Tiramisu

This is not what I'd think of the traditional way of preparing a Tiramisu cake but it comes out quite lovely in both composition and sliced into pieces.


Formula*: yields one 7" cake
Lady fingers, one 7" bottom and side pieces
Pate Glace (melting chocolate)
Mascarpone filling (See fillings, Mascarpone)
3-6 oz. Simple syrup (depends on how dry your cake is)
1.5 Tbl Trablit (concentrated coffee)**

Tools: Small off set spatula, bowl scraper, 7" charlotte ring, 8" cake card, parchment paper or ascetate

*Adapted from Gisslen, Professional Baking, Ed. 5, Pg. 474
**If you can find Trablit you can use very strong espresso, one shot should be good. Or you can pour concentrated drip coffee with simple syrup.

MOP: assemble
Heat up Pate Glace if necessary. Pate Glace is basically a thin glazing chocolate. If you dont have Pate Glace on hand then you can heat up cocoa butter and oil and make a thin glazing or melting chocolate.

Take your lady fingers and gently de pan from the parchment paper. The circle shape and the individual fingers you should be able to get up with a off set spatula. The larger strips you should cut the parchment a little bit wider then the fingers, cut another piece of parchment to place on top. Sandwiched between the two parchments, flip over the row of lady fingers gently. Peel the "old" sheet off of the back of the lady fingers.
Make sure your circle shape lady fingers are a little bit smaller then the charlotte ring that you are using, just smaller then 7". If its not then trim the lady fingers. Coat the bottom of the ring with Pate Glace. Put this in the freezer briefly to cool the chocolate.
While this is setting up you can trim your other lady fingers if need be. You want the strip to be moist so you can bend it, if its not moist dab the inside (not textured side) with simple syrup. If the fingers sit higher then your charlotte ring then trim them down on one side only (the trimmed side will be your bottom).

Pull the bottom out of the freezer, place this chocolate side down on the cake card. The chocolate is going to be a stabilizer for your cake shape when you pull the finished cake out from a freezer.
Place the lady finger strip along the side of the charlotte ring baked side in, so you can see the definition of each lady finger on the outside of the cake. Make sure to leave the parchment on the outside of the ladyfingers between the fingers and the ring, this will make it easier to keep the cake moist when freezing and make it easier to keep its shape when defrosting. Dab the inside of the sides and bottom of the cake with simple syrup and coffee mixture.
Fill immediately will Mascarpone filling (see fillings). Use your tiny offset spatula to flatten out the top if necessary. Chill the cake as soon as you fill the cake.

When you take the cake out of the freezer, dust the top with cocoa powder. Using a stencil gives it a nice elegant look. Cut and serve!

If you have extra filling, and extra cake (although you don't need cake to do this). Get a few soufle cups and fill it with the mascarpone filling. You can either use the left over simple syrup with a little bit of coffee to make "latte art" attempts like I did, or you can also chill these and then dust with cocoa powder.

Mascarpone Filling

This is a filling that is traditionally used for Tiramisu. Mascarpone is a soft cheese that will separate the more you whip it. So when using for baking make sure you pull it out of refrigeration a few hours before you are going to use it so that it is easier to whip, and so when whipping you can handle it less.

Formula*:
1 lb 8 oz. Heavy cream
0.3 oz. Gelatin (can use 1 piece of sheet gelatin)
2 Egg yolks
6 oz. Sugar
4 oz. Water
2 oz. Corn syrup

Tools: mixer with whisk attachment, saucepan, stainless steel bowl, bowl scrapper

*This formula is from Gisslen, Professional Baking, Ed. 5, Pg. 474


MOP: Pate a bombe or sabayon method or cooked sugar method
In mixing bowl whisk up cream to a soft peak, should look like a milkshake consistency. When whipped up, set aside in the refrigerator to set up.

Bloom gelatin with cold water. If you use sheet gelatin add water, if you are using powdered gelatin you need to bloom with 5 times the amount of water (eg. 0.3 oz. gelatin with 1.5 oz. water). Stir the powdered gelatin to incorporate and to allow it to fully soak up. Powdered gelatin has a thicker colour and also a thicker animal flavour. Set aside. Add cornstarch, sugar, and egg yolk in stainless steel bowl. Stir with whisk, if you need to add water to thin it out do so until it reaches a simple syrup consistency. Whisk over a hot water bath until it reaches 180 degrees, point of pasteurization. It should look like a light yellow colour and have a ribbon consistency. You can add gelatin when a ribbon consistency is formed, continue stirring to incorporate and until the

heat reaches 180 degrees.

Transfer heated mixture to mixer bowl. Start mixing on high to help it achieve a thicker ribbon consistency and to cool down the mixture. Like fresh taffy. Continue mixture so its warm to touch but not hot so that the gelatin isn't hard but that the heat doesn't melt the cheese.

Clean stainless steel bowl. Add mascarphone cheese and break down, flatten out, with your bowl scrapper. Add the sugar mixture into the bowl. Use spatula, bowl scraper, or whisk if needed to smoothen the mixture out and combine mixtures. Get out all of the lumps. Take cream out of refrigerator and fold the heavy cream into the batter, either temper it in portions or all at once. Do not over mix!

