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Homemade Cake Recipes From Scratch
I grew up in a house where both of my parents enjoyed cooking. There was rarely a day that went by that a home cooked meal wasn’t served. Home cooked meals in my house consisted of a main dish, potato, rice or noodles, a vegetable, and usually a bread. The vegetables were often canned from our garden and the bread was homemade. The sweets that we ate were also homemade; cakes, pies, hard candies and more. Boxed mixes for cakes or breads or biscuits were not a part of my childhood.
I learned how to cook by watching my parents and by being a part of their cooking. By the age of four I could bake brownies on my own and had memorized the recipe. That passion for baking has stayed with me and I always look forward to the fall and winter with enthusiasm because the cool weather is perfect for staying inside and heating up the house with an oven full of something wonderful!
One of my favorite things to bake is cake. I don’t decorate cakes. I don’t get creative and artistic with cakes. I enjoy baking a cake that tastes amazing. Using the right ingredients, and knowing how to combine them to make a delicious cake, with a light, moist texture. To me, the taste of the cake is far more important than how it looks. The taste of the cake itself, is also more important than what goes on the outside or between the layers. Those parts are just the icing on the cake. A cake made from scratch, with good, fresh ingredients is in and of itself, an art. Sure anyone can open up a box and make a pretty good cake. How many people can turn some egg whites, sugar, and cake flour into a light, fluffy piece of heaven, knowing just how long whip the egg whites?
Another great thing about growing up in a baking house, is the treasure of passing down recipes from generation to generation. It gives me a sense of pride and connection to bake a cake that my grandmother showed me how to bake. I know that I can teach my daughter’s the same recipes and that connection to the past will continue. I have also been able to write down recipes that were passed down orally and re-write recipes that call for a handful, or a pinch of something. I realize our hands are not all the same size!
Just to give a brief history, the creation of cake, as we know it, came about in the mid-19th century with the introduction of baking powder. Baking powder took the place of yeast in leavening of cakes, which were much more bread-like than the cakes we know today. Since that time, cake recipes have been perfected and turned into the wonderful cake creations we know today. From weddings to birthdays our celebrations would be much different without cake!