In these tough economic times, it can be hard to pursue a hobby like cake decorating. My husband lovingly refers to my baking as my "expensive hobby" and he's right. I've spent more on baking supplies than I have on my own wardrobe in the last year, which is saying a lot.
Truth be told, I hate shopping...for clothes. I really do. I love clothes, I love the fabrics, I love fashion, but let's face it, when you have an hourglass figure with long torso, short inseam (27"!), and broad shoulders with big boobs, it gets ridiculously hard to find clothes that a) fit and b) are within your price range. Typically, when I find something that meets criteria A, I usually have to back away quickly from the item lest my bank account gets drained just by looking at it. I have good taste and a hard figure to fit.
So when I say that I love to find a good sale, it means I love the sleuthing that goes hand in hand. You can sale stalk a baking book and if it doesn't fit the moment you try it on, you can always wait until the next sale. Unlike that ridiculously cute chocolate brown vintage inspired Michael Kors one piece swimsuit that fit like a glove and made you look damn sexy but was still too damn expensive even on 50% clearance...ahem. I digress.
[Loud stage whisper] So what is my super secret to finding baking supplies on sale?
Showing posts with label Cake Notes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cake Notes. Show all posts
Friday, March 19, 2010
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Cake Notes: All About Chiffon Cakes
Howdy folks!
Today I had the pleasure of making a chiffon cake for the first time as I found myself stranded at home and with enough milk for one sippy cup.
I had planned on making a cake for a friend today while my husband was at work with the car, but when I was getting a cup for the kiddo, I discovered my lack of lactose. So as I lay on the couch, drifting in and out of sleep with Dora the Explorer playing on the telly (that provided some weird trippy dreams), I tried to think of what I would do. If I had the car, I'd just take a trip around the corner to my store. I could call my best friend and see if she'd bring over some milk or at least pick some up for me, but I didn't want to bug her just yet. Then I remembered an episode of Good Eats in which Alton made a chiffon cup cakes. I searched my memory and could not remember him using butter or milk for the recipe. Sure enough, chiffon cake is made of sugar, flour, eggs, and oil. I had three dozen eggs, cake flour, sugar, and a big ol' bottle of veggie oil. DONE!
If you're scratching your head and wondering what the heck a chiffon cake is, let me enlighten you. When you eat a boxed cake mix, essentially you're eating a chiffon cake. It's a cake that is light and fluffy in texture and made with eggs and oil as opposed to using butter for the fat. An angel food cake is also similar in texture. It shares it's name with the fabric because it's texture is similar to chiffon–airy and fluffy. It was created back in 1927 by a fella named Harry Baker who was an insurance salesman turned baker (he definitely had the name for it!). He stumbled upon the formulation for an amazingly light and airy cake that was delicious and kept it secret for 20 years until he sold it to General Mills. GM then released it in a Betty Crocker pamphlet in 1948 and the rest as they say, is history!
Ever since 1948, America has has a love affair with chiffon cakes and it's no wonder. They're darn tasty and the texture is moist, which appeals to the palate more than a drier genoise. It's also less dense than a butter cake and does taste nearly as rich. I guess in a culture where we like to super size our portions, a chiffon cake makes us feel like we can have more than just one bite, lol! Chiffon cakes also tend to stay moist longer than a butter cake because of the oil. The loft of a chiffon cake is due to whipping egg whites which are then folded into the batter. It's difficult to beat air into oil, so the egg whites are essential to this recipe.
So how did my foray into the land of chiffon cakes go? First off, I started with my mise en place and put everything together. I had originally calculated on using four batches of American butter cake batter for the cake, so I quadrupled the chiffon cake recipe. While it was good in theory, it was not so much in practice! Not only did I end up with enough batter to make a three tiered cake and three dozen cupcakes, I also ended up using every bowl in my kitchen including my new 6 quart bowl for my Kitchen Aid! Because chiffon cakes end up using whipped egg whites to fluff up the batter, it takes up a lot of room so I had to separate it out into different bowls to avoid making a huge mess and screwing up the folding part. Two batches would have been a better bet to start with. Then I could have whipped up another two later to make the cupcakes.
I also learned that if you're going to dye the batter a different color, like I did, it's best to do that before you add the egg whites so that you don't lose the volume. I dyed it towards the end of adding my egg whites and the mess was horrific. It came out to be a beautiful color and still rose nicely, but my execution could have been better.