Immediately pour into prepared pan.

If you are mixing with your hands be careful to use clean hands, this filling is not being baked!

Lady Fingers

Lady fingers can be piped individually, for cakes or cookies. They can also be piped in a line or a sheet to go under or around a cake. Below are two examples of how to prep a pan and pipe the lady fingers for two different examples of the sheet method. These examples and instructions will accompany the assembly instructions for a Tiramisu Cake where the sides and bottom of the cake are lady fingers.


Separated-egg sponge method, panned in full sheet tray

Formula*: yields 2lb 1 oz. (enough for one tiramisu cake)
6 oz. (60%) Egg yolks
3 oz. (30%) Sugar
9 oz. (90%) Egg whites
5 oz. (50%) Sugar
1/4 t. (0.4%) Lemon juice**
10 oz. (100%) Pastry flour

Tools:
Piping bag, 804 circle tip (medium sized), 7" baking ring, sharpie

*This formula is from Gisslen, Professional Baking, Ed. 5, Pg. 412
**Can substitute for lime juice or cream of tartar


MOP: separated-egg sponge method
Prep tray to start with. The batter is going to be very time sensitive so you will want to have your tray prepped and your pastry bag ready to go before you start mixing the batter. On a long side of the parchment use the side of your ring template from the edge of the paper and measure the width of the ring. Fold your parchment over three times to get two long rows. On the other side of the parchment mark one 7" circle with the same ring. Turn the parchment over so that you you bake no ink gets on your product.

Sift pastry flour and set aside. In the mixer start mixing your egg yolks with sugar (3oz.) on high until it forms a very pale yellow almost off white colour. Stop the mixer and transfer this to a stainless steel bowl, set aside. Clean the mixer bowl throughly. In the clean mixing bowl add your egg whites and lemon juice together. Mix until it starts to foam, slowly add sugar to the foamed egg whites. Mix until it reaches a soft to medium peak. If its any harder then a medium peak you have to start over.

Fold your egg whites and flour into your egg yolks. Fold with your

hands to throughly mix. Do not over mix or you wont be able to pipe the batter.

Fill your a large piping bag with the cake batter, the batter will be runny so twist your bag when filling with the batter so that it doesn't drip. Dot each corner of the parchment with batter so that the parchment is "pasted" down when baking. Using the line guides that you made with the parchment paper pipe lady fingers in either straight lines or at an angle all the way across. Make sure you apply even pressure and create fingers with dimension all the way across.

In the circle template on the parchment, start to fill in the circle with the same pressure and dimensionality as you did for the strip. Pipe from the center out to the edge. If you have any left over batter pipe either more strips, or you can pipe individual fingers on the pan.
Bake immediately. 375 degrees in a conventional oven, 350 in a convection oven. Bake until it reaches a light brown, or dark gold colour. Do not over bake or it will be too stiff to apply to the sides of a cake.

Dobos Torte

This traditionally is a Hungarian seven-layer cake, we made it a six layer cake in class, that is generally made in a rectangle or strip shape. The cake is covered with chocolate butter cream and then topped with caramelized cake wedges, and traditionally had toasted almond halves around the sides of the cake. The cake is usually made with Dobos cake layers, which is just a hazelnut cake. The cake pictured below is made with a swiss roll.

Dobos Torte*: yields 1, 8" cake
Ingredients:
1 sheet, Swiss roll cake (or 4, 8" cakes of sponge consistency)
1 lb 11 oz. Italian Chocolate Meringue Butter Cream**
7.5 oz Sugar, cooked to a light caramel stage with 1.5 oz water
Pralines, or other kind of toasted nuts for garnish

Tools: Stainless steel bowls, burner, mixer, offset spatula, serrated knife, chefs knife, piping bag, small star (or circle) tip, bowl scraper, spatula or wooden spoon, brush , 8" cake card, 9" cake card, 8" cutting template, cutting board

*This formula is modified from Gisslen, Professional Baking, Ed. 5, Pg. 460
**When we made this cake in class we needed about 6 oz of extra buttercream


MOP: assemble a six layer Dobos Torte
(If you are making a traditional seven layer torte, add one layer to the stack)
If frozen, take the swill roll cake out of the freezer before you use it so it is easier to cut. Remember you don't have to freeze or chill cakes before assembling them, the more frozen the cake is the easier it should be to cut and you will get less crumbs when cutting it. Cut the cake into seven 8" circles that are roughly 1/2" thick.
In class we baked roughly a 1" thick sheet tray so we used a 8" template to cut 6 cakes out of the sheet. We then cut each 8" circle in half. If you want to make it easier for you you can just bake a 1/2" thick sheet tray (half of the swiss roll recipe). Whatever works best for you.

Take one layer, the thinnest one, and set it aside to use for the garnish.

The remaining six layers are for assembling the cake. Take one bottom piece and place it cut side up on the 8" cake card. Dab with simple syrup to moist the cake. Apply a thin layer of buttercream on the cake layer, roughly 2 oz. Place another layer of cake on top of the buttercream, try to get it as even as possible with the previous layer. Dab with simple syrup, apply thin layer of buttercream. Repeat this until all six layers are used. If you start to see that its getting uneven at the top compensate with your layers, because chances are some of them will be a little uneven.

