Amy Falcon
I read some of the negative reviews just to see what went wrong. When you use soda instead of powder and TABLESPOONS instead of teaspoons, of course it's salty and bitter! 

I did tweak this a little bit because I was going for something sweeter. (out of syrup) Reduced baking powder to 3t, skipped the salt, added a couple T of cocoa, vanilla, and increased sugar to 1T. Mixed in 1/3C chocolate chips. Very good and balanced base to start with. Look forward to having it next with cinnamon & grated apples.