I tried the CI cake last night as cupcakes with the Easy CI frosting and it was excellent. I like it better than Martha’s one bowl. I think it could use a bit more chocolate though or less sugar.

Having said that, its still not the experience I am looking for. I think the problem is that I like the taste of the vanilla-vanilla cupcakes so much chocolate cupcakes don’t do it for me. I love Magnolia’s buttercream on CI’s yellow cupcake (New Best recipes), I also love the yellow layer cake recipe from the same book. It’s lighter and would be my favorite except it’s a bit more work to make.

I’m off topic here, but if you want a treat, try the Cooks Illustrated yellow layer cake recipe (New best recipes) made in as “mini” cupcakes and do not use cupcake liners to enhance caramelization (about 10 minute cook time) and use your favorite buttercream. I bet you won’t like chocolate cupcakes after that

I need to test Magnolia’s frosting against CI easy buttercream on the yellow cupcake.

Btw, do white cakes taste like yellow cakes? Can these be tested in the same class?

Have a great day!

Pierre.

Great post as usual…

The above Perfect Hershey cake has been the base for our family goto Black Forest cake for years. The cake is very good as a BF cake as the whipped cream and cherry filling add missing softness to the cake. But on its own (I recently tried this recipe to make cupcakes) I do not like its texture. To me the crumb feels synthetic (not velvety). Also not really dense enough. Anyways I will have to try the Cooks.

BTW, I tested Martha’s one-bowl cupcake (well respected on the net) against the Hershey recipe and found Martha’s was better (heavier) but still not what I am looking for. The recipe was from her Cupcake book. I will try your favorite (CI) and let you know how it fares against the one-bowl.

What I am looking for is a cake that has chocolaty / moist / tender taste like a brownie but that has cake density/crumb like a good moist yellow cake (CI’s). This would be to use in cupcakes. If you have any ideas, would appreciate any suggestion you may have.

Mad props on the 1 year anniversary – I have enjoyed your blog a lot. As a year-in-review I would love to hear about what your top recipe picks for Year 1 would be.