CAKE MAKING

What is a cake?
• A soft, sweet item made from a mixture of
flour, fat or oil, eggs, sugar ,raising agents and
other ingredients, baked and often decorated.
 Places where cakes can be served
• Weddings
• Birthdays
• Anniversary
• Family Reunions
 Ingredients used in cake making
• Flour
• Fat
• Sugar
• Eggs
• Flavourings
• Liquid
Main ingredients used in making cakes
• Flour provides the structure for the product.
The gluten, or protein, in flour, combines to
form a web that traps air bubbles and sets.
Example of different types of flour
Self Raising flour All-Purpose Flour, Counter Flour Cake &Pastry Flour
• Sugar adds sweetness, as well as contributing
to the product's browning. Sugar tenderizes a
cake by preventing the gluten from forming.
Sugar also holds moisture in the finished
product.
• Granulated Sugar Brown Sugar
• Fat contributing to the finished product's
tenderness. In many cakes, fat also contributes
to the fluffiness of the final product.
Butter Margarine Shortening Oil
• Fat – tenderize the
gluten
• Make it easier to
chew
• Liquid helps carry flavorings throughout the
product. Liquids also act as steam during
baking, acting as a leavening agent and
contributing to the tenderness of the product.
Example Liquids
Milk Orange Juice
• Eggs are a leavening/raising agent and the
yolks add fat for a tender and light texture and
the proteins contribute to the structure of the
baked good
• Raising Agents-- air, baking soda, baking
powder and water vapour allows to product to
double in size and also allows the product to
be soft.
• Example of Raising Agents

Baking Soda Baking Powder

Leavening agents –
to make cake rise
 Cream of tartar –
used in whipped egg whites to
stabilize proteins
 Flavorings
Like vanilla and almond
 QUALITIES OF A GOOD CAKE
• Shape: well risen, even top, not peaked,
sunken or cracked
• Colour: correct colour, depending on the
ingredients used
• Flavour: distinctive flavour, depending on
ingredients used
• Texture: fine, even texture, springy to the
touch
 GUIDELINES FOR CAKE MAKING
• Baking tins should be of the correct size and
suitably prepared.
• Weigh and measure ingredients accurately.
Never add a little extra for good measure
• The oven should be at the correct
temperature before the cake is put in.
• Make sure that the oven shelves are level and
in the correct position.
• Record the time at which you put the cake in
the oven and time the baking period.
• Do not open the oven door before the cake
has set.
• The most common proportion of baking
powder is ½ teaspoon to cup flour.
• The batter should be baked as quickly as
possible after being mixed to prevent the
escape of carbon dioxide.
 Pans
Pans for cakes should be greased and floured
 Cake making
Gather the tools and equipment needed
 CREAMING METHOD
• Fat and sugar is creamed together, flavoring is
added.
BASIC FIVE MIXING METHODS OF
CAKE MAKING
• Creaming method
• Rubbed in method
• Whisking method
• All-in- one
• Melting
 METHODS OF CAKE MAKING
• Creamed Method also called the conventional
method.
Cream fat and Sugar until light and fluffy
 Making A cake by the creaming method
1. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy using a
wooden spoon or a mixer.
2. Add eggs one at a time. Beat well after each
addition. Or add eggs while
creaming. Eggs should be at room temperature
to prevent curdling.
3. Sieve dry ingredients together.
4. Using a metal spoon, Fold dry ingredients
into creamed mixture alternately with liquid in
thirds.
5.Blend well after each
addition. Do not beat.
6..
 Mix to a soft, dropping consistency.
• Pour mixture into greased, lined/floured tin.
• Level off mixture.

