Chapter 34 · Cakes and icings
34.2 Egg-foam cakes: sponge, angel food, chiffon
How an egg foam forms and how to whip whites are taught with eggs. see chapter 15: Foams: meringue, soufflé, puffy omelet
Egg whites pass through five stages as you beat them.
- foamy
- soft peak
- upper soft peak
- stiff peak
- dry
Figure 34.3Five stages of beaten egg white
Angel cake
Angel cake uses whites only, with cake flour, sugar, salt and flavorings.
- Sift the flour, salt and half the sugar together three times.
- Beat the whites with cream of tartar until soft peaks are just starting. Add vanilla and almond extract.
- Add the rest of the sugar slowly, 2 teaspoons at a time, and beat to the top end of the soft peak stage.
- Sift a quarter of the flour mix over the meringue and fold it in gently, stopping as soon as the flour vanishes. Do this four times in all.
- Push the batter gently into an ungreased pan. Bake at 375°F for about 25 minutes, until it springs back from a light touch.
- Turn the pan upside down and let the cake hang until cool. Slice it with a serrated knife.
Sponge cake
▶ LectureSponge cake uses both yolks and whites, and the sugar is split into three equal parts.
- Separate the eggs. Sift the flour with one part of the sugar three times.
- Beat the yolks with lemon zest, lemon extract, salt and cold water until very thick and lemon-colored. Beat in the second part of the sugar until the mix mounds.
- Beat the whites with cream of tartar until soft peaks begin. Add the last part of the sugar slowly and beat to the top of the soft peak stage.
- Sift the flour over the yolks a quarter at a time, folding gently after each. Spread this over the whites and fold until blended.
- Pour into an ungreased pan and bake at 375°F for about 20 minutes. Hang upside down to cool, and cut with a serrated knife.
Lemon chiffon cake
▶ LectureChiffon brings in oil and baking powder, and it uses all-purpose flour.
- Sift flour, a little sugar, baking powder and salt into a bowl, and make a well in the middle.
- Add oil, yolk, water, vanilla and lemon zest in that order, and beat smooth with a wooden spoon.
- Whip the whites with cream of tartar to the start of soft peaks, add sugar slowly, and beat to the top of the soft peak stage.
- Fold the flour mixture into the meringue. Bake in an ungreased pan at 350°F for about 25 to 30 minutes, until it springs back. Hang upside down to cool and slice with a serrated knife.
What a good foam cake looks like
| Angel cake | Sponge and chiffon cakes | |
|---|---|---|
| Outside | Dark golden brown crust; top flat or slightly rounded, may crack | Golden brown; top flat or slightly rounded, may crack; even color throughout |
| Volume | About 1½ times the batter | About 1½ times the batter |
| Grain | Small to medium air cells with thin walls | Even, small air cells with thin walls |
| Eating | Tender and moist | Tender, a little springy, moist, delicate flavor |
Figure 34.4Three foam cakes
When a foam cake goes wrong
These faults show up in foam cakes, each with its usual causes.
| Fault | Likely causes |
|---|---|
| Low volume (any foam cake) | A trace of fat; sugar added too early or too fast; poor-quality or small eggs; beating too slowly |
| Angel cake: low volume, tough, gummy, thick cell walls | Whites underbeaten; too much folding or mixing |
| Angel cake: streaks | Sugar or flour added in too large an amount at one time; not folded enough |
| Angel cake: yellow, coarse, tough | Too little cream of tartar |
| Angel cake: low volume, tough, packed tight | Folded too much |
| Angel cake: fallen, sugary, dry | Too much sugar |
| Angel cake: shrunken | Fat in the pan; under- or badly over-baked; pan not turned upside down; badly overmixed |
| Angel cake: falls out of the pan | Underbaked; traces of fat in the pan |
| Angel cake: holes and tunnels | Not folded enough; batter not pushed against the pan; whites overbeaten |
| Angel cake: dry and tough | Overbaked |
| Chiffon or sponge: low volume | Whites overbeaten; folded too much |
| Chiffon or sponge: thick cell walls, layers | Whites or yolks underbeaten; not folded enough |
| Chiffon or sponge: tough | Too little liquid; folded too much |
| Chiffon or sponge: soggy | Too much liquid |
A little shrinking from the cake's highest point in the oven is normal.
Sources
This chapter is written from these open textbooks:
- Introduction to Baking and Pastries — Rink & Thibodeaux, Chef John Folse Culinary Institute, Nicholls StateCC BY-NC-SA 4.0
- Basic Scientific Food Preparation Lab Manual — Dept. of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Iowa State UniversityCC BY-NC-SA 4.0
- Food Safety, Sanitation and Personal Hygiene — BC Cook Articulation Committee, BCcampusCC BY 4.0