If I have no cake flour, will my regular flour still be ok for a homemade yellow cake?

Yes. If you have some corn starch to mix in, you can use this substitute [link] or just use the all purpose flour, and the cake will be a little less soft than usual.

The general rule of substitution is 1 cup of all purpose flour minus 2 tablespoons (1c – 2tbsp) is equivalent to 1 cup of cake flour.

I knew there was a sub -- but if you don't pack the flour, but sprinkle it in the cup...and go under rather than over --the other way might be easier

I've never had problems with straight substitution of all purpose for cake. I do run the flour through the mixer before adding anything to make sure it's properly aerated, but I do that with cake flour too.

Burrell, did you see my question about your broken TiVo? Was yours HD?

I never knew there was such a thing as special flour for cakes (or bread) until about 10 years ago. We used regular flour for everything.

Done with transplanting for today. I was so worried about my mom's feelings that edible gardens are ugly that I bought maybe 10 times the amount of flowers I have room for. They're Annie's Annuals stuff and not cheap so I feel like I have to shoehorn them in.

AP flour is fine for cake - cake flour is lower-protein so there's less gluten formation (softer crumb), but unless you beat the hell out the batter there's not a hugely noticeable difference.

Burrell, did you see my question about your broken TiVo? Was yours HD?

No, I missed it, sorry. Ours was not HD. In fact our tivo is--was--a bit of a dinosaur. We got it when I was pregnant with Franny. So really, can't be mad at it for pooping out on us finally. I'm just sad about it not taping my tv.

Now I don't feel like making a cake. Bleh. It's not so much that making the cake wouldn't be fun, it's that I'd then have to frost the cake.

Oh wow, I just tried Annie's mac and cheese for the first time, and it is SO much better than regular Kraft. Nom.

So much ~ma for you and your brother and your family, amyth.

Burrell, I have a non-HD TiVo that I'm not using--you're welcome to it. It's not new, and I haven't used it in forever, so I can't swear to its continual behaving. But it might be worth a go.

Allyson, ganache! Chocolate and cream--easiest thing thing in the world.

ER people were very nice today. There's the tech that keeps stopping by and asking about how I'm doing, even though he's never been assigned to me. Then there's the nurse who was the meanest to me ever a few months and made me cry because he was cruel and either lying or not bothering to pay any attention to my file. He was all shoulder-clasping and knee-petting and generally sweet.

The doctor sent a nurse in to give me an IM shot without even seeing me. But for the first time ever, I think when I told her that IM doesn't work, she went away and got me the doctor, who then switched the order to IV.

Sadly, they prescribed 1mg of dilaudid, which is about like a single aspirin to me. When I told her it was too little, she gave it to me anyway, but fetched the doctor he told me that he'd write me for another 4mg.

And the same nurse ordered me a lunch. Apart from the fact that the open faced sandwich was made with Wonder bread and the fruit salad is all melon, it was pretty tasty and nice of her to get it for me.

lcat, where do you live? You can get golden syrup from a place like World Costplus Market, I am told by our British nanny.

I made them with honey because I didn't want to make a special trip. And they were still delicious. Ridiculously buttery.

NOM. And my improvised recipe for shepherds' pie was fab. Consomme makes a great gravy.