Dab the top with simple syrup and then frost the top of the cake with buttercream. Straighten the buttercream at the top out before frosting sides. You don't have to frost the sides heavily or too smoothly because you will cover it with nuts. Clean up or smooth out the sides and top to look flat. Line the side of the cake with Pralines. Using the back of your knife score the top of the cake in 10 pieces. See image for visual aide in cutting.

The first score you want to do right down the middle.
The second score you want to do at a "bow tie" distance from the first cut.
The third cut you want to halve the larger section.
The fourth cut you want to halve the larger section.
The fifth cut you want to halve the larger section.

Use your small star tip or circle tip and make small dime size rosettes around the edge of the cake. You don't have to have the same number of rosettes in each slice, just make sure the rosettes are contained in the area marked out for slices. Then, using the same star tip but with more pressure applied, pip a large rosette in the center of each slice. Set the cake aside in the refrigerator to help the buttercream harden slightly.

Heat 7 1/2 oz. sugar with 1.5 oz water in a saucepan. Heat this until it reaches a light golden caramelized colour. While the caramel is heating up lightly oil a cutting board and a chefs knife, place the layer of cake that you set aside for garnish on the cutting board.
A note about caramel. This method of making caramel is a wet caramel, which means you slowly cook the sugar in the water. When you are making such a small amount of caramel, like this batch, the caramel doesn't take too long to make in the wet method. If you are making large batches or are in a hurry you can make a dry caramel which is where you alternate portions of sugar and water until you get a smooth caramel consistency. With this method you have to keep stirring it the entire time to avoid burning.

When the caramel is set up pour over the cake. Use a off set spatula or a brush to help you get the caramel to coat the cake entirely and evenly/smoothly. The faster you work and the less you work it the prettier your garnish will look. Don't let the caramel sit too long, but when it feels firm score the caramel coated cake into 10 pieces and then cut it into 10 pieces. If you wait too long the caramel will harden and crack when you cut into it.


Take the cake out and arrange each piece of caramel coated cake on top of each slice on a slant, resting on the large rosette in the center of the cake.

Italian Chocolate Meringue Butter Cream

This is a very stable filling, considered a stiff or hard filling. It is made with a cooked sugar method where it is heated to 240-245 degrees.

Formula*:
Italian meringue
8 oz. (100%) Sugar
2 oz. (25%) Water
4 oz. (50%) Egg whites

12 oz. (150%) Butter, soft and cubed (large marshmallow size)
2 oz. (25%) Emulsified shortening (or additional butter)
0.08 oz. (1/2t) (1%) Lemon juice**
0.12 oz. (3/4t) (1.5%) Vanilla extract

Chocolate paste****.

16 oz. Oil

2 lbs cocoa

*This formula is modified from Gisslen, Professional Baking, Ed. 5, Pg. 426
** Can substitute with lime juice or cream of tartar
***This yields enough for 40ish cakes, it is a 2:1 ratio. Adjust according to what you think you will use.

MOP: Italian chocolate meringue butter cream
In sauce pan combine sugar and water, mix until incorporated. Turn heat on high and stir over heat until it reaches 240 degrees Fahrenheit. You can either test for doneness with your thermometer or by making a soft ball with your fingers, make sure your hands are clean!
To do this place your hands in ice water until its cold and then dip your fingers in the sugar and immediately dip your fingers back in the ice water. Press your fingers together to make a ball out of the sugar. If a soft ball forms in your fingers it is at 240 degrees.
While that is heating up add your egg whites and lemon juice together into your mixers bowl. Do not combine these two while scaling if you are going to leave out for a while, the acid in the lemon will start to cook the egg whites. When your sugar mixture starts to boil start mixing your egg whites with a whisk attachment. Start on low speed and increase to high until egg whites are foamy.

This butter cream needs to still be
scraped down to incorporate the
butter and the cocoa paste

When egg whites are foamy decrease speed. When sugar is done remove from heat. Drizzle sugar into the egg whites on a low speed. When the sugar stops dripping increase the speed of the mixer to high. Feel the bottom of the mixing bowl, when the heat has cooled down (like a baby's bottle temperature) start to add the softened butter in portion by portion. Continue mixing until it stiffens up, should look like frosting... thick and choppy. Turn off speed and add the cocoa paste (about 2 tablespoon, see below for MOP on making paste). Mix until it looks like a uniform frosting without butter or cocoa lumps. Do not over mix, it should still feel smooth and spreadable.

Note: If making an Italian Meringue you do all the steps but adding the butter.

MOP: Chocolate paste
Add half of oil to a sauce pan. Heat until this becomes smokey hot. Add all of the cocoa to the saucepan, stir in.
Remove from heat when a paste starts to form, if you need to add more oil to make a paste then add the remaining 1/4th of the oil until paste is formed. Return to heat and add the remaining oil.
Remove from heat when its a thick liquid state, set aside (best over your preheated oven) until you are going to use it.

Swiss Roll (Sponge Roll 2)

This cake can be used for a number of different cakes. This is the same cake that we're going to use for the Dobos Torte and also for the Jelly Roll.


