How to make cakes? What is the golden ratio of their materials?

In the west, cake is a representative western-style pastry, which is deeply loved by people. At present, in China, cake, as a seasonal food suitable for all ages, is gradually entering thousands of households.

First, the concept and production principle of sponge cake

Sponge cake is a fluffy snack made by using the foaming characteristics of protein, filling a large amount of air into egg liquid and baking with flour. It is named because its structure is similar to porous sponge. It is also called foam cake abroad and vegetarian cake at home.

In the process of making cakes, the globulin in protein reduces the surface tension and increases the viscosity of protein by high-speed stirring. Because the components with high viscosity contribute to the formation of foam in the early stage, they can be quickly pumped into the air to form foam. Globulin and other protein in protein are slightly denatured due to the mechanical action of stirring. Denatured protein molecules can condense into a layer of skin, forming a very strong film to surround the mixed air. At the same time, due to the surface tension, protein foam shrinks and becomes spherical. In addition, the protein colloid is sticky, and the added flour raw material adheres around the protein foam, which makes the foam very stable and can keep the mixed gas. During the heating process, the gas in the foam expands when heated, which makes the product loose and porous and has certain elasticity and toughness.

Second, the raw materials and formula of sponge cake

The sponge cake is made of eggs, sugar, flour and a little oil. Among them, fresh eggs are the most important condition for making sponge cakes, because the colloidal solution of fresh eggs has a high consistency and can be injected with gas to keep the gas performance stable. Eggs stored for a long time are not suitable for making cakes. Low-gluten flour is often used to make cakes. Flour should be fine and gluten should be soft, but there should be enough gluten to bear the swelling force during baking, which plays a skeleton role in forming the unique tissue of the cake. If there is only high gluten flour, you can treat it first. You can put some flour in a cage, take it out, cool it and sieve it to keep the flour from caking, or add a little corn starch to the flour and stir it evenly to reduce the gluten of the dough. Sucrose is often used as the sugar for making cakes, and it is better to have fine particles and white colors, such as soft candy or powdered sugar. Large particles are often not easy to melt under the condition of short stirring time, which easily leads to the decline of cake quality.

In the process of making sponge cake, there are generally two methods: one is "angel cake" with egg white instead of egg yolk, and the other is "yellow sponge cake" with whole egg, so the formula is different.

Angel cake is made of egg white, sugar, flour, oil, etc. according to the ratio of 5: 3: 3: 1. Because egg yolk is not used in the formula, the foaming performance is very good, the cake body is delicate, the color is white, the texture is soft and almost bulky.

There are two traditional recipes for yellow muffins: one is that the ratio of eggs to sugar and flour is 1: 1: 1, and the other is that the ratio of eggs to sugar and flour is 2: 1: 1. Unlike angel cake, it uses not only egg white, but also egg yolk. If properly made, the quality of the finished product is the same as that of angel cake.

Third, the stirring process of sponge cake

1. Separate stirring method of egg white and yolk

The separation process of egg white and yolk is relatively complicated, and its feeding order is very important to the quality of cake. Usually, egg whites and egg yolks need to be beaten separately, so it is best to have two mixers, one for egg whites and the other for egg yolks. Beat the egg white and sugar into foam, dip it in your hand and stand up until the tip droops slightly; On the other hand, beat the egg yolk and sugar evenly, slowly add the protein foam into the egg paste, and finally add the flour and stir evenly to make the batter. In the process of operation, in order to solve the problem of dry mouth, you can add a little oil to beat the egg yolk, and use the emulsification of egg yolk to mix the oil and egg yolk evenly.

2. Stir the whole egg with sugar

Egg-sugar mixing method is a method of mixing eggs and sugar until foaming, and then adding other raw materials. The production process is to put all the eggs and sugar in the formula together, put them in a blender and stir them slowly for 2 minutes. When the sugar and eggs are mixed evenly, stir at medium speed until the egg sugar is milky white, and hook it with your fingers. When the egg paste does not flow down, beat it quickly until the egg paste can stand up, but it is not very solid, and its volume is about 3 times that of the original egg sugar. Sift the flour, slowly pour it into the egg sugar, and then.

3. Emulsification method

Emulsification refers to the method of adding emulsifier when making sponge cake. Cake emulsifier, also called cake oil in China, can promote the stability of foam and oil-water dispersion system. Its application is an improvement of traditional technology, especially reducing the difficulty of making traditional sponge cake. At the same time, more water and oil can be dissolved in the sponge cake, so that the product is not easy to age, dry and harden, and the taste is more moist, which is more suitable for mass production.

The operation method is to beat the egg sugar evenly in the traditional process, and then add flour 10% cake oil. When the egg sugar turns white, add the selected flour, stir at medium speed to cream color, then add 30% water and 15% oil and stir well.

Fourth, the filling mold of sponge cake

After the cake ingredients are mixed evenly, they should generally be immediately poured into the oven for baking. The mixing method of egg sugar should be controlled within 15 minutes, and the emulsification method can be extended appropriately. The shape of the cake is determined by the shape of the mold.

1. Mold selection

The cake is usually shaped by a mold. Usually, molds are made of tinplate, stainless steel, tinplate, aluminum and heat-resistant glass. Its shapes are round, rectangular, lace-shaped, chicken heart-shaped, square and so on. Edge can also be divided into high edge and low edge. When choosing cakes, we should choose them flexibly according to different recipes, different proportions and different internal organizations. Sponge cake can choose the mold flexibly because of its soft tissue and easy maturity. Generally, the mold can be selected according to the shape of the finished product.

2. Cake paste filling mold requirements

In order to make the baked cake easy to take out from the mold and prevent the cake from sticking to the baking tray or mold, before putting the batter into the mold, the mold must be cleaned, and a layer of clean oil paper should be spread around and at the bottom of the mold, and a layer of grease should be evenly coated on the oil paper. If you can sprinkle a layer of powder on the oil, the effect will be better.

Sponge cakes vary according to the bulkiness and the proportion of egg sugar powder, and 70% to 80% filling is generally appropriate. In practice, when the baked cake just fills the baking tray, does not overflow the edge and the top does not protrude, the batter capacity of this fashion model is just right. If the amount is too large, the baked cake will swell and overflow, which will affect the beauty of the product and cause waste. On the contrary, if the amount of stuffing is too small, too much water will evaporate during baking, which will reduce the softness of the cake.

Five, sponge cake baking

1. Set the temperature and time of cake baking correctly.

Baking temperature has a great influence on the quality of baked cakes. If the temperature is too low, the top of the baked cake will sink and the inside will be rough; If the baking temperature is too high, the top of the cake will swell, the central part will crack easily, and the four sides will shrink inward, making the cake hard. Usually the baking temperature is 180℃-220℃. Baking time also has a great influence on the quality of baked cakes. In general, the baking time is about 30 minutes. If the time is short, it will be sticky and unfamiliar; It will dry easily after a long time, and it will be hard and brittle all around. The baking time should be determined according to the size and thickness of the product, and can be flexibly adjusted according to the sugar content in the formula. High sugar content, slightly lower temperature and long time; Low sugar content, slightly higher temperature and long time.

2. The cake is baked and processed.

Before baking, it is necessary to identify whether the cake is mature, such as observing the color of the cake surface to judge the degree of raw maturity. Gently press the cake with your hand, and it will recover after you let it go, indicating that it has been baked and cannot be recovered, indicating that it has not been baked yet. A more direct way is to insert a thin bamboo stick into the center of the cake and then pull it out. If the bamboo stick is smooth and there is no egg paste, it means that the cake is ripe. If there is egg paste on the bamboo stick, it means that the cake is not ripe. If it is not cooked, you need to continue baking until it is cooked.

If the cake is ripe, you can take it out of the oven, take it out of the mold, turn it over immediately, put it on the cake rack, face down, cool it thoroughly, and then package it. There are two ways to cool the cake. One is natural cooling. When cooling, move products less and keep a certain distance between products. Products should not be stacked. The other is air cooling. Don't blow directly when blowing to prevent the product from crusting. In order to keep the freshness of the product, the cake can be refrigerated at 2℃- 10℃.

Six, sponge cake quality standards

The quality standard of sponge cake is: the surface is golden yellow, the inside is milky yellow, the color is uniform, the cake body is light, the top is flat or slightly convex, the organization is fine and uniform, there is no big pore, it is soft and elastic, there is no heart inside, the taste is not sticky, it is slightly moist, and the sweetness of eggs is moderate.

In short, you can make delicious cakes by mastering the above ingredients, formulas, principles and making methods!