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I was hoping to get some good microphotographs of what impact a sharpening steel and an Accusharp V sharpener have on a knife edge, but most of my knives are pretty sharp at the moment from my work on the 'how sharp' post. So this might have to wait a few months for a follow-up post.
I've been checking other sites that talk about using a sharpening steel, though, and they seem to be split about 50-50 as to whether the steel should move in the direction from the edge to the spine or from the spine to the edge. Might be a good follow-up post here, too.
I've read that baking soda has a useful life of 15-30 minutes once it gets wet, which is why cake batters should go into the oven as soon as possible. The double-action part of baking powder is heat-activated, so it's less time-sensitive.
There are some recipes that recommend chilling the cake batter for a few minutes after it goes in the pan, but I've never tried that, and I'm dubious that a few minutes in the refrigerator would have much impact.
What size pan do you use? I may have to give your recipe a try, but probably not today, since it's supposed to hit 102 here.
A few years back I was in a cooking store in Pittsburgh and one of the knife makers had a rep there using an electric sharpener, but I don't think they were trying to sell the sharpener, it was rather like taking a knife to a sharpening service, except that it was free. I asked the guy about using a set of whetstones, he said that they're the best way to keep a knife sharp if it doesn't really need a whole new edge.
Not all electric sharpeners work the same way, some are little more than grinding wheels, so basically what they do is build a new edge. If you know what you're doing (and especially what the sharpener is doing) they're good, but I don't think they put as fine an edge on a knife as a series of fine grit stones can. A friend of mine has some $500 knives, I'm going to be seeing him in a few weeks and I'm going to take my digital microscope along so he can see what his knives really look like.
My biggest concern with using them is that they can take off too much metal each time. Unless you use your knives for hours every day, they shouldn't need a serious sharpening more than once every few years.
As I was working on my sharpening post, I spent several days sharpening various knives in my kitchen, including a good meat knife that I hadn't used much lately. Now it works very well, better than my santoku knives for trimming beef. I buy large cuts of meat (almost sub-primals) and trim them down, I get better steaks, roasts and stir fry beef that way and the trim I can't cook with goes in the freezer for the next time I make beef stock.
I've made it in a 10 x 10 pan several times. I make a half-recipe of batter but a full recipe of frosting.
If you made it in a 9x9 pan it'd be a bit thicker, but I think that'd be OK.I use this recipe: Texas Chocolate Sheet Cake but with a few modifications:
1. I dust the greased cake pan with cocoa powder rather than flour.
2. I use 4 tablespoons of cocoa powder instead of 3 in the frosting.
3. I use more buttermilk in the frosting than it calls for (needed because of the extra cocoa powder.)
4. I make sure the butter/cocoa/buttermilk mixture for the frosting gets boiled for a minute or so. (The butter will separate a bit and the buttermilk might curdle, don't worry about it.)
5. I keep the frosting on low/simmer while mixing in the powdered sugar and until it's ready to pour on the warm cake. This also ensure that it doesn't cool down before I can pour it on the cake.
6. The cake should be quite warm when your pour the warm frosting on it, probably in the 140F to 150F range if tested with an infrared thermometer (my constant companion in the kitchen.)I have made this cake using a gluten-free flour and although I could tell the difference, both were good. (The frosting's the real star, IMHO.) I add a little xanthan gum, because I'm never sure how much there is in a GF flour.
