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