THE CHINA MAIL, FEBRUARY 5, 1938.
Does Your Cake Fall When It Is Taken Out Of The Oven
this is
then article
for you
Does your cake fall assemble cake ingredients in cor- when you take it out of rect quantities in advance.
[UNDERSTAND TECHNIQUE)
the oven? If so, this arti- cle is intended for you. We know how every wo- man wants her cakes to be a success, and when she tries over and over, that it does literally "cream" and and yet the
the recipe cakes have become milky. When some fault of texture, use of a rotary egg
says "beat," it generally means the beater or a
The young housekeeper may not
always be familiar with recipe terms and technique. Thus when it says "cream" the butter, it means to beat the butter over and over so-
or
most discouraging. Cake to allow the entrance of air. When mix, you may flavour it different-shoe" type of heater rather than
motion which
will
method of frosting its surfaces.
beater.
taste or appearance, it is large cake spoon having slits in it various chopped ingredients to the it is advisable to use the flat
it says "fold” it does not mean ly ingredients and
or colour it as you please; and of the more familiar rotary oven beat: to fold means to incorporate course you may entirely change its Also, by beating the whites on fuel must be estimated, one mass into another with a light character by the type, colour and large platter, and
over-and-over and it is disheartening to not break up the air bubbles. It is waste not only time but most important to know this term When it de- money when the cake and to use it rightly.
mands "sift flour" this fails to please. So read that the flour must be sifted before
indicates 1.
this entire article care-measuring in order to secure the
Be right proportion. fully.
that your measuring cup is a genuine 2. standard cup, with accurate level measurements indicated
use
sure
•
on one
:
often
more accurate kit-
6.
7.
[QUALITY MATERIALS] The quality of any finished pro-side, and that the measuring spoon duct can be only as good as the is also a true standard spoon. Very 8. quality of the raw material employ frequently the so-called measuring ed in its making. Nothing could cup is entirely inaccurate, be a greater mistake than to
failing by several ounces of the 4. third-grade eggs, renovated or right contents, 1 standard mea- "second" butter and inferior spices suring cup. holds 16 level ounces. in cake making. "Bake with the In making very fine or unusual 5. best" is a good motto for the cake cakes it is best to measure ingre- maker to follow. Rather do with-
dients on the out cake than attempt a fine
chen scale. pro- duct with risky ingredients. Use the best of butters, eggs which are genuinely fresh (stale eggs will never whip light and stiff) and genuine spices which have been re- cently opened from air-tight cans. [ASSEMBLE ALL INGREDIENTS]
Much time and effort is saved if materials and equipment is assem- bled before the slightest attempt at mixing is made. On a table, get together the bowls, beaters and the right cake pan to be used. See
that it is absolutely clean, and if it needs greasing, dusting with flour or lining with paper, do all this in advance. Be sure the pan
is the right size for the recipe to be used: baking in a very thin lay- er may toughen a mixture which would be light and fluffy when bak- ed thicker, etc. Look at the oven and get it ready to light.
Also
00:
[TWO CHIEF TYPES]
:
It must be borne in mind that there are two different main types of cakes. One 8.
chief and entirely
is a Butter Cake, which as its name implies contains а considerable amount of butter as an ingredient. The other, the Sponge Cake, has no butter or other shortening, and is made with a different technique: Suppose we look for a moment at this simple standard or Basic Re- cipe for Butter Cake, and, see how we should mix and bake it:
1/3 cup of butter shortening
1 cup granulated sugar---
egg yolks, well beaten teaspoon vanilla
2
1
2
cups pastry flour
3
teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon sal
2/3 cup milk
9.
10.
[10 SECRETS OF SUCCESS)
Cream shortening. Never melt it, but with a cake spoon, soften and beat the butter until it looks milky.
slowly.
B
Add sugar
About 1 tablespoon at
time so the sugar crystals will become in- corporated fully. Add egg yolks, one at a time And beat well after each addi-
tion.
2
Sift all dry ingredients together 3 times, to achieve the most per- fect blending.
Add dry ingredients alternately with milk or liquid,' to avoid the lumps which might occur if added too suddenly. Add flavouring.
a
small adding quantities at a time, what amounts to a meringue is achieved. This is just the mixture which is really the basic foundation of all "sponge" which is baked in a casserole. mixtures, including the souffle
Another point: butter cakes re- quire that the baking pan be greas- ed, floured and even
lined with paper. Sponge cakes are always baked in an ungreased pan so that they will not "stick." Invert the cake pan to cool so that the sponge cake "hangs” while cooling. This shrinks the cake, and makes it eas- ier to remove from the pan.
[WHY CAKES FAIL]
And now here are many reasons whey cakes fail. Suppose you look through them carefully and see if you can locate the particular trou- Fold in stiffly whipped whites.ble of your particular cake: Beat until whites begin to stand in peaks and whip can be re- moved dry.
Failure Cake "falls"; Probable Cause Too little flour; or too much fat; or too much baking pow- ader.
or
Pour into pan greased with mon-salty shortening. Fill pan Failure-Cake has cracks only 2/3 full to allow space for humps; Probable Cause Too much rising.
Bake at specified temperature for cake of its type.
ho Powder.
flour; or too little baking
Failure-Cake is
and much
gummy; Probable Cause-Too sugar; or too little baking powder.
Failure Cake has moist sticky
Cake is baked when it shrinks from the pan, when it springs as it's lightly pressed with the crust; Probable Cause-Too much finger, and when it allows a sugar. straw or wire tester to "come clean" after being inserted in the cake
[SPONGE CAKE] And now for the other type cake, the Sponge Cake:
6 egg yolks, well beaten 1 cup granulated sugar, sifted grated rind, lemon
2 tablespoons lemon juice 6 egg whites, whipped stiff 1 cup sifted pastry flour.
1⁄2 teaspoon baking powder 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
of
egg whites, stiffly whipped Cream shortening, add sugar gradually and cream together thor- oughly. Add beaten yolks and beat until well blended. Add vanilla. Sift together all dry ingredients. Add alternately with milk to first mix-until thick and lemon-coloured. Beat egg yolks with wire whip ture. Fold in stiffly whipped whites. Gradually add sifted sugar, Use greased loaf pan, and bake ing. continually.
beat- about 1 hour, moderate oven (350 and juice. Using a large platter Add lemon rind degrees F); or use greased layer and a wire "shoe" beater, whip egg cake pans and bake about 25 min-whites stiff but not dry. Fold half utes, moderate oven (375 degrees egg whites into first mixture. Fold F), (Makes 1 small loaf or 2 9-inch in dry ingredients sifted together layers).
3 times. Fold in remaining egg
I may say, parenthetically, that whites. Pour into greased tube if you can make one good delicious pan. Bake about 50 minutes, mod- and delicate butter cake, you are ferate oven (350 degrees F.) Re. able to make a hundred variations move from oven and invert to cool. of it! You may bake it in one loaf It may be noted that when beat- or in
several layers, you may adding eggs for sponge cake mixtures,
Failure Cake is coarse-grained, Probable Cause--Too much fat; or too much baking powder, or -too little mixing; or too slow baking.
Failure-Cake has mottled "mac- aroon" crust; Probable Cause-Too much sugar; or too slow an oven.
Failure Cake is dry; Probable Cause-Too much flour; or too lit- tle fat; or too much baking powder.
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