Separated-egg sponge method, panned in sheet pan
Formula*: yields 3 lb 8 oz (one full sheet pan)
12 oz. (100%) Egg yolks
8 oz. (67%) Sugar
12 oz. (100%) Cake flour
1 lb 2 oz (150%) Egg whites
0.25 oz. (2%) Salt**
6 oz. (50%) Sugar

*This formula is from Gisslen, Professional Baking, Ed. 5, Pg. 408
*can omit


MOP: Separated-egg sponge method
Put egg yolks in mixer with (8oz) sugar. Using whisk attachment mix on high speed until it forms a ribbon consistency. It should look pale yellow and be light and fluffy (this can also be called a Sabayon stage).

While this is mixing sift flour (and salt) and set aside. You can also prep your sheet pan with parchment paper and spray the sides of the pan (if you want you can spray the parchment paper as well).

When the egg mixture is ready pour it into a clean bowl and throughly wash the mixing bowl and whisk attachment.


In clean bowl place egg whites and mix a little bit on high speed. When it starts to foam up, it'll have a thick white colour on top, pour the sugar in slowly. Mix this until it reaches a medium peak. Stop the mixer.

Add the egg whites and the flour into the egg yolk mixture. Mix with your hands so you can break down all of the flour and you can feel for

over mixing.

Pour the batter into the pan immediately, start pouring from the center. Use your offset spatula to move the batter to the corners of the pan. Use your offset spatula to smooth out the batter too going from one corner to the other. Do not knock the pan to flatten out the batter that will crush the foam in the eggs. Do not over spread or your batter will start to get lumpy.

Take your finger around the sides of the pan to release it just a little.


Bake at 425 degrees in a conventional oven for approximately 7-10 minutes. You want it to be firm but bouncy at the touch and a golden colour.

Cool the cake to room temperature.

Fats: A note about butter and shortenings

I was asked to explain what emulsified shortening and liquid shortening are and if you can substitute it. After doing some reading this is what I found:

"Emulsified shortening is also known as cake, icing or high ratio shortening. It can absorb more sugar and liquid than regular vegetable shortening and gives a finer/smoother texture to cakes while helping to keep them moist, as well as keeping icings more stable. It's mostly used in icings and cakes where the recipe contains a large percentage of sugar. Alpine Hi-Ratio Shortening and Sweetex are the most common brands."
I found that from a blog called: Cheftalk.com
http://www.cheftalk.com/forum/thread/37802/emulsified-shortening

And from ask.com I could gather that: "Animal-based shortenings are all solid at room temperature, but vegetable shortenings can be either. Solid and liquid also behave differently depending upon the application and the working temperature. Generally speaking, solid shortenings are used to create 'flakes' inside doughs or batters."
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Is_liquid_shortening_the_same_as_solid_shortening



If you want to substitute regular shortening for all or part of the butter in a formula:
Multiply the weight of the butter to be eliminated by 0.8. This will give you the amount of regular shortening to use. Then multiply the weight of the eliminated butter by 0.15 to get the weight of additional water or milk you need to add (butter contains natural liquids that shortening doesnt contain).

To substitute butter for all or part of the regular amount of shortening in a formula:
Multiply the weight of shortening to be eliminated by 1.25. This gives your the weight of butter to use. Then multiply the weight of butter by 0.15 to find out the amount of water or milk to be subtracted from the formula (Gisslen, 384)


Because of the properties, liquid shortening can not be substituted for butter or regular shortening. The vegetable oil has moistening qualities that wont be replicated with butter or regular shortening. Emulsified shortening can be substituted with the above equation.

Strawberry Genoise Cake

If cakes are measured by how long the name is and how delicious the cake is, then this one would deffinately fit the rule. I didnt want to just say strawberry cake because that brings up images of sheet cakes at Jewel into my mind. This cake is not the cake you would get at Jewel. We did a costing excersize on this cake and it turns out to be aproximately $3.24 per slice if you want to sell it and break even on product cost. That means that the cake would have to be roughly $32.00 to make you any sort of profit. I'll let you know on Thursday if its worth $32.00 taste wise.

Bravarian cream is a very time sensative cream. This makes the steps to this cake very important, its crucial that you have the cake set up before you make the cream. If you dont do this then the cream will start to get lumpy from sitting out and it will not fill smoothly at all when added to the cake.

Formula Yields: One 8" Strawberry Genoise Cake with Vanilla Bravarian Cream*

Ingredients**:
0.75 oz. Sheet gelatin
approximately 5oz. Cold water
1 pt Heavy Cream
Simple Syrup
(The following ingredients make Creme anglaise: Bravarian Cream)
4 oz. Egg yolks
4 oz. Sugar
1 pt. Milk
0.25 oz. Vanilla

Tools:
Offset palette knife, serrated knife, pairing knife, rubber spatula or bowl scrapper, pastry brush, turntable, 7" template, 9" cake card, 8" mouse mold (ring), approximately 10" acetate (enough to line 8" mold), large bowl of ice, smaller stainless steel bowl to fit inside large ice bath, sauce pan, thermometer

*This formula is from Gisslen, pg. 463
**This formula is from Gisslen, pg. 534


MOP: assemble
First thing you want to do is take your frozen genoise cake out of the freezer, maybe an hour if you have that luxury, before you are going to use it. Remember that frozen cakes are harder to cut then chilled cakes. So what I'd do is take your cake out, scale your ingredients for the creme, wash your strawberries, get your cake boards and molds. 

