On 23 Jun 2005 05:46:09 +0200, Wayne Boatwright
> wrote:

(snip)

>> I have never in my 45 years of baking used anything other than butter.
>>
>> A good old-fashioned Madeira cake made with butter will be moist for
>> at most 24 hours and after that it seems to requirte 2-3 cups of tea
>> with each slice!
>>
>> I'm fairly certain that some ground up nuts must be one of the keys to
>> a moist cake (if fruit is not used) - but I am seeking advice from
>> anyone who can help. So thank you.
>
>I should think that in your 45 years of baking you'd have already found
>recipes for cakes that stay moist.
>
>For my money (and baking effort) the cakes that retain the most moisture
>are either those that contain fruit or those that have been sprinkled with
>some sort of liquid mixture. Cakes that contain ground nuts are delicious,
>but contain no more moisture than any other plain cake apart from the oil
>from the nuts. Likewise, coconut on its own is relatively dry, albeit
>oily, and won't be appreciably different than one with nuts.
>
>Cakes that use vegetable oil instead of butter or solid shortening often
>have a very moist crumb and stay that way for quite a while. Hershey's
>Black Magic Cake or Hersghey's Perfectly Chocolate Chocolate cake are a
>good examples.
>
>http://tinyurl.com/9w8cn
>
>One other way is baking a cake that uses a thick and very moist filling
>between the layers. The cake should also be iced with a good icing that
>can seal everything against the air. Storage in a completely airtight
>container is helpful, as is refrigeration or freezing.
>
>Just my 2¢

Well thank you very much for your suggestions. I'm afraid I have
never really been a great cake-baker. Not experimental enough in that
area I think. I experiment quite a lot with other cooking, but not
cakes nor what we call biscuits and I think you call cookies, though
our biscuits are crunchy and crisp. My mother was good with cakes,
but she generally made them from quite a small selection of very old
recipes. She could make excellent Victoria sandwich cakes - but we
had to eat these up fairly quickly I remember! Her Louise cake was
good - lots of coconut here!

I am looking for cake without icing or filling that one can cut into
and eat for up to 10 days or so without drying out.

Yes, fruit in cakes makes them moist - as do ground nuts. I have
eaten a wonderfully moist orange cake that I was told was butterless -
perhaps oil was used. I have tried to find a recipe like this - so
far without success.

I have just made a fruit cake and frozen half of it. It will keep
for a long time because I keep it tight wrapped in foil in an airtight
container, and if we haven't eaten enough in a week or 10 days I give
it a good injection of brandy or rum to help it along.

Unfortunately I am allergic to chocolate and cocoa, so cant do them!

Thank you once again. If you or anyone you know has an orange cake
recipe without butter I'd be glad to know.

Cheers


Daisy

Carthage demands an explanation for this insolence!