1. Chapter 25: Cakes and Cookies
Understanding Food
Chapter 25:
Cakes and Cookies

2. Types of Cakes The majority of cakes are: Shortened Unshortened
Chiffon
Cakes are classified according to whether or not they contain fat.

3. Types of Cakes
Shortened cake: A cake made with fat.

4. Types of Cakes
Unshortened cake: A cake made without added fat.

5. Types of Cakes
Chiffon cake: A cake made by combining the characteristics found in both shortened and unshortened cakes.
Fat, usually veg oil and egg yolks, is combined with foamed egg whites, cake flour, and leavening agents.

6. Mixing Techniques
“Mixing” is a general term that includes beating, blending, binding, creaming, whipping, and folding.
In mixing, two or more ingredients are evenly dispersed in one another until they become one product.

7. Beat: Blend: Bind: Cream: Whip: Fold: Mixing Techniques
Beat: The ingredients are moved vigorously in a back-and-forth, up-and-down, and around-and- around motion until they are smooth.
Blend: Ingredients are mixed so thoroughly that they become one.
Bind: Occurs when ingredients adhere to each other, as when breading is bound to fish.
Cream: To beat fat and sugar together until they take on a light, airy texture.
Whip: Very vigorous mixing, usually with a beater of some type, that incorporates air into such foods as whipping cream and egg whites.
Fold: One ingredient is gently incorporated into another by hand with a large spoon or spatula.

8. Mixing Techniques
There are many methods for combining the ingredients of cakes and other baked products, but the most commonly used are the conventional creaming), conventional sponge, single-stage (quick-mix), pastry-blend, biscuit, and muffin methods.

9. Conventional (Creaming) Method
Mixing Techniques
Conventional (Creaming) Method
The most time consuming, and is the method most frequently used for mixing cake ingredients.
It produces a fine-grained, velvety texture.
The three basic steps are:
1.) Creaming
2.) Egg incorporation
3.) Alternate addition of the dry and moist ingredients
Do not over-stir (creates a viscous mass that may not be able to rise during baking, and the texture will tend to be fine but compact or lower in volume, full of tunnels, and have a peaked instead of a rounded top).
Do not under-stir (results in a low-volume cake from an uneven distribution of baking powder or soda or an incorporation of air into the foam; texture tends to contain large pores, have a crumbly grain, and brown excessively).

10. Conventional Sponge Method
Mixing Techniques
Conventional Sponge Method
Identical to the creaming method except that a portion of the sugar is mixed in with the beaten egg or egg white, and the egg foam is folded into the batter in the end.

11. Single-Stage Method
Also known as the quick-mix, one-bowl, or dump method.
All the dry and liquid ingredients are mixed together at once.
Packaged mixes for cakes, biscuits, and other baked goods rely on this method.

12. Mixing Techniques Pastry-Blend Method
Fat is first cut into flour with a pastry blender, or with two knives crisscrossed against each other in a scissor-like fashion, to form a mealy fat-flour mixture.
Half the milk and all of the sugar, baking powder, and salt are then blended into the fat-flour mixture.
Lastly, eggs and more milk may then be blended into the mixture.

13. Mixing Techniques Muffin Method
This is a simple, two-stage mixing method.
The dry and moist ingredients are mixed separately and then blended until the dry ingredients just become moist.
Over-mixing will result in a tough baked product riddled with tunnels.

14. Preparation of Cakes Ingredients proportion differ from bread Flour
Sugar
Fat
Eggs
Milk
Leavening
Ingredients
Cakes have a higher proportion of sugar, milk, and fat to flour than do breads, and the flour used is usually cake flour.
Both flour and eggs contain the proteins that contribute strength and structure to cakes.
Fat and sugar have the opposite effect, softening the cake’s structure by providing moisture and tenderness.

15. Preparation of Cakes

16. Type of pans
Unshortened
Shortened

17. Preparation of Cakes
The timing of pouring the cake batter and getting it into a properly heated oven is another important factor in cake quality.

18. Preparation of Cakes
When shortened cakes are nearing doneness, they start to “wrinkle” at the pan edges.
They should be removed from the oven before a gap forms between the cake and the pan.

19. Preparation of Cakes
When unshortened cakes are done the surface is lightly brown and springs back when touched

20. Preparation of Cakes
Once the shortened cake is done, it should be removed gently from the oven and allowed to cool on a rack for 5 or 10 minutes.
The rack allows even air circulation under the cake; this prevents condensation and sogginess.
When angel cake is done it is inverted in its pan and allowed to stand for 1.5 hours to stretch and strengthen its structure

23. Preparation of Cakes
As in bread preparation, cake ingredients must be modified at altitudes higher than 3,000 feet.
Most cake recipes perfected for sea level need no modifications up to 3,000 feet. Above that, decreased atmospheric pressure may result in excessive rising, which stretches the cell structure of the cake, making the texture coarse, or breaks the cells, causing the cake to fall. This usually is corrected by decreasing the amount of leavening agent. Also, increasing the baking temperature 15 to 25 degrees "sets" the batter before the cells formed by the leavening gas expand too much. Excessive evaporation of water at high altitude leads to high concentration of sugar, which weakens the cell structure. Therefore, decrease sugar in the recipe and increase liquid. Only repeated experiments with each recipe can give the most successful proportions to use. Table 3 is a helpful starting point. Try the smaller adjustment first, this may be all that is needed. In making rich cakes at high altitudes, you might have to reduce shortening by 1 or 2 tablespoons. Fat, like sugar, weakens the cell structure. Also, increasing the amount of egg strengthens the cell structure and may prevent the too-rich cake from falling.

24. Baking adjustments, pre and post

25. Cakes stale fairly quickly.
Storage of Cakes
The amount and type of sweetener used in the preparation of a cake affects its ability to be stored.
Cakes stale fairly quickly.
Staling can be prevented to some degree by keeping them covered.
Placing half an apple in the cake box also seems to extend the shelf life of a cake.
Frosting the cake as soon as it cools is another method to slow down moisture loss.
Freezing is another method to deter staling.

26. Types of Cookies Not all fit neatly into one classification.
The fluidity of the batter or dough determines which of the following six categories cookies fall into:
Bar
Dropped
Pressed
Molded
Rolled
Icebox/refrigerator

28. Types of Cookies
Dropped cookie batter is literally dropped onto the baking sheet.
The batter contains just enough flour so the cookie will not spread out like a pancake when it is dropped on the baking sheet.

29. Preparation of Cookies
Mixing Methods
The type of cookie to be prepared determines the mixing method, but for most types the conventional cake method is used.
Once the ingredients are chosen based on whether a flat or puffy cookie is desired, they are usually just barely mixed together until moistened.
Overmixing will cause the cookies to be hard and tough due to the addition of too much air.

31. Preparation of Cookies

32. Airtight containers are best for maintaining cookie freshness.
Storage of Cookies
Airtight containers are best for maintaining cookie freshness.
As soon as the cookies are cooled they are transferred to a flat dish or plate and covered with plastic wrap or metal foil.
They may also be arranged in layers in a covered cookie jar or plastic zipper bag.
Some commercially packaged cookies can keep for months.
Most cookies (except those with fresh fruit fillings) are ideal for freezing.