Take your genoise cake and cut it into 3 equal layers.
Take two of the layers (the third one you are not going to use, but can be used for cake crumbs or to put in a brownie batter, or you can use it to make smaller individual desserts if you have left over bravarian cream...). Using a 7" cake pan or template trim the two layers you are going to use down to 7" circles.

Place the 8" ring on top of the 9" cake card, line the ring with acetate. Then put one of the cake layers in the middle of the 8" ring. Take your washed strawberries and cut off the tops, make sure to cut down to remove any white flesh as well. Slice the strawberries in half length wise. There should be a gap between your cake and the mold, place the strawberries in this gap with the cut side of the strawberry touching the acetate, and the bottom of the strawberries touching the cake card. Line the cake all the way around with strawberries. Dab the top of the cake with simple syrup and set aside for now.


Next you want to make your whip cream.
Take the 1 pt. (16 oz.) of heavy cream and whisk with with a wire whisk attachment in your mixer. Whisk to a soft peak, soft peak should look like the consistency of a milkshake, you'll be able to start seeing a whisk trail in the cream. Turn off mixer and place the cream in the refrigerator to set up, doesn't need to be covered.

Now that everything else is set up you can start to make the Creme anglaise. This is a creme that is used in a lot of different desserts. It is essentially a vanilla custard and is sometimes referred to as just custard or vanilla sauce.

Make sure you have a stainless steel bowl set up with an ice bath (ice and water). If you are using sheet gelatin place in a bowl with 5 oz of cold water (enough to cover it), start soaking to soften the gelatin. Heat 16 oz. of milk in a sauce pan, heat till it boils. While its heating you can start gently whisking your egg yolks and sugar in the smaller stainless steel bowl that you got out. Whisk this continuously but slowly other wise you run the risk of scrambling your eggs. When the milk boils remove it from the heat and half of the milk to the egg/sugar mixture. Whisk. When its incorporated add this mixture back into the saucepan, get a wooden spoon and bring the saucepan back to the heat. Mix with your wooden spoon, making sure to scrape the corners and bottom so the egg doesn't scramble while its heating up. Heat this until it reaches 180 degrees, no higher other wise the egg will start to cook.

Squeeze out the water from the gelatin while this is cooking. Place this into your smaller stainless steel bowl. Remove the saucepan from heat immediately when the creme reaches 180 degrees and pour over gelatin, mixing to melt the gelatin. Gelatin melts at around 100 degrees so it should melt immediately. Put this stainless steel bowl over an ice bath immediately to stop carry over cooking. You want to cool the creme/gelatin down to 55-60 degrees before you add the whip cream.

You also don't want to leave the creme/gelatin for more then one minute though otherwise it will start to harden and get lumpy. Continue mixing until it reaches 55-60 degrees fahrenheit. Take your whip cream out of the refrigerator, grab a clean whisk so you don't run the risk of cross contamination from raw eggs. Temper the whip cream into the creme/gelatin mixture in three portions to avoid temperature shock, each time you pour the whip cream in whisking to incorporate. When its all mixed together use your spatula to clean off the sides. Immediately pour the finished creme anglaise into the cake mold so its just covers the tops of the

strawberries. You can smooth it out to the edges using your spatula if you want. Place the second layer of cake on top of the creme anglaise. Push down gently to get out any air bubbles. Dab this layer of cake with simple syrup and then pour the rest of the cream on top, to the top of the mold. Use your offset spatula (or the straight side of your serrated knife), going back and forth over the top of the mold to flatten out the creme and to smooth out the top at the same time. Be careful you don't do this too many times because you will start to curdle the creme making it lumpy.

Freeze the cake for a minimum of 3-4 hours to set the mouse (creme anglaise)

A note about this cake. If you are going to freeze a creme cake you would not want to idealy use fresh fruit in this manner. When you take the cake out of the freezer the fruit is immediately going to start sweating. If you want to incorporate fruit in this kind of cake you could mix the fruit in with the bravarian cream. If you wanted to still have the decorative fruit shapes along the outside you could use candied fruit, or dried fruit. Or just serve to eat in one sitting.

Foaming cakes! (Chiffon, Genoise, Angel Food Cake)

Or rather.... cakes made using different foaming methods. In this class (day 3 of Intro to Pastry, not that the class number matters when posted on a blog) we talked about the different types of foam cakes. The term foam refers to the foam texture that is created when you whip whole eggs, yolks, whites, or a combination of the above egg parts. Cakes that are commonly made with the foaming method include: sponge cakes, Chiffon, Angel Food. Sponge cakes can be divided into separated egg sponge cakes and whole egg sponge cakes (Genoise is an example of this). Below are the methods for a yellow Chiffon cake, a yellow Genoise cake, and an Angel Food Cake.

The baking times in this section are very approximate. The best way to test a cake is by touch. It should be firm yet bounce back slightly when you touch it. With foam cakes you have to be very carful of oven spring disruption (opening the oven while the leavening is taking place and "sinking" your cake). If you are baking it in a conventional oven you need to turn the cake in the last 5 minutes of baking. Not before!

