Cake

1. Cake

2. Evolution of Cake • Oatcakes are recorded to be the first cakes and were made from unleavened breads and crackers. • Panettone, stollen, and fruitcake were evolved from yeast-breads • 1700’s – sweet cakes, such as plum cake, pound cake and sponge cake were raised by aerating the batter through prolonged beating of butter and sugar or egg whites. • Mid 1800’s – baking soda and chemical leaveners are introduced speeding up the mixing process

3. What It Does • In addition to eggs, flour, sugar and fat, a cake can be defined by its leavening • Leaveners • Fat and Sugar • Eggs • Yeast • Chemical Leaveners • Ingredients + proportions + aeration method = styles of cakes (Foam cakes & Shortened Cakes)

4. Foam Cakes • Light and simple • Made by beating whole eggs or egg whites and sugar at length to incorporate air bubbles in the batter, knows as foam. • Steps: • Aerate egg whites – use a grease free, stainless steel bowl to ensure maximum aeration • Fold in flour to avoid deflating the foam and prevent the formation of gluten • Add flavors like butter, milk, cocoa powder, etc…

5. Types of Foam Cakes • Meringue – made by only aerating the egg whites. • Angel Food – made by only aerating the egg whites. • Sponge – leavened with beaten eggs; whites are beaten with sugar; yolks are beaten with flavor and sugar and then added to whites and folded with flour • French Biscuit Cake – sponge cakes with additional egg yolks • Genoise – made by beating warm whole eggs and sugar until it takes on too much air and resembles whipped cream • Chiffon – combination of lightness and richness from a high proportion of whipped egg whites and a fair amount of vegetable oil (makes cake moist and tender)

6. Shortened Cakes • Made by beating sugar and fat to incorporate air bubbles, this method is called creaming • Creaming – sugars sharp crystalline structure slashes deep pockets in the fat, and the pockets take on air • Next, eggs are beaten in one-by-one, to help hold air • Finally, flour is folded in and a chemical leavener

7. Shortened Cakes Cont… • Dry ingredients are added with alternate additions of liquids so the flour gets coated with the beaten fat • Fat protects the proteins in the flour from being turned into gluten when you stir in a liquid = lower gluten, more tender cake

8. Shortened Cakes – Two Stage Method • Two-Stage Method • Combine all dry ingredients in one bowl • Combine all wet ingredients in another bowl • Beat butter and ½ wet ingredients into dry ingredients to aerate batter • Beat in remaining wet ingredients • Pro – a tender cake • Con – more likely to toughen from overmixing

9. Types of Shortened Cakes • Pound Cake – orignially calls for 1 pound of each eggs, sugar, butter and flour • Butter Cakes – Rich and moist like pound cakes but also light and tender because of the lower proportion of eggs and fat and higher proportion of sugar and liquid • Use of Cake flour is important because it contains less gluten producing proteins • Bleached with chlorine allowing eggs to coagulate at a low temperature and flour to absorb more moisture producing a delicate, fine-textured crumb

10. Types of Shortened Cakes Cont… • Butter Cakes Cont… • Fat – both butter and shortening aerate and tenderize a cake but which is best? • Shortening has small fat crystals, entrapping a lot of air, making the cake light and fine-textured • Butter or lard , although having fewer large air bubbles, tastes better • Sugar helps sweeten cake batter and help it to retain moisture • Superfine sugar dissolves more quickly and does a btter job of creaming with the fat

11. How It Works • Heat triggers chemical processes within the cake due to the ingredients which define a cakes characteristic flavor and texture • Yeast, baking powder, or other chemical leaveners that produce carbon dioxide which migrate to the air bubbles resulting in a leavened product • Heat makes the gas bubbles expand and mature • Temp too LOW – gas bubbles expand and before the cake sets, creating a large-holed, coarse grained texture

12. How It Works • Altitude and Atmospheric Pressure • Altitude increases = less atmospheric pressure • Leavening gases expand rapidly, stretching and weakening the structure of the cake = coarse texture or a fallen cake • Use a lower oven temperature and less leavening agent

13. How It Works • Setting a cake • Eggs and flour contain protein that coagulates when heated • Liquid (milk, eggs) hydrates the starch in the flour when heated • Starch absorb moisture and swell and form a paste which stiffens, known as gelatinization • The fat tenderizes the cake • When heated the fat melts, releasing the air it holds, and combines with the coagulated cake

14. How It Works • Setting a cake cont… • Sugar both flavors and tenderizes a cake • Malliard Reaction – sugars and proteins combine giving cake its characteristic brown color • Heat • Baked at a moderate 350 F. • Temp too low – fat melts too quickly, releasing the leavening gases before the other elements set, preventing the cake from rising • Temp too high – crust forms before the center sets, causing a soggy center with gases that continue to expand late in baking process, which can crack the crust

15. How It Works • Cooling and Storage • Why? To allow the flours gelatinized starch to gel and firm up the cake • Removed too soon = cake will stick to the pan • Removed too late = the cake will steam so much that it will become soggy • Shortened Cakes • Should be cooled in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes to all cool air to circulate beneath the pan bottom and speed cooling • Foam Cakes • Completely cool upside down to avoid crushing their delicate texture

16. How It Works • Cooling and Storage • The Fridge – dries out cakes • The Freezer – a good storage place especially if the cake is high in fat • Wrap completely cooled cakes tightly in plastic to prevent air from reaching the cake and speed spoilage