FoodNet

Experimental cookery

1932

Page 293

Presented as published in 1932. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
It was found that the older the eggs, the lighter the specific gravity of the foam after beating for a definite period of time. The addition of potassium acid tartrate, citric, and acetic acid increased the stability of the foams. The longer the foam is beaten, the less stable it becomes so that its stability is inversely proportional to its specific gravity. Stanley states that the thin w^hite beats up to a larger volume than the thick white. But the volume of the cake made from the thick white is larger than that made from the thin white and cakes made from the thick white have greater elasticity. Barmore reported from his investigations o'n baking angel cake at various altitudes that increasing the egg or flour, or both, in an angel cake in- creases its tensile strength. Conversely, increasing the sugar decreases the tensile strength or increases the tenderness. Barmore says that his formula, F-.43*S-. 41^ + 24.5 = 0, gives all the possible, successful recipes for this type of flour mixture for REVIEW OF LITERATURE ON ANGEL CAKE 357 any habitable altitude. F represents flour in grams ; S, sugar in grams ; and A, altitude in thousands of feet. The egg white was kept constant at 210 grams and the flour should be not less than 40 nor exceed 80 grams for this proportion of egg white. For 1 gram of egg white this allows 0.19 and 0.39 gram of flour respectively. King, Morris, and Whiteman investigated "some methods and apparatus used in measuring the quality of eggs for cake making." The physical and chemical measurements made on the eggs were carbon dioxide content of the white and the yolk, /)H and total solids on white, yolk, and magma, and viscosity of the magma. They say more work should be done on the relation between CO2 content and /)H before it can be said that the increase in /)H of the white is due entirely to a loss of CO2. The lifting power of the eggs was based on measurements of specific gravity and /)H of the cake batter and on volume, tensile strength, and compressibility of the sponge cakes. They report that the chemical and physical properties of the eggs so far measured have shown no definite relation to the various cake measurements. Barmore determined ''the influence of various factors, including altitude, in the production of angel food cake." He concludes that the whites of fresh eggs should be beaten with 1 to 2 per cent of cream of tartar to a specific gravity of not less than 0.15 and not more than 0.17. Part or all of the sugar should be added before the addition of any of the flour, for the addition of the sugar strengthened the egg-white foam; whereas the volume of the batter decreased considerably more when the flour was added with the sugar than when it was added by itself, after the sugar had been beaten into the egg foam. A summary of Barmore's extensive investigations follows : At /)H 8 the stability of the egg-white foam was practically the same for acetic and citric acids and cream of tartar. But at /)H 6 the cream of tartar produced the most stable foam.