Chiffon cake*: panned in a half sheet pan
Chiffon cakes are a light and airy cake that retains its moisture well because of the oil that is used for the fat agent. It is not too sweet because of the oil, so it is often perfect for ice cream cakes because of these two factors.

Formula: Yields 3lb. 3 oz.
10 oz. (100%) Cake flour
8 oz. (80%) Sugar
0.25 oz. (2.5%) Salt
0.5 oz. (5%) Baking powder
5 oz. (50%) Vegetable oil
5 oz. (50%) Egg yolks
7.5 (75%) Water
0.25 oz. (2.5%) Vanilla extract
10 oz. (100%) Egg whites
5 oz. (50%) Sugar
0.05 oz (5/8t) (0.5%) Cream of tartar

*Gisslen pg. 406

MOP: Chiffon method
Take your flour, salt, leavening agent and sift into mixing bowl. If you dont have a sifter and cant sift it use the whisk attachment and put the machine in low speed (one or two for a kitchen aide, one for a hobart) and mix briefly. Turn off. Combine sugar (8oz.), vanilla, egg yolks, oil, and water. Pour the liquid mixture into bowl and mix on low speed to incorporate.

Then increase to high speed and mix until it reaches a whipped, pale yellow, liquid/smooth consistency. Turn off the mixer and either grab a clean mixing bowl and whisk attachment or transfer to another bowl and wash the mixing bowl and whisk thoroughly.

In clean bowl. Whisk together cream of tartar, egg whites, and sugar (5oz. portion). Whip to a medium peak.

While the egg whites are foaming get your half sheet pan ready with parchment paper on the bottom of the pan. The pan doesn't need to be sprayed as you want a foam based cake to raise as much as it can, and since it doesn't have any other leavening agent except for the eggs you want it to grip to the sides of the pan and not sink back into the pan while baking.

When the egg white foam reaches a medium peak you want to fold this foam into the cake batter by hand. By using your hands,

fingers, to fold it in you can feel all the batter mix into the foam. You are also more careful to not over mix because you can feel the lightness or stiffness of the batter.

Pour the batter immediately into the pan from the center. Use your offset spatula to smooth out and push the batter to the edges of the pan. You don't want to knock down the batter at all because you will break the foam you've just created. Bake immediately at 350 degrees Fahrenheit in a convection oven. For approximately 18-20 minutes. Or until done. It should come out a dark golden

colour and should be firm yet bounce back to your touch.




Genoise*: panned in a Genoise pan (this recipe fits a 9"/10" pan)
Genoise pans come in different sizes but they are traditionally a flat bottomed pan that is smaller on the bottom then the top.

Formula: Yields one 9" pan
6 Eggs at room temperature**
185 grams Sugar
185 grams Pastry Flour***

*This is a very basic or generic recipe that came from our classroom but if you want to look at a text reference its on pg. 407 in the Gisslen text.
**If the eggs are not at room temperature they wont foam correctly. You can hold a steam bath or a blow torch under your bowl to heat it up wile whipping, or you can whip longer. But the best and easiest solution is to just use room temperature pasteurized eggs (so you don't have to worry too much about salmonella.... now that I have a larger audience then my sister and my friend Dana I apologize if no one finds that an appropriate or funny comment).
***As always in any recipe/formula I give out, the type of flour used is recommended. If you don't have or cant find pastry/cake/bread/unbleached/enriched/etc. flour its not the end of the world. But using the specified flour will improve the quality of your product because thats the density of bleached flour/structure thats desired for that product.


This is a really delicate cake, so you want to have everything prepped before you mix the cake, and you absolutely do not want to open the oven once you put the cake is put in until it is finished baking.

MOP: Whole egg sponge method
Prep pan. Cut out or place a circle of parchment paper the size of the bottom of your pan. Spray the sides of the pan and set aside.

Put eggs in a mixing bowl with a whisk attachment, add sugar into the bowl and mix on high until the colour changes to a pale yellow and you start to see the batter spit up on the sides of the bowl, you'll also start to see a reverse spin in the mixing of the batter in the bowl. While you are waiting for the mixture form, sift the flour twice.
Turn off the mixer when its mixed. Pour the flour into the bowl and fold with your hands, turning until the flour is fully incorporated. Use your hands because you will better feel that all the flour lumps have incorporated (without over mixing) this way. Wipe off your hands on the side of the bowl and use a spatula to wipe all excess batter off the top/sides of the bowl.

Pour the batter into the pan. Do not knock on the table. But you can use your palm and fingers to smooth the batter out.

Bake immediately at 350 degrees in a convection oven until a light brown colour. Approximately 20-22 minutes. Its easiest to un-pan this cake when its hot, be careful! Get a 9" cake card and sugar. Dust the cake with sugar and flip over onto the cake card.




Angel Food Cake: panned in a 9" angel food pan or tube pan

Formula: Yields 9 oz.
8 oz. (267%) Egg whites
1.7 g. (2%) Cream of tartar*
1/4 t (1.5%) Salt
4 oz. (133%) Sugar
1/2 t (2.5%) Vanilla
1/4 t (1.25%) Almond extract
4 oz. (133%) Sugar
3 oz. (100%) Cake Flour

* Cream of tartar can be omitted if it is not too hot outside. It acts as a flavour enhancer and stabilizer which is really beneficial if you are worry about the foaming quality or ability of your eggs. This is especially a problem in the warm and moist weather months.

