Experimental cookery

The oven temperature at start of baking. Peet and Lowe baked plain cake (Formula I) from a cold and preheated start in three electric, two gas, and one kerosene range. The twelve cakes were mixed at one time on an Institutional Hobart mixer. Equal amounts of batter were weighed into the 8-inch square pans immediately after mixing. One-half the recipe was used for each cake. The batter baked in the preheated ovens stood in the pans while that started in the cold ovens was baking. Since a sulfate- phosphate baking powder was used, it was thought the standing w^as less serious for the tests than to use different mixes. The ovens were all set to maintain a temperature of 185°C., once this temperature was reached. The cakes started in the preheated ovens were superior in texture, velveti- ness, and eating quality to those started in cold ovens. In scoring the cakes the judges found no significant differences in cakes baked in different ranges. The volumes of cakes baked in different ranges varied, the differences being highly significant. But there was no significant variation in the vol- ume of cakes baked in the same range from a cold and a preheated start. The texture of the cakes baked from a cold start resembled that of cakes baked at lower temperatures in Stone's study. Temperature for removing cake from the pan. Cakes containing fat have not been given much care in cooling, but Glabau has reported that the cake should not be removed from the pan nor handled until the interior temperature of the cake has reached 140°F. This time varies somewhat with the thickness of the cake and the room temperature but is about 15 minutes or longer. When cakes are first removed from the oven the struc- INGREDIENTS USED IN CAKES 479 ture is fragile. With cooling the critical time for handling passes and the cake becomes sufficiently rigid to withstand the shock of handling. Ingredients used in cakes. Flour. In general, soft-wheat flours give better results than bread flour in cakes. Very tender cakes and cakes of excellent texture are obtained by using specially prepared cake flours. All- purpose flours give good results in the plain cake recipe of the laboratory outline. In the cake recipes in the laboratory outline only 100 grams of all-purpose flour are used for a cup. The smaller weight of flour per cup reduces the total gluten in the cake. Sometimes about 2 tablespoons of cornstarch are substituted for 2 tablespoons of flour in a cup of bread flour. This also lessens the percentage of gluten and the gluten strength of the flour, but too much cornstarch is likely to produce too dry and too powdery a crumb, and the cake does not keep so well; nor does adding cornstarch render the granule size fine and uniform. Patterson emphasizes the importance of uniform grinding of the flour used for cake, so that the particles are as nearly of the same size as possi- ble. He thinks the uniformity of the particles of flour aids in attaining uniform cells in the cake. He states that in an ideal cake the gas cells should expand to about 1/16 of an inch in diameter, and at this point they should rupture slightly, allowing the gas to escape. He also emphasizes the im- portance of gluten development on the structure of the cake.