Cakes 2 03 Rebecca Benners Basic Cake Types

Cakes 2. 03 Rebecca Benners

Basic Cake Types • 1. Sponge or foam – airy, light texture because of large amounts of air whipped into the eggs; have a base of whipped whole eggs • ex: Angel Food; genoise cake; sponge cake, Chiffon

Basic Cake Types • 2. Pound – contain a pound of butter, flour, sugar, and eggs; may be flavored vanilla, almond, lemon etc.

Basic Cake Types • 3. High ratio layer – contain a high ratio of both liquids and sugar, giving the cake a moist and tender texture.

Shortened V. Unshortened • Shortened cakes use butter, oils, and shortening to create a rich, moist texture. • Shortened cakes also rely on chemical leaveners. • Unshortened Cakes use eggs as the only source of both moisture AND leavening.

Apply It: Types of Cakes • What has a…. – Light and Airy Texture? – High Ratio of liquids and sugar? – Uses a pound of everything – extremely rich?

Basic Cake Mixing Methods 1. Creaming – cream together fat, sugar, and salt then on low speed gradually adding liquids and eggs, then on low speed sift dry ingredients into the mixture

Basic Cake Mixing Methods 2. Blending – blend together sifted flour, sugar, chemical leaveners, add fat and half of the liquids and mix until moistened, and finally additional liquids.

Basic Cake Ingredients 1. Cake Flour – use pastry or low gluten flour for a light and airy product 2. Sugar – is used to weaken the gluten, which creates a tender product

Apply It: Mixing and Ingredients • Who am I? – Mix together sugar and butter first? – A low gluten product that gives cakes their tender texture? – An ingredient that tenderizes gluten, assists in caramelization, makes the food sweet? – Dry ingredients and liquid ingredients are combined separately then gradually mixed together

Panning & Scaling Butter and flour pans completely; except unshortened cakes Select a pan appropriate for the amount of batter you have Too Small: muffin top, running over Too large: thin, dry, burnt Smaller pans cook faster than larger pans Larger pans of cake may brown before inside is done Tent with foil For shortened cakes tap pan on the counter to remove air bubbles

Avoiding Failures 1. Oven too hot cake may set before fully risen humps may form may be too dark 2. Oven too cool Cake won’t set fast enough Cake may collapse 3. Shelves aren’t level Uneven cakes 4. Opening oven doors May cause cakes to fall Loses heat and increase cooking time

Cooling and Frosting • Cool cakes in the cake pan for about 10 minutes on top of a wire rack • Transfer to wire rack for the remainder of cooling time • Cool or cold cakes frost the best • Cut off any humps or uneven parts with a serrated bread knife before frosting

Cooling and Frosting • To frost you will need a long spatula and a glass of warm water • Add large amounts of frosting to area and spread back and forth – NEVER jerk spatula up – that will rip the cake • Wipe spatula off between frostings and dip into warm water

Uncooked Icings and Frostings Flat icings - most simple icing, uses powdered sugar and water; form the glaze on rolls, danishes and other pastries and can be flavored with fruit or spices

Uncooked Icings and Frostings Creamed frostings (butter cream) - most popular icings; easy to spread, sweet flavor and soft, smooth texture. Made with a fat, often butter, and sugar. Texture and thickness changed with eggs or milk. Most Pre-made icing is basic buttercream.

Uncooked Icings and Frostings Royal icing - is flat icing with egg whites creating a thicker icing when dries to hard brittle texture; used for beautiful, artistic decorations but is less enjoyable to eat.

Cooked icings and frostings Fondant – this a rolled kneaded icing made of gelatin and powdered sugar that is placed over the top of the cake like a sheet.

Cooked icings and frostings Boiled – icings that use cooked egg whites in place of fats to create a fluffy look

Cooked icings and frostings Glaze – this a water or milk, confectioners sugar and fruit or chocolate flavoring combination that is drizzled over baked products and forms a crisp shell when it dries

Cool Cake ; )

Storage, Serving, Sanitation, Safety • Store in the refrigerator in air tight containers if necessary and if not decorated can be frozen up to one month • Frosted cakes should always be stored in the refrigerator. • Cakes frosted with cooked icing should be stored at room temp. • Always bring to room temperature before serving. • Discard of cakes after 7 days.

Cake Making Equipment Convection oven – circulates air causing food to cook quicker- lower oven temperature 25 degrees and cooking time 30% Conventional oven – an enclosed space that heats food. Deck oven – oven with two separate compartments that allow food to be cooked at two different temperatures.

Cake Making Equipment Hand tools – spoons, pastry blenders, scoops, and other cake equipment Cookware – round, square, novelty, cupcake, and other pans used for baking You should be able to identify these

Cake Making Equipment Mixer – either hand held or stand that allows cakes to be mixed quickly and efficiently. Mixer attachment – flat or paddle – ideal for mixing cakes whisk – ideal for whipping up eggs dough hook – ideal for making breads

Cake Making Equipment Measuring equipment – liquid measuring cups for eggs, oils, milk, etc. Silpat pan liners – silicon pan liners that allow food to come up more easily.

Cake Conversions • Remember how we did conversions in our math unit? • Sometimes baking recipes needed to be increased or decreased • The formula for conversion factors is as follows: – Conversion factor = Desired yield / Existing yield – Example: CF = 24 biscuits /12 biscuits = 2

Converting Recipe Yield Current / Increased Decreased Existing 24 cupcake 6 cupcake 12 cupcake CF = ¼ c. butter 2 c. flour 1 c. milk ¼ tsp. salt

Converting Individual Ingredients • Convert the following into ounces – 2 # 3 oz. sugar – 1 # butter (sticks? ) – 3 # 8 oz. flour – 1 # 4 oz. baking powder – 3 # 8 oz. milk • Convert the following into pounds – 2 # 8 oz. sugar – 32 oz butter (sticks? ) – 3 # 8 oz. flour – 1 # 4 oz. baking powder – 64 oz. milk