MOP: Angel food method
In mixing bowl combine egg whites, one portion of the sugar, salt, and cream of tartar (if you are using it). whip this on high to a medium peak. While this is whipping, sift flour and combine with other portion of sugar (you can just sift the sugar with the flour, but there is no need to sift sugar unless it is very old and has begun to form into hard rocks).
When the egg whites start to look like they are reaching a medium peak, stop the mixer and add in the vanilla and almond extract. Continue mixing till it reaches a medium peak. (You can add in the vanilla and almond extract at any point, but just incase the eggs break its safest to add it at the end).

Stop the mixer when the egg whites reach a medium peak and pour the sifted flour and sugar into the bowl. Mix by hand and fully incorporate the batter. Pour batter into mold immediately. Gently use your fingers to push the batter into the corners of the mold, you can also use your palm to smooth out the surface of the cake. You can bang the cake pan on the counter gently once to get the batter to reach down into the corners, don't bang more then once because you run the risk of breaking the nice foam you've just created.

Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit in a convection oven, about 20-30 minutes, or until done. When the cake is baking it will rise and then fall in the pan, this is natural. When it finishes baking turn the pan upside down to cool.

If you are lucky enough to have a deck oven with different settings for where the heat is coming from these are the desired settings: 350 degrees, 10 front, 8 top, 6 bottom. Bake on a rack for approximately 30 minutes.

Sachertorte

As I described in a previous post, a Sachertorte is a kind of cake that originated in the Hotel Sacher in the late 17th century.

Sachertorte: Yields 1, 10" cake
Ingredients:
1, 10" Baked and chilled Sacher cake
Simple syrup flavoured with Kirsch (this recipe usually uses a run or raspberry flavoured liquor)
Raspberry jam (can use other flavours, in the Gisslen text it says to use apricot)
Gnache
Praline

Tools: offset palette knife (offset spatula), serrated knife, pastry brush, 10" cake card, 12" decorative cake card (for presentation), half sheet pan, wire rack that fits inside sheet pan, parchment paper, parchment paper to make a decorating cone, turntable

MOP: assemble
Take the 10" Sacher cake out of the freezer, if the cake is cold but not frozen it will be easier to cut.

Make gnache. Gnache is usually equal parts chocolate and heavy cream. Place chocolate, cut up to small pieces, in a stainless steel bowl. Heat the cream over a burner until it is hot and steamy, not boiling. If you are using a cream that is of a higher percentage then you dont need to heat it up so much. When it is hot, pour cream over chocolate and mix with a spoon not with a whisk (whisks incorporate air). Let it sit before using it.

Unwrap the cake and place it on a 10" cake card on the turntable, upside down. Trim cake if it is not level. Slice the cake in half (the best way to do this is keep your serrated knife level and spin the turn table. That way you decrease your chances of cutting in a crooked line.) aSet the other half of the cake aside for now.

Use a pastry brush to generously dab the simple syrup mixture on the cake. This aides in moistening the sponge (cake) layer. (See Black Forest Cake entry for instructions on how to make simple syrup).

Place a generous portion (about 6 oz.) of the raspberry jam in the center of the cake, using your offset spatula spread the jam almost the the edge, leaving about half of an inch from the edge. The jam should not be too thickly put on either, about 1/4 inch thick. Put the other cake on top, gently push it down (the "cut" side should be facing down). Dab simple syrup on the top layer.
Now you want to do what is called a crumb coating or a masking. This can be done with different kinds of frosting, butter cream is often used. In this case we are just going to use the raspberry jam

again. Dab another layer of jam on top and push to the edges, just like before. This time you want to only have a very thin layer, about 1/8th of an inch thick. Use a similar technique to the Black forest cake to frost the sides, dabbing a bit on in a straight vertical manner with your offset spatula and then gently dragging it back and forth. Clean off the edges and the top and put the cake in the freezer to set. Clean up your work area and set up a cooling rack inside of a parchment lined sheet pan.

Grab the gnache that you previously prepared and make sure it is still at a liquid consistency. If not, pop it in the microwave for a few seconds and take it out and stir it to get it to a pouring consistency.
Pour the gnache in to the middle of the cake, generously, and let it fall of the sides.

As it begins to fall off the sides use your offset spatula to push the excess gnache away from the middle and allowing it to fall down the sides. You should not need to use the spatula on the sides, instead you can knock the pan against the table a few times to aide the gnache in flowing down the sides. This is why you want to use a lot of gnache, so it will fill down the sides of the entire cake.
If you don't get a complete covering you can do two things. You can take your offset spatula and try to fill in the cracks. Or you can pop the cake back in the freezer for 10 ish minutes and then pour another layer of gnache over the cake. While this is very yummy and provides for a really chocolaty rich cake, its not the best solution production or money wise. This however is how I finished the cake in this picture and it was thoroughly delicious!
Let the cake set up.

