Cake Considerations
From choclytcandy 13 years ago
- 1 to make
- Serves 1
The King Arthur Flour 200th Anniversary Cook Book
Ingredients
- Add alcohol-based flavorings, like vanilla, last to retain as much flavor as possible. shopping list
- Make "cake flour" by adding 2-4 tablespoons of cornstarch to one cup unbleached flour. shopping list
- A "traditional" cake contains flour and an equal amount or more, by weight, not volume, of sugar with a little salt to intensly flavor. shopping list
- Always sift flour before using even if labeled "pre-sifted." shopping list
- Cake Leavens shopping list
- Baking Powder: Cakes used to be leaved by yeast or by the air that was beaten into the eggs and/or butter in them. Today, cakes depend on leavening power of baking powder which is a combination of baking soda (alkaline or "sweet" and an acid ("sour") in powder form. When the powder is mixed with liquid and exposed to heat, it produces carbon dioxide which helps it rise. Cakes that contain an acid in another form, such as sour milk, buttermilk, or fruit juice, need only the "sweet" half of alkaline powder, the baking soda. shopping list
- Yeast: Cakes that use yeast take longer to make but are unique in texture and flavor. shopping list
- Cream of Tarter: a natural by-product of wine making, a fruit acid that accumulates on the sides of wine casks. It contains no alcohol. Cream of tarar is often used as a leavening agent in combination with baking soda. When the acidic cream of tartar and the alkaline baking soda are mixed with a liquid, they produce carbon dioxide bubbles. shopping list
- vegetable shortening is a good alternative in cakes flavored with molasses and spices because the flavor of the butter would be hidden. Also vegetable shortening is already areated, so by nature makes cakes that are light and finely grained. shopping list
How to make it
- Cake Types:
- There are several classice cakes which are categorized by their density. A cake's density is determined by several factors: the way it's leavened, the absence or presence of a fat and its type, and those ingredients which contribute to its structure as opposed to those which are held in the structrue. Two basic ingredients that create a cake's structure, or skeleton, are the flour and the eggs. Everything else determins its "body type" and "personality."
- Although there are others ways of differentiating between cake types, denisty is a readily obervable one. There are many cakes in the world that will not fit into most categories. But if you keep the "density scale" in mind, it will give you starting place and some perspective with which to understand these and other cakes in your life.
- Angel Food Cakes: is the lightest cake of all. It contains no fat and only the whites of up to a dozen eggs. The egg whites are beaten until they are stiff with air bubbles and then gently folded into the other ingredients. As the batter heat up in the oven, those bubbles expand like a million little balloons, creating a cake that almost floats in the air.If cream of tartar is added to egg whites this helps stablize them and keeps them from collapsing when other ingredients are added.
- Geniose Cakes: The genoise is like a sponge cake in that it contains many whole eggs. These are beaten until very light by themselves, and then in combination with sugar, to create the leavening. But a genoise also contains the addition of melted butter which is folded in at the end of the mixing period. This addition creates a cake that is both light and rich.
- Butter Cakes: These cakes are heavier and richer still, the kind that most us probably first learned to bake. A butter cake contains all those ingredients that we generally associate with cakes: butter, eggs, sugar, and flour. These are the versatile cakes that are found most often at birthday parties and bake sales.
- Pudding Cakes: are both cake and sauce at the same time.
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