Thirdly, Alton's recipe and method is great, but a little salty. Fortunately the salty taste will be offset by the buttercream frosting, but I prefer my cakes to have a sweet overtaste. And if you use his recipe, reduce the time to ten minutes for cupcakes and 20-25 minutes for cakes. His recipe states that it will make 1 dozen cupcakes; I got two dozen decent sized cupcakes with nice domes.
Lastly, sky blue and pink make gray when mixed together in cake batter. Oops. Oh well, at least I have some tasty cupcakes to send to work with my husband!
I don't know that I will abandon my trusty butter cake just yet, but a chiffon cake is definitely a nice diversion from normalcy every once in awhile!
Happy Baking,
Kelly
Today I had the pleasure of making a chiffon cake for the first time as I found myself stranded at home and with enough milk for one sippy cup.
I had planned on making a cake for a friend today while my husband was at work with the car, but when I was getting a cup for the kiddo, I discovered my lack of lactose. So as I lay on the couch, drifting in and out of sleep with Dora the Explorer playing on the telly (that provided some weird trippy dreams), I tried to think of what I would do. If I had the car, I'd just take a trip around the corner to my store. I could call my best friend and see if she'd bring over some milk or at least pick some up for me, but I didn't want to bug her just yet. Then I remembered an episode of Good Eats in which Alton made a chiffon cup cakes. I searched my memory and could not remember him using butter or milk for the recipe. Sure enough, chiffon cake is made of sugar, flour, eggs, and oil. I had three dozen eggs, cake flour, sugar, and a big ol' bottle of veggie oil. DONE!
If you're scratching your head and wondering what the heck a chiffon cake is, let me enlighten you. When you eat a boxed cake mix, essentially you're eating a chiffon cake. It's a cake that is light and fluffy in texture and made with eggs and oil as opposed to using butter for the fat. An angel food cake is also similar in texture. It shares it's name with the fabric because it's texture is similar to chiffon–airy and fluffy. It was created back in 1927 by a fella named Harry Baker who was an insurance salesman turned baker (he definitely had the name for it!). He stumbled upon the formulation for an amazingly light and airy cake that was delicious and kept it secret for 20 years until he sold it to General Mills. GM then released it in a Betty Crocker pamphlet in 1948 and the rest as they say, is history!
Ever since 1948, America has has a love affair with chiffon cakes and it's no wonder. They're darn tasty and the texture is moist, which appeals to the palate more than a drier genoise. It's also less dense than a butter cake and does taste nearly as rich. I guess in a culture where we like to super size our portions, a chiffon cake makes us feel like we can have more than just one bite, lol! Chiffon cakes also tend to stay moist longer than a butter cake because of the oil. The loft of a chiffon cake is due to whipping egg whites which are then folded into the batter. It's difficult to beat air into oil, so the egg whites are essential to this recipe.
See the bubbles? That notes the amount of air within the batter that contributes to the loft and texture of the cake. If you were to press on the cake, it would feel spongy.
So how did my foray into the land of chiffon cakes go? First off, I started with my mise en place and put everything together. I had originally calculated on using four batches of American butter cake batter for the cake, so I quadrupled the chiffon cake recipe. While it was good in theory, it was not so much in practice! Not only did I end up with enough batter to make a three tiered cake and three dozen cupcakes, I also ended up using every bowl in my kitchen including my new 6 quart bowl for my Kitchen Aid! Because chiffon cakes end up using whipped egg whites to fluff up the batter, it takes up a lot of room so I had to separate it out into different bowls to avoid making a huge mess and screwing up the folding part. Two batches would have been a better bet to start with. Then I could have whipped up another two later to make the cupcakes.
I also learned that if you're going to dye the batter a different color, like I did, it's best to do that before you add the egg whites so that you don't lose the volume. I dyed it towards the end of adding my egg whites and the mess was horrific. It came out to be a beautiful color and still rose nicely, but my execution could have been better.
I guess I could call them silver!
Thirdly, Alton's recipe and method is great, but a little salty. Fortunately the salty taste will be offset by the buttercream frosting, but I prefer my cakes to have a sweet overtaste. And if you use his recipe, reduce the time to ten minutes for cupcakes and 20-25 minutes for cakes. His recipe states that it will make 1 dozen cupcakes; I got two dozen decent sized cupcakes with nice domes.
Lastly, sky blue and pink make gray when mixed together in cake batter. Oops. Oh well, at least I have some tasty cupcakes to send to work with my husband!
I don't know that I will abandon my trusty butter cake just yet, but a chiffon cake is definitely a nice diversion from normalcy every once in awhile!