To garnish the cake you can use either chocolate shavings (see Black Forest Cake posting for directions on how to make this) or you can use Croquant (rice grains) or Pralines (caramelized hazelnuts, like I did with this cake). Hold the cake with one hand, and with the other grab a bunch of pralines. With your open hand bring it to the cake and press gently off the bottom to form a semi circle. continue this all the way around the cake.

If you want to decorate the cake very traditionally make a parchment cone and fill with gnache. Write "Sacher" in the middle of the cake in your very best Cursive. You can also make a decorative swirly, yet uniform, boarder around the top of the cake as well. Lift the cake, with the cake card, off of the wire and place it on the larger cake card. Best served a little cold.

Eat with a loved one, or friend. They'll be very impressed (as will strangers on the bus or at the wine store if you are transporting it, and getting a bottle of red wine on the way).

Black Forest Cake

This is an assembled cake. We have to start thinking about how we are going to put all of our information in a concise portfolio at the end of the quarter, so maybe if I start to construct this blog with some of the same ideas in mind I wont have to do a lot of editing come March. So for this cake we used the cake from the two stage method (Devil Food Cake)

Black Forest Cake: Yields 1 9" cake
Ingredients:
1 9" Devil Food Cake
16 oz. Heavy Cream
3 (ish) oz. Sugar*
Simple syrup
Kirsch, or other liquor
Cherries
Dark chocolate shavings

Tools:
Piping bag, large star tip, offset palette knife (offset spatula), serrated Knife, bowl scrapper, pastry brush, turntable, 9" cake card, 10" or 12" decorative cake card (for presentation really)

*You want to use aproximately 20% of the cream amount for sugar


MOP: assemble
Make chantilly cream. In a mixing bowl using a whisk attachment whip the heavy cream and sugar to a medium to stiff peaks on high speed (8 on a Kitchenaide, 3 on a Hobart). Set aside when done.

Take the 9" devil food cake out of the freezer, unwrap it and place it on the turntable. Slice it in half (the best way to do this is keep your serrated knife level and spin the turn table. That way you decrease your chances of cutting in a crooked line.) If the cake is very uneaven you will want to trim off the top or bottom so that it is more flat. Turn the cake over so that the baked bottom is not the new "top", and place the new bottom half of the cake on the 9" cake card and on top of the turn table. Set the other half of the cake aside for now.

Use a pastry brush to generously dab the simple syrup mixture on the cake. This aides in moistening the sponge (cake) layer.
The simple syrup mixture can be any combination of 1pt sugar to 1 part water (eg. 1qt water to 2# sugar), plus you can add a little bit of liquor to give it flavouring. Using the liquid from a canned fruit container is also very sufficient and flavourful!
Fill your pastry bag with the Chantilly cream. Pipe three circles in the shape of a bullseye leaving room for a circle of fruit in between each circle; one around the edge, one closer in, one closer in.

Fill in the empty portion in between each circle of cream with a line of cherries. Make sure to "dry" the cherries slightly on a towel or just by straining the liquid from the before hand, this will help you control the amount of liquid going into the cake.
Now take the "top" portion of the chocolate sponge cake that you had set aside earlier. You want to place it cut side down on top of the prepared cake. Press down gently on this layer to get everything to sit in place. Moisten this layer with simple syrup mixture just like before.

With your offset spatula, take a generous portion of cream and place it in the middle of your cake. Moving from the middle to the edges with your spatula frost the top of the cake. Using your spatula so that it is at a slightly tilted angle from a flat position relative to the cake, place it in the middle of the cake and turn the turn table to flatten out the frosting on top.
To frost the sides of the cake, either hold the cake in your left hand or keep it on the turn table and apply the frosting to the sides thickly in a vertical swoop, do this again right next to the portion you just frosted.

Then use your spatula to combine those frosted portions, in a back and forth motion. Continue in this fashion all the way around the cake.
When the cake is frosted, use your spatula at a flat angle to go around the sides and straighten it out, dont move your spatula but turn the turntable. Keep in mind that you want to have about a fourth inch thick wall of frosting around the sides of the cake to help keep the sponge cake moist.

To flatten out the edges around the top of the cake take your spatula at a flat angle and come down from the top and pull up in the middle. As Chef Mark described, "Imagine an airplane coming in for a landing, and he sees a little kitty cat on the run way, and he's gotta take off. So you gotta come from the top and pull up. To miss that little kitty cat, you gotta pull up."

Finish off the cake by decorating the tops and sides. Use your piping bag with the star tip to pipe 12 rosettes of whipped cream around the top edge, place a cherry in the center of each rosette. By doing this you are giving each slice of cake an embellishment.
Use the shaved chocolate to decorate the sides of the cake. If you cooled the chocolate you can easily use your hand to place it on the sides of the cake. You can also "dump" a generous amount of chocolate shaving in the center of the top of the cake.

To make shaved chocolate:
Heat up dark chocolate in a stainless steel bowl on top of a water filled sauce pan. When the chocolate is at a thin melted consistency pour it on a very clean marble surface. Use your offset spatula to flatten the chocolate out to a very thin layer, let it dry. Use a bench scraper to score sections in the chocolate (if you want small shavings) and scrape the chocolate off the table with a quick pushing motion. Freeze the chocolate until you are going to use it to prevent it from melting or being too soft to apply to the cake.