First is bleaching, which gives a whiter crumb color to cakes but second and more importantly it lowers the gelatinization temperature of the starch within the cake flour. High ratio cakes are mixed using the High Ratio or Two Step Mixing Method.Ĭhlorination of cake flour provides two great benefits. The liquid ingredients(including eggs), should weigh the same as or more than the sugar.Eggs should weigh almost as much as or slightly more than the fat.

It is the weight and NOT the volume that counts.

The sugar should weigh the same or slightly more than the flour.

Following these ingredient proportions will ensure a high-ratio cake that is not too dry or too moist: There are three formulas for preparing the sweeter high ratio cakes that contain more sugar than flour, by weight. Soft wheat flours are generally low in water absorption and do not require harsh mixing or a long mix time. ( High ratio cakes are where the sugar is higher than the flour level, by weight.) Other lower gluten flour types include Southern bleached all-purpose and pastry flour. To help prevent this, you'll see cake recipes especially high-ratio ones, typically made with chlorinated soft wheat flours, such as bleached cake flour, a potentially containing low-gluten forming proteins. It's gluten from the wheat flour that gives dough its strength and elasticity - qualities we want in yeast breads, but not in cakes. The bad part about gluten is that too much - from too much mixing or using the wrong type of flour - creates a tough, dry and flavorless cake. The flour's starches gelatinize or set when baked. The vast majority of cakes - with the exception of cheesecakes, foam cakes and gluten-free cakes - contain wheat flour as very backbone of their composition. It establishes the crumb structure in cakes and is used to bind all of the other ingredients together during the cake making process. Wheat flour contains two very important proteins, glutenin and gliadin, when mixed with moisture and stirred, create its structural network. STANDARD CAKE PROPORTIONS (%) AND QUALITIES: Cakes have a higher proportion of sugar, milk and fat to flour than do breads, and the flour used is usually cake flour. Overall, the flour mixtures that produce cakes and cookies are very similar to those used to make breads, although they are sweeter and often have added flavorings not typically used in breads. Salt, Sugar, Cocoa, Chocolate, Butter, Vanilla, other flavors

Water, Liquid Milk, Liquid Eggs, Syrups, Liquid Sugarsįlour, Milk Solids, Instant Starch, Gums, Egg Whites Sugar, Fats, Egg Yolks, Chocolate, Leavenings, Emulsifiers, Starches, Gums will make your cakes more tender or weaker Toughenersįlour, Milk Solids, Egg Whites will make your cake tougher or stronger The melt-in-your-mouth texture comes from tiny air holes left in the cake's structure, created through mixing, serving as nuclei and enlarged through the carbon dioxide gas from the chemical leaveners, heat and /or steam during baking. The sugar and fat in the recipe, as well as any acids, tenderize the cake, as well they interfere with gluten formation and egg protein coagulation, interrupting the network of gelated starch. But, if the recipe is unbalanced, for example, if there's too much sugar and fat, the cake's structure is weakened so much it cannot support its own weight and will collapse. Too much flour and too many eggs may make the cake tough and/or dry. Decorated cakes include wedding cakes.Ī cake's structure is created mainly from the combination of the flour's starches, by the proteins in whole eggs, egg whites, and/or in milk. Afterwards, cakes can be filled, frosted or glazed and decorated. However, the goal is always to the same: to create great cake recipes through a delicate balance of its ingredients - making sure they have the strength to hold the recipe together, but still create a tender, moist and flavorful cake. Different mixing methods also result in different cakes, as do the type of pansused and their treatment, timing, temperature, baking, cooling and storage. SARAH SAYS: The ingredients used to make shortened (butter) and unshortened (foam) cakes differ. Basic Cake Ingredients - Ingredients for CakeĬopyright © 2000 Sarah Phillips All rights reserved.

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