Yes, whether dry is good or bad depends on the type of cake. Dry and dense is how I like cakes. The 1964 edition of Rombauer's cookbook had a note with her Old World Chocolate Spice Cake with Citron that the recipe was developed for a homesick war bride, who longed for cake from home. Rombauer recommended lots and lots of stirring, to get that texture. *** I, too, am a WW2 refugee, and Rombauer's dense and sandy cake is still my favorite for celebrations. To make it more like home, I swapped in hefty portions of whole grain wheat and rye flour--rye goes wonderfully with chocolate. I'm glad I've printed out many, many copies of the original as well as my adapted recipe, because it was dropped for the latest Rombauer edition.

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