Let Us Bake Cake!

—by Annie Van Cleve

I’ve never been much of a baker. If I’m going to expend my culinary energy on something fussy, I’d rather make a lasagna or something else where flavor can make up for what may be lacking in texture. This does not mean my affection for the cake is less true than my affection for the lasagna, but I always believed it was better to leave cake to my sister, the designated baker of the family. Unfortunately, the designated baker is now designated as a student, first and foremost, and that means dreams of chocolate cake are too often dashed by the single word “homework,” so the time has come for me to seize the beaters and embrace self-sufficiency or else face a cakeless future.

Too many rules and regulations

One of the things I have always found off-putting about baking is that it is not conducive to improvisation. Cake recipes tend to stress me out with their specificity. But because I am trying to do right by the cake, I turned to the Joy of Cooking, in which I have found recipes that are both sensible and delicious.

In introducing cakes, Ms. Rombauer writes: “Learning to bake is learning to recognize when egg yolks and sugar are ‘thick and pale yellow’ or when butter beaten with sugar has lightened in color and texture regardless of clock or mixer settings.” Okay, so creaming butter and sugar is a bit like sautéing onions. You know the onions are done when they are translucent and you know the cake is coming together when your mixing bowl is full of fluffy butter.

I spent a dreary Sunday afternoon reading through the cake section of Joy and ended up with a greater appreciation for the exactitude of cake recipes. In the following, I have tried to boil down the instructions for making a butter-based cake in order to give a bit of insight into the concept behind the picky instructions.

Open the Refrigerator

When you bake a cake, the first thing you should do is not turn on the oven but take your butter and eggs out of the refrigerator and allow them to adjust to room temperature. If you are impatient, warm the butter in the microwave for a few seconds (use low or defrost) and run some warm water over the eggs. Temperature is important because ingredients that are too cold will not come together properly and the batter will not be able to trap air, resulting in a heavy cake.

Flour: does it really matter?

I always thought of cake flour as the kind of fussiness Martha Stewart would demand but the rest of us could ignore. Turns out, I was wrong. Cake flour is important because its low protein content—low as compared to all-purpose flour, or whole wheat flour—reacts better with the chemical leaveners, baking soda and baking powder, called for in most cake recipes. Gluten, which creates the structure of the dough, is formed when water and flour are combined and agitated. The greater the gluten content, the more expansive the dough or batter will be. The less-elastic gluten in low-protein flour is responsive to the small bubbles of carbon dioxide and alcohol released by chemical leaveners and creates a finer texture.

Another benefit of using cake flour is that it is chlorinated. The chlorination helps create a light and fine-textured cake, because the flour is able to absorb water and distribute fat and air bubbles more easily.

Chlorinated flour, made through exposing flour to chlorine gas, is considered a safe food product according to the FDA. The European Union and United Kingdom, however, do not consider this type of flour safe, as chlorine “ends up in fat- like flour molecules that accumulate in animal bodies.” There is no evidence that this accumulation is harmful, but if you are interested in an alternative, Joy reluctantly admits that “in emergencies you may substitute one cup minus two tablespoons sifted all-purpose flour for one cup cake flour.”

Sifting

Sifting is another way that bakers create a light texture; there is an amazing one ounce difference between a cup of sifted and one of unsifted flour. If you lack a sifter, toss all the dry ingredients in a Ziploc bag and give it a shake. And while you’re taking the time to sift, you’ll also want to take careful note of the manner in which you measure your dry ingredients. Joy recommends spooning the flour into the cup to heaping and then using a knife to knock off the excess. This method is also recommended for measuring the leavener and other dry ingredients.

Cream & Stir

In creaming, careening sugar crystals cut tiny air holes in the butter. Later these holes fill with the gas from the leavener and allow the cake to rise. Joy recommends creaming the butter 30 seconds, then adding the sugar and mixing on high for 3–7 minutes. Alton Brown, host of the Food Network show “Good Eats,” says the butter and sugar are properly mixed when the sugar grains are not visible but the mixture feels gritty. A lighter color and fluffier texture is another sign of properly creamed fats.

Generally, the eggs go in after the creaming. Then the dry ingredients will be added alternately with buttermilk or another liquid. It is important when adding the dry ingredients to stir them in at a low speed until just incorporated. Joy recommends using a rubber spatula here because over-mixing can result in the development of too much gluten, resulting in a denser cake.

A few ideas

My search for the perfect chocolate cake is ongoing (probably infinitely) but there are a few cakes on the short list, one of which has been on my mind lately because I have the secret ingredient in my fridge, beets. Chocolate beet cake sounds weird, but when it is served with homemade whipped cream and chopped walnuts, as it was the first time I tasted it at the Greenbush Bar in Madison, Wisconsin, it is only delicious. Beets are to chocolate cake what sour cream is to muffins. The beets are included because of the moisture they add, not because of their flavor; sorry, beet lovers.

In closing, I will leave you with these words of inspiration. “Whether you bake a cake as a gift for a friend, bake a batch of cupcakes for a bake sale, or hand a pan of gingerbread over the back fence, the gesture is one of fellowship that adds to your stature and enriches your life.” (Joy of Cooking)

Recipe: Chocolate Beet Cake

Recipe: Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

Sources

The Joy of Cooking, 75th anniversary edition, by Irma S. Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker, and Ethan Becker

Alton Brown of “Good Eats”

The Washington Post, June 7, 2006

“Whipped,” whippedtheblog.com

[Annie Van Cleve is a (relatively) recent college grad who is cooking her way through a quarter-life crisis, and in her spare time, working at a law firm.]