Shortened cakes are the most commonly prepared cakes, especially for birthday and wedding celebrations. They can be made from scratch, purchased already made, or made from a cake mix. If instantly questioned, I am sure we can readily name our favorite cake - Chocolate, Devil's food cake, lemon, strawberry, marbled chocolate and vanilla, or even yellow layer cake and sometimes, white cake. These are American butter cakes which typically have a moist, tender crumb and fine, even grain. If you mention Bundt or loaf cake, they are typically made with a Pound Cake, another type of shortened cake, being denser than the classic American one, yet still with a tender crumb. Many coffee cakes, sour cream cakes, and fruit crumb cakes are variations of pound cake.
What these cakes have in common are that they contain some sort of fat - often butter, but sometimes oil - and are mostly leavened by baking powder and/or soda and acid, as well as steam and air. If the fat is solid fat (stick butter, margarine or shortening), it is creamed or beaten together with crystalline sugar in an electric mixer to incorporate air and partially dissolve the sugar. Then, the dry and wet ingredients are added in alternating doses, and the batter is baked in almost any size and shape. Flour, eggs, milk, spices, flavoring and other ingredients are varied to produce a wide assortment.
Oil cakes, such as carrot or zucchini, use liquid fats, such as vegetable oil, and are not creamed with sugar, but rather are generally mixed using the Muffin or Two Stage Mixing Method. They are leavened by baking powder and/or soda and acid, as well as steam and air, and tend to be denser and very moist.
Cake mixes are used to make a special type of oil cake that is especially light and fluffy. They are mixed using the All ingredient or Single Stage Mixing Method.
NOTE: The High Ratio or Two Step Mixing Method, an alternate mixing technique for butter cakes, whether dense or light, is used anytime you have a high ratio cake, where the weight of the sugar in the batter is equal to or greater than the weight of the flour. This involves mixing all the dry ingredients first, then beating in cold, but softened butter. Then, the liquid ingredients are slowly added. Mixing this way guarantees a smooth batter that doesn't separate, thus making for a light and delicate baked cake.
FOAM (UNSHORTENED) CAKES
Foam, chiffon, sponge, and angel cakes are in the latter class because they contain little or no added fat. Characteristically, foam cakes contain a large proportion of eggs or egg whites to a lesser proportion of sugar and very little wheat flour, if used at all. These cakes are classically leavened by steam and air and are baked in ungreased (tube) pans. Unshortened cakes are extremely light and fluffy with good volume and an open, even texture, but can also be dense and spongy or crispy and dry to melt-in-your-mouth tender, depending on extra ingredients added.All foam cake recipes begin with the Egg Foaming Mixing Method, created by whipping whole or separated whites and/or yolks, which is very different from the Creaming Method used for butter cakes. Both mixing methods serve the important purpose of creating millions of air bubbles, for eventual leavening and tenderizing, however, what sets foams cakes apart are their high proportion of eggs, sometimes up to a dozen, and the proteins they contain, and the foam structures (whites) create. Eggs contribute the main structure, strength, stability, and leavening to their recipes, eliminating the needed for added chemical leaveners (baking powder and baking soda), much flour and the necessity for plastic fat (butter, shortening) to help create and hold air bubbles.
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar