Foods and home making

What are the classes of cake ? Cake and ice cream are more often served at parties than any other refreshments. Cake is served not only with ice cream but with other frozen desserts. It is interesting to learn how to make cake to serve not only at a party but as a dessert for a luncheon or dinner. There are, in general, two classes of cake. The dividing line between these cakes depends upon whether the cake ingredients contain fat. Cakes containing no fat are classed as sponge cakes. Cakes containing butter or other fat are known as butter cakes. How are sponge cakes made light? A typical sponge cake contains only eggs, sugar, flour, salt, and flavoring. Sometimes moisture and baking powder are added when the number of eggs is reduced. 548 Cakes 549 We have learned that a gas is needed to make flour mixtures light. From the solid materials sugar, flour, and salt, there is no gas formed. We can, however, beat air into eggs. Since air is a gas, the air beaten into eggs used in sponge cake makes the cake light. Because more air can be beaten into eggs when the yolks and whites are separated, we separate eggs in making sponge cake. What kinds of sugar and flour should we use for making cake ? One finds at market that granulated sugar varies in the size of grain. Some sugar is coarser than other sugar. It is believed that the finer-grained sugar makes cake of better quality. We have learned that there are, in general, two kinds of flour — hard wheat or bread flour and soft wheat or pastry flour. The latter is better for cake. Soft wheat or pastry flour may be purchased either in sacks or in boxes. When soft wheat flour is packed in boxes, it is usually called cake flour. Such flour is made from selected wheat, very finely ground. It costs more a pound than the soft wheat flour put up in bags. Very satisfac- tory results may be obtained in making cake by using a good quality of soft wheat flour packed in bags. Some housekeepers use all-purpose flour in making cakes with fairly good results. When it is necessary to use hard wheat or bread flour for cake making, it is well to use a little cornstarch with the hard wheat flour. The larger amount of gluten in hard wheat flour makes a cake tough. Adding a little starch makes the cake more tender. The amount of cornstarch needed depends upon the amount of gluten in flour. Usually the following is satisfactory: Put i tablespoon of cornstarch in a measuring cup, and fill up the cup with sifted hard wheat flour. If no cornstarch is added to hard wheat flour, use only cup of hard wheat flour in place of each cup of soft wheat flour given in a cake recipe. Hard wheat flour absorbs more moisture than soft wheat. 55o Hospitality What kinds of pans should be used for sponge cake? How should the pan be prepared ? There is a pan with a tube in the center. (See Figure 147.) In the oven the hot air fills the tube and the cake bakes in the center about as rapidly as around the outer edges. A tube cake pan is desirable for a sponge cake. A B C Figure 147. Cake Pans A, tube cake pan. The tube is longer than the pan is deep. This makes the pan desirable for a sponge or angel cake, which should be inverted after baking. The bottom of this pan is removable. B, clean-cut cake pan. By means of the movable metal strip, a cake can easily be loosened from the pan.