Cake Moody Blues

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Permalink Reply by suziq auzzi on February 5, 2012 at 3:20am

The weird "pphhtting" is all to do with aeration and how/why the cake rises.

When sugar  is beaten into butter,it makes air bubbles in the butter. As you cream the mixture, the holes increase in number and size until it is fully earated ie light and fluffy, and the sugar is fully dissolved - about 5-8 minutes. Once the remaining ingredients are added, and it is in the oven, the leaveners take over - releasing gas. Once baking, the water in the butter turns to steam, which in turn aids the rising action.  If the method uses the creaming technique, then the substitution of oil means a lack of aeration - thus a heavier cake because the lack of structure.

Once baking, the leaveners are releasing gas, but the structure is not there for it to occupy. It dissapates, it accumulates, it bubbles - seemingly from underneath .. Inverted on a rack, the base has the appearance of a "fallen cake" - only it's the base bubbled upwards.

Also: Butter is 80% fat and 20% water. If the butter amount is, for example, 4.75 cups, 38 ounces, or just over 1 kilo, then 800g is fat and 200g is water. To substitue liquid oil for butter, then you would used 800g [weighed not volume, as every oil is a different density] and you would have to add 200mls water to make up the shortfall. And, oil cannot create structure.

Unless the recipe was specifically written to use oil, then there is a lot of re-jigging that would be required to make a butter recipe work substituting oil. All things considered, even then, there would be no guarantee of success.

   

 

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Permalink Reply by Tracy Deadman on February 5, 2012 at 5:04am

What an amazing science lesson - Thanks Suziq Tx
 
suziq auzzi said:

The weird "pphhtting" is all to do with aeration and how/why the cake rises.

When sugar  is beaten into butter,it makes air bubbles in the butter. As you cream the mixture, the holes increase in number and size until it is fully earated ie light and fluffy, and the sugar is fully dissolved - about 5-8 minutes. Once the remaining ingredients are added, and it is in the oven, the leaveners take over - releasing gas. Once baking, the water in the butter turns to steam, which in turn aids the rising action.  If the method uses the creaming technique, then the substitution of oil means a lack of aeration - thus a heavier cake because the lack of structure.

Once baking, the leaveners are releasing gas, but the structure is not there for it to occupy. It dissapates, it accumulates, it bubbles - seemingly from underneath .. Inverted on a rack, the base has the appearance of a "fallen cake" - only it's the base bubbled upwards.

Also: Butter is 80% fat and 20% water. If the butter amount is, for example, 4.75 cups, 38 ounces, or just over 1 kilo, then 800g is fat and 200g is water. To substitue liquid oil for butter, then you would used 800g [weighed not volume, as every oil is a different density] and you would have to add 200mls water to make up the shortfall. And, oil cannot create structure.

Unless the recipe was specifically written to use oil, then there is a lot of re-jigging that would be required to make a butter recipe work substituting oil. All things considered, even then, there would be no guarantee of success.

   

 

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Permalink Reply by June Kowalczyk on February 5, 2012 at 5:57pm

Yes, I was going to look this up in my Cake Bible book. She explains the "science" of cake baking. Unless you are a expert baker, and even then, when you are baking cakes & pastries, you really need to stick to the recipe.  If you are going to "substitute" you really have to know what your doing. As suzig stated above.

Doctoring a cake mix is one thing, but from scratch is another.  From scratch you should measure/weigh all your ingredients carefully.

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Permalink Reply by Natasha on February 6, 2012 at 2:11am

hi ladies, thanks for your feedback.

The recipe I used called for oil -so i followed it to the letter (i'm new at this so "i do, and add" only that which the recipe calls for. lol....babysteps

Suziq your explanation of what happened inside the oven is spot on in terms of how the cake looked during and after it came out of the oven.... It was a lesson learnt- a costly one- but one i will not easily forget.

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Permalink Reply by June Kowalczyk on February 6, 2012 at 8:01am

Hey

I have been baking since I was 13...I have had more than my share of failures!!!!!  We all have. One thing though for my generation, I'm 60, most of us had Home Economics in elementary school.  You learned the basics, what to do, what not to do in baking, I learned to sew,  and so many other things. When I had my children, those programs in school went the way of the Dinosaurs!!!  Too bad, cause there is a whole generation that don't know how to be practical as far as cooking & baking and the shopping for it. You really can save $$$$ when you know some of the basics.

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Permalink Reply by Natasha on February 8, 2012 at 8:17am

Hi June, when I read your response I thought...."oooooh burn!"

I can only imagine how tiresome it must be for you when questions are asked about baking- "what to do....what not to do in baking"- especially when the questions posed are so elementary.

 

As you said:"there is a whole generation that dont know how to be practical as far as cooking & baking and  the shopping for it is concerned...a whole generation that can save $$$ when they know some of the basics."