Happy Baking,
Kelly
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Cake Notes: All About Velvet Cakes
Everyone is familiar with a red velvet cake, that Southern standard that melts in your mouth with that luxurious feel, hence the name. Since I took a turn from the traditional this week and made a BLUE velvet cake, I thought I would share some of the research I've gleaned on the history of these cakes and a couple of pointers to make your velvet cake oh so yummy!
The red color may be the trademark of a velvet cake, but how it came about is really a case of an oops gone wonderfully right. Look at just about any red velvet cake recipe and you will see that in addition to the red food coloring, it calls for cocoa powder. Why might this be? Back when the cake was first developed, it was actually a chocolate cake recipe. But because the quality of cocoa powder back then was so poor, it would react with the acid in the buttermilk, causing oxidation during baking and creating that rusty red color we all know and love.
Of course, the quality of cocoa powder has increased considerably and we no longer have that reaction during baking prompting the addition of food coloring in the recipe now. Should you ever stumble across a recipe that does NOT include cocoa powder, I'd steer clear. Part of the joy of a velvet cake is not just the velvety texture (thanks to using vegetable oil in lieu of butter) but the subtle taste of chocolate. You can swap out the red for any color you want, but because of the cocoa powder, you're better off to sticking with darker colors like red, blue, green, or even purple!
On a technical note, I strongly recommend that you use a gel coloring when doing a velvet cake. It's concentrated formula means you will use less of it which won't alter the cake flavor. Using food coloring from the grocery store will water down the recipe since you have to use so much of it and that's no good. I also recommend that you mix the gel with the buttermilk thoroughly prior to adding to the batter. One, this will ensure even color distribution (I did not do this and ended up with little chunks of bright blue gel on the bottom of the cakes which I had to pop out), and two, you won't over beat the batter trying to get it all incorporated. That would increase the gluten bonds in the cake making it tough and dense instead of smooth and light.
In regards to the icing, this kind of cake requires a crumb coat. I had to ice mine in three different rounds to make sure that none of the cake showed through. Make sure you're icing is room temperature (in fact, nuking it in the microwave for about 15 to 20 seconds on medium power might not be a bad idea) and spread on the crumb coat. Pop it in the fridge for about 20 minutes, then repeat with another layer, a little thicker than your crumb coat. Pop it back in the fridge for another 20 minutes or so, and then slap on your last layer and there you go!
I hope you enjoyed that little history lesson and that my notes help you out. Good luck and enjoy a slice of Southern goodness, y'all!
Kelly
The red color may be the trademark of a velvet cake, but how it came about is really a case of an oops gone wonderfully right. Look at just about any red velvet cake recipe and you will see that in addition to the red food coloring, it calls for cocoa powder. Why might this be? Back when the cake was first developed, it was actually a chocolate cake recipe. But because the quality of cocoa powder back then was so poor, it would react with the acid in the buttermilk, causing oxidation during baking and creating that rusty red color we all know and love.
Of course, the quality of cocoa powder has increased considerably and we no longer have that reaction during baking prompting the addition of food coloring in the recipe now. Should you ever stumble across a recipe that does NOT include cocoa powder, I'd steer clear. Part of the joy of a velvet cake is not just the velvety texture (thanks to using vegetable oil in lieu of butter) but the subtle taste of chocolate. You can swap out the red for any color you want, but because of the cocoa powder, you're better off to sticking with darker colors like red, blue, green, or even purple!
On a technical note, I strongly recommend that you use a gel coloring when doing a velvet cake. It's concentrated formula means you will use less of it which won't alter the cake flavor. Using food coloring from the grocery store will water down the recipe since you have to use so much of it and that's no good. I also recommend that you mix the gel with the buttermilk thoroughly prior to adding to the batter. One, this will ensure even color distribution (I did not do this and ended up with little chunks of bright blue gel on the bottom of the cakes which I had to pop out), and two, you won't over beat the batter trying to get it all incorporated. That would increase the gluten bonds in the cake making it tough and dense instead of smooth and light.
In regards to the icing, this kind of cake requires a crumb coat. I had to ice mine in three different rounds to make sure that none of the cake showed through. Make sure you're icing is room temperature (in fact, nuking it in the microwave for about 15 to 20 seconds on medium power might not be a bad idea) and spread on the crumb coat. Pop it in the fridge for about 20 minutes, then repeat with another layer, a little thicker than your crumb coat. Pop it back in the fridge for another 20 minutes or so, and then slap on your last layer and there you go!
I hope you enjoyed that little history lesson and that my notes help you out. Good luck and enjoy a slice of Southern goodness, y'all!
Kelly
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