Cakes and quick breads
Cakes and quick breads Cakes and quick breads outline • Cakes – Shortened • Pound – Standard shortened cake – Quick Conventional – Sponge • Angel food • Sponge Cakes and quick breads outline • Cake problems • General functions of ingredients • Cake cookery Cakes and quick breads • Cakes and quick breads (muffins) are very similar, except that quick breads are leaner, e.g., they contain less fat and sugar (tenderizers) Cakes and quick breads Sugar(T)/ Flour(c) Fat(T)/ Flour(c) Muffins 2 2 Cakes 8 4 Shortened cakes • Pound – Little or no leavening except for air and steam – Has a heavy, compact texture • Standard shortened cake – This is a common mix type cake – Objectives in mixing • Uniform distribution of ingredients • Minimum loss of leavening • Optimum blending to develop the desired amount of gluten, i.e., texture Mix types • Quick cake mix – Flour goes into the mix at the beginning and is beaten the whole time – This would tend to overdevelop the gluten and make the cake tough – To counteract this the recipe has a higher sugar/flour ratio, is somewhat higher in liquid, and has added emulsifiers to keep the water and fat together during mixing Mix types • Conventional cake mix – First the sugar and fat are creamed – Then beaten egg is added – Then flour and water are added, alternately, with beating – In this mix the flour is beaten less than in the quick cake mix, thus, it can have a lower sugar/flour ratio Quick cake mix Flour goes in here Beaten whole time Might over-form gluten, to counteract use higher sugar/flour ratio beat beat Cream sugar and fat Add beaten egg Conventional cake mix beat Add flour and water alternately Sponge cakes • Ingredients – Eggs, sugar, flour, and flavoring – Principally leavened with air – True sponge cakes have no added fat (except what is present in the egg yolks, if these are used) Sponge cake types • Angel food – Uses only egg whites • True sponge (yellow sponge) – Uses white and yolks • Important techniques in sponge cake preparation – Making stable egg protein foams • Add cream of tartar to do this – Folding in other ingredients Folding technique Folding Image courtesy of www2.hawaii.edu/lynn/chapter13.html Angel food cake Image courtesy of www.orst.edu/food-resource/egg/sponge.html Angel food vs sponge Image courtesy of www.orst.edu/food-resource/egg/sponge.html Cake problems • Coarse texture – Fat creamed too little – Cake rose then fell • Cake falls – Too tender • Too much fat • Too much sugar • Too little beating Fine texture, coarse texture, and tunnels Fine Coarse Images courtesy of www2.hawaii.edu/lynn/ chapter14.html Tunnels (due to overmixing) Fallen cakes Image courtesy of www.orst.edu/food-resource/egg/sponge.html Cake problems • Cake tough – Too much water – Too much (or wrong kind of) flour – Too much beating – Too little sugar – Too little fat Functions of ingredients Tenderizers Structure formers Sugar Fat Eggs Flour Liquid Beating Practical cake cookery • Exact measurement of ingredients is very important • Flour substitutions – n cups of cake flour (low protein) = (nc - 2T) all purpose flour (higher protein) Baking • Loaf cakes – Bake at ~350oF • Cup cakes – Bake at ~375-400oF – A higher temperature is used because the smaller size of the cupcake allows quick heat penetration without over-browning the outside. This provides quicker cooking and reduced energy usage. • Lightning Quiz
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