient to hold it together), put it back together. and then if you want to you can add a ~dusting of confectioner's sugar~ over the top.

I do not bake but had to make a birthday cake earlier this year: food friends sent me to this recipe when I said I needed something delicious and foolproof (they know I am a cooking fool).

It went well! I seem to remember the frosting/icing/ganache being weirdly straightforward.

http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/DEVILS-FOOD-CAKE-5310

This looks moderately complicated but is not really. You can also mask any imperfect baking with the amazing icing. Secret of a good sponge seems to be a wet mixture.

Do you think I can do a pound cake in a springform pan, or is that madness? I'm in a rental house with a limited selection of bakeware, but there *is* a springform pan. Close enough to a bundt/funnel pan?

Oh man those choco cakes look soooooo good, but I phear the frosting. I like C sharp's idea of dressing up a basic pound cake with jam/whipped cream/fruit--I should be able to manage that.

Man I really wish I had some chocolate cake to have with my morning coffee!

Ya I think this thread has inspired me to go acquire a Bundt pan and make that sour cream cake

Put a clean empty can or cup in the center of your springform pan and you've got a tube pan. If you don't want to try that, just keep an eye on the edges and cover with foil if they brown before the center is baked.

Vegemite, love your 4442, going to try it!

I usually dust cakes with powdered sugar or do the simple powdered sugar and water (or milk) frosting. Sometimes add cinnamon. I like how that frosting melts down the side of cakes too:
http://instagram.com/p/aPTT_xy3x4/

Jaq THANK YOU, that would not have occurred to me!

Pound cake can definitely be made in a springform - that's the cake i grew up making and we never had a bundt pan.

and we'd never thought of Jaq's amazing can trick either-- brb, making so many fancy cakes.

Fucking cake is in the fucking oven. It was hell. God I hate baking.

We are so proud of you though!

Awww that is sweet, I'd bake you a cake anytime Stevie but I'd rather go out for awesome chinese food ;)

yay quincie!

Stupid cake is too brown on the top (not burned but def over-brown); hope it comes out of the pan OK and I serve it ass end up.

Can always gently slice the top off

^^ secret reason for the invention of frosting

troo

You did it!!!!!!!!

We'll see how it tastes. I really admire those of you who bake willing, cheerfully, and successfully!