 

But I dont think one should generalize- as I've seen some remarkable bakers from this generation that can cook, bake, shop, clean, sew, build...

However I for one, dont know all the basics. Therefore my questions, i guess, are really elementary-(what with my baking since Oct 2011- a whole 4 months-and with master bakers as yourself going on 47 years.

 

I am not practical as far as 'baking and the shopping for it" is concerned- not yet that is. At times I end up buying bigger quantities of the actual ingredients I need, out of fear of "what if!?"

Am I the only one that does that. Maybe I am- but for now I'm OK with that- I take it in my stride.

 

I salute  all the great bakers as yourself that call on elementary physics to study matter whilst they're preparing their baking tins.

I'm still calling on my brother for help- even if it means he must just sit- to keep me company.

 

To all the forum members whom I've bombarded with "how do i do"...or "how did you do that?" types of questions- my apologies if I've frustrated you.

 

There is a Chinese proverb that says "He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever"

So, I can either pretend I know everything- or open myself up...and just ask

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Permalink Reply by June Kowalczyk on February 8, 2012 at 8:36am

OMG Natasha

Don't ever apologize for asking questions. That's how we all learn. I did the same thing. I can tell you as a young bride, reading a recipe, and thinking...Huh????  what does that mean??? Then asking my Mom, only to have her titter.  And ya...why pretend you know???  That drives me nuts, cause you cannot know everything about everything. I was, still am, a slow learner. That was very hurful in school, so I began to think I was "stupid". God bless my Dad, but his favorite phrase was....."What a stupid question", or "Don't be stupid".  Poor Dad, it took me years to realize that he felt inferior & that he felt he had show he knew everything.

So I purposed to never do that to my children, husband, friends, family...you know.

Although, I must admit, I have teased my daughter now & then. She CAN'T....cook. Her hubby is a great cook. But she, and is becoming a good baker. But I see hope on the horizon. My daughter just moved 6 hrs. away, hubby in a job, his own boss, working 10 hr days. So he doesn't have the time to spend cooking like he use to.  She is currently unemployed cause she lost her job when they moved.  Lo & behold....she has discovered, GASP, cooking!!!!!  She is scouring the internet for healthy recipes all the time. So pleased. My showing how to cook, when she was obviously bored to tears, wasn't wasted!!

 The food network shows on tv help immensely too. They explain & SHOW what to do. So this helps this generation become good cooks.

We all have to start somewhere, and I belive in helping where I can & giving a leg up.

:0)

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Permalink Reply by Tiffany Whitson York on February 9, 2012 at 12:39am

I am only 26 and had home ecs and learned baking in school-though i was baking even younger than that! i love it. i am completely self-taught in the cake business though and have only been working with my marshmallow fondant for about 2 years.So with all this, i have definitly had my epic fails.(check out my Buck head cake pic on here, first attempt at something this big, this shape, with any kind of real structure-yikes!)it sucks but you walk away knowing you learned something...then try to suppress it until someone brings it up! haha.

 

But more seriously, if you were using say a box recipe-as i do often for time-then it is possible that you either did not beat it enough in the mixer or too much. if you do not get the proper amount of air worked into a cake, even one pre-laid out on a box-then you will wind up with a disaster.when they state 30 seconds to blend then 2 minutes on medium, then they eman it trust me! haha.as far as substituting, we luckily have the technology with the INternet that allows us to pull resources from others.if you ever want to sub something simply google it and you will find a tested recipe using that! i love that. plus experimenting is funas well.just not on a cake you plan to give out. ;)

 

also, do you use bake even strips? or a metal flower nail in the batter to help keep your cake level while baking? if not, especially for one that size, i would recommend doing so.they really do help.the strips are kind of expensive, but if you simply put one of those flower nails(coat just like the pan) in the middle of the pan then pour batter as usualy-which leave the pointy part of nail sticking out-this allows air to circulate better and decreases the chance of getting that mound in the cake you have to later cut off. can save a lot of time. good luck!

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Permalink Reply by June Kowalczyk on February 9, 2012 at 7:12am

Yes Tiffany I also use the rose nails. The bigger the pan, the more I use. I also take a clean tea towel, and when my cake is fresh out of the oven, wearing oven gloves, I lay the t towel over the cake and gently push down.

This "spreads" out the cake into the pan & "flattens" it. You know since I joined this site, I have answered the same types of baking questions & "how much should I charge" questions it seems a billion times.

We should really have one spot/forum/area for strictly cake baking issues and money related issues for Caking.

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Permalink Reply by Martin Brown on February 16, 2012 at 5:13pm

Hi Natasha, your right if you never ask you will never know ! You asked about putting lights in a cake, i have given tips to 2 ladies in Scotland , a lady in India and yourself and will always offer my advice , a couple of the teachers at the college where i work asked about making roses and i gave them an hour of my time and now there is no stopping them !! Still waiting to see your Mr Bean mini !!!

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