• Put to bake at the required temperature and

time.
 Understanding Cake Making
Basic Mixing Methods
Creaming Method

Cream the butter and sugar Beat in the eggs a little at a

until the mixture is light and time.
fluffy.
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 Understanding Cake Making
Basic Mixing Methods
Creaming Method

Add one-fourth of the dry Add one-third of the liquid

ingredients and mix in. ingredients and mix in. Repeat
until all the dry and liquid
ingredients are incorporated.
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 Understanding Cake Making
Basic Mixing Methods
Whisking Method

With a wire whip or the whip Fold in the sifted flour in three
attachment of a mixer, beat or four stages, until all the
the eggs until they are very flour is blended in.
thick and light. 29
Understanding Cake Making
Basic Mixing Methods
Foaming or Sponge Method

If melted butter is used, fold it

in after the flour.

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• Melted Method

The fat is melted and added to the flour mixture.

In some cases, oil is used instead of melted
fat.
• Whisking method
• All angel food cakes are based on egg white
foams and contain no fat.
• Whisking method
• All egg-foam cakes are similar in that they
contain little or no shortening and depend for
most or all of their leavening on the air
trapped in beaten eggs.
 Whisking METHOD
• Care of the egg whites is important for a
successful cake. The eggs should be separated
when cold and allowed to warm to room
temperature. There should be no trace of egg
yolk (fat) in the white since the presence of fat
will hinder the whites from beating. In
addition, the bowl, beaters, and tube pan
must be also grease free
• Whisked/ sponge cake is leavened only by air
and steam, with no chemical leavening. The
air and steam are primarily derived from the
egg whites, which with sugar constitute the
main ingredients of the cake. Sugar is the
tenderizing agent for the cake since the cake
does not contain shortening.
 Making A Swiss Roll
NB! All utensils should be clean and free from
grease.
1. Preheat oven to 180 oC/350oF
2. Line Swiss roll tin with grease proof paper.
Grease the paper.
•.
3. Separate eggs.
4. Beat the egg whites until stiff. Beat in 2 Tbsp
sugar.

5. Beat the egg yolk, remaining sugar and 1 Tbsp water

until the mixture is pale and leaves a thick trail when
lifted. Add orange/ lime rind or lime juice.
6. Using a metal spoon, fold beaten egg yolk into
egg white mixture.

7. Sift the flour

and fold it into
the egg mixture
Using a metal
Spoon.
8. Pour into a prepared tin. Level off and put to
bake for 12-15 minutes.
9. Warm jam.
10. Lightly sprinkle grease paper with castor
sugar. Remove cake from oven as soon as it is
done. Do not over bake.

11. Peel off lining from cake and cut off crisp
ends.
12. Spread jam ,roll up and put to cool.
Swiss roll is rolled in a similar manner to this
roulade
• Procedure: Whisking Method
Have all ingredients at room temperature. The
egg whites may be slightly warmed in order to
achieve better volume.
• Sift the flour with 40-50% of the sugar. This
step helps the flour to mix more evenly with
the foam.
• Whip the egg whites, to which salt and cream
of tartar have been added, until they start to
form soft peaks.
• Gradually add the remaining sugar (50-60%) in
a slow stream, whipping continuously until the
meringue retains soft moist peaks.
• Fold in the flour-sugar mixture gently.
• Pour the mixture in an ungreased tube-style
pan and bake immediately.
 Methods of cake-making
• Rubbed-in Method also called the blending
method, although it is simpler than the
creaming method, it produces a very smooth
batter that bakes up into a fine grained, moist
cake. The fat is rubbed with the finger tips
until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs.
The remaining liquid ingredients are then
added
 Well made products
Swiss roll • Rock buns
 Creamed cake
Madeira cake
 Making Rubbed in mixtures
1. Measure ingredients. Sift dry ingredients into
a bowl. Add butter and use a palette knife to
cut up fat.
2. Use a dough blender to rub fat into flour until
mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
• Stir in sugar, and other solid ingredients.
• Beat eggs, add vanilla. Add to flour mixture.
• Add enough liquid to form a stiff dropping
dough for rock buns or a firm dough for jam
buns.
• Shape jam buns or drop rock buns and put to
bake. 10-15 mins. for jam buns and 15-20 mins
for rock buns.
• Whisked method
• Chiffon cakes and angel food cakes are both
based on egg-white foams. But here the
similarities in mixing methods end. In angel
food cakes, a dry flour-sugar mixture is folded
into the whites in chiffon cakes, a batter
containing flour, egg yolks, vegetable oil and
water is folded into the whites.
• Egg whites for chiffon cakes should be
whipped until they are a little firmer than
those for angel food cakes,but do not whip
them until they are dry.
• Chiffon cakes contain baking powder, so they
do not depend solely on the egg foam for all
their leavening.
• Sift the flour, baking powder and part of the
sugar into a mixing bowl.
• Gradually beat in the oil, yolks, liquid and
flavourings. Mix until smooth and care should
be taken not to overmix.
• Whip the egg whites in a separate bowl until
they start to form soft peaks. Add the cream
of tartar and sugar in a stream whipping
continuously until stiff but not dry.
• Fold the whipped egg whites into the
batter. Immediately pour in ungreased
tube-style pan and bake.
• Whip egg whites for chiffon cakes until they
are a little firmer than those for angel food
cakes, but not until they are dry.. Chiffon cakes
contain baking powder, so they do not depend
on the egg foam for all their leavening.
 ALL-IN-ONE METHOD
• This entails placing all the ingredients into a
bowl and mixing them until well combined.
 Testing for Doneness
Touch top of cake lightly in center
with fingertip, if it springs back,
its done.

• Insert toothpick into center and if it

comes out clean it’s done.
.
 Mixing Techniques
• “Mixing” is a general term that includes
beating, blending, binding, creaming,
whipping, and folding.
– In mixing, two or more ingredients are evenly
dispersed in one another until they become one
product.
 Keys to successful cakes
• Measure accurately
• Too much and
you have a dry cake,
• Too little and cake is
flat
 Mixing Techniques

• Beat:
• Blend:
• Bind:
• Cream:
• Whip:
• Fold:
 Mixing Techniques
• “Mixing” is a general term that includes
beating, blending, binding, creaming,
whipping, and folding.
– In mixing, two or more ingredients are evenly
dispersed in one another until they become one
product.
 Baking cakes

• Follow directions for:

– Specific pans
– Oven temperature
– Baking time
• Pan size
– Too large🡪cake will not brown
– Too small🡪batter will overflow
• Pan type
– Aluminum Pans 🡪 give the cake a light, dull finish
– Dark, Coated Pans 🡪give the cake a dark, heavy crust
 Baking Cakes

• Preparing Pans
– Prepare as directed
• Grease & lightly dust with flour
• Shake out extra
• Or line with waxed paper cut to size
– Do not grease sides of pan
– Fill pans half full
 How do you know when a cake is
baked
• A toothpick or skewer inserted in the center
comes out clean
• The top springs back when pressed lightly with
a finger
• It shrinks away from the sides of the pan
 Understanding Cake Making
Scaling and Panning
Prepare pans before mixing cake batters so cake
batters can be baked without delay.
• For high-fat cakes, the bottoms of layer pans must be
greased.
• For sheet cakes, line the pan with greased parchment.
• For angel food cakes, do not grease the pan. The batter
must be able to cling to the sides in order to rise.
• For sponge cake layers with a small percentage of fat,
grease the bottoms but not the sides.
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 Understanding Cake Making
Baking and Cooling
Baking
• The following guidelines will help you avoid cake
failures.
• Preheat the ovens.
• Make sure ovens and shelves are level.
• Do not let pans touch each other in the oven.
• Bake at the correct temperature.

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 Understanding Cake Making
Baking and Cooling
Baking
• Too hot an oven causes:
• The cake to set unevenly or to set before it has fully risen.
• Crusts will be too dark.
• Too slow an oven causes:
• Poor volume, texture, and the potential for the cake to fall.

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 Understanding Cake Making
Baking and Cooling
Baking
• Do not open the ovens or disturb the cakes until they
have finished rising and are partially browned.
• Disturbing the cakes before they are set may cause them to
fall.
• If steam in the oven is available, use it for creamed and
two-stage batters.
• Cakes baked with steam bake with a flatter top.

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 Understanding Cake Making
Baking and Cooling
Baking
• Tests for doneness:
• Shortened cakes slightly shrink away from the sides of the pan.
• Cakes are springy; the center of the top springs back when
pressed slightly.
• A cake tester or pick inserted into the center of the cake comes
out clean.

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 Understanding Cake Making
Baking and Cooling
Cooling and Removing from Pans
• Cool layer cakes and sheet cakes 15 minutes in pans,
and then turn out while slightly warm.
• They are too fragile to turn out when hot, and they may break.
• Turn out layer cakes onto racks to finish cooling.
• Cool angel food cakes upside down in pans.
• Support the edges of the pan so the top of the cake is off the
bench.

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 Understanding Cake Making
Baking and Cooling
Cooling and Removing from Pans
• To turn out sheet cakes:
• Sprinkle top lightly with granulated sugar.
• Set an empty sheet pan on top, bottom side down.
• Invert both pans.
• Remove top pan.
• Peel parchment off cake.

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 Faults in cake making
• Cake has sunk in the middle
• Too much sugar or syrup causing the gluten to
be over soften so that it collapses
• Too much raising agent, causing the gluten to
overstretch and collapse
• Undercooking
• Opening the oven door before the gluten has
set, so that the heavy cold air makes it sink
 CAKE DECORATING
• The decoration of a
cake need not be
elaborate or
complicated to be
attractive. There are
many styles of cake
decorating.
 CAKE DECORATING
• To improve • To cover/hide faults
appearance
• To contribute flavour
and richness
• To improve keeping
quality by forming
protective coatings
around cakes.
 Icings: Production and Application
Producing and Handling Basic types
Icings have three main functions:
1. They improve the keeping qualities of the cake by forming a
protective coating around it.
2. They contribute flavor and richness.
3. They improve appearance.

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 Icings: Production and Application
Producing and Handling Basic Types
There are six basic kinds of icing:
1. Fondant
2. Buttercream
3. Foam-type icing
4. Fudge-type icing
5. Flat-type icing
6. Royal or decorator’s icing
In addition, we consider two other preparations for cakes:
1. Glazes
2. Fillings
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Icings: Production and Application
Producing and Handling Basic Types
Fondant
• A sugar syrup that is crystallized to a smooth, creamy
white mass.
• When applied, it sets up into a shiny, non-sticky coating.
• Because it is difficult to make in the bakeshop, fondant is almost
always purchased already prepared.

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FUNDANT
Icings: Production and Application
Producing and Handling Basic Types
Buttercream
• Meringue-type buttercreams
• Prepared by first beating egg whites and adding a boiling syrup
or just sugar.
• Soft butter is then mixed into the meringue.
• French buttercreams
• Similar to the meringue type.
• The foam is made with egg yolks (and, sometimes, whole eggs)
and boiling syrup.

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BUTTERCREAM
Icings: Production and Application
Producing and Handling Basic Types
Buttercreams
• Light, smooth mixtures of fat and confectioners’ sugar.
• May also contain eggs to increase smoothness or lightness.
• Simple buttercreams are made by creaming together fat
and sugar to the desired consistency and lightness.

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Icings: Production and Application
Producing and Handling Basic Types
Buttercream
• Use buttercreams in cool weather only.
• Blend a small quantity of emulsified shortening with the
butter to stabilize it.

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Icings: Production and Application
Producing and Handling Basic Types
Buttercream
• Meringue-type buttercreams
• Prepared by first beating egg whites and adding a boiling syrup
or just sugar.
• Soft butter is then mixed into the meringue.
• French buttercreams
• Similar to the meringue type.
• The foam is made with egg yolks (and, sometimes, whole eggs)
and boiling syrup.

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Icings: Production and Application
Producing and Handling Basic Types
Foam-Type Icings
• Are simply meringues made with a boiling syrup.
• Sometimes called boiled icings.
• Some also contain stabilizing ingredients like gelatin.
• These icings are not stable.
• They should be used the day they are prepared.

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FOAM TYPE ICING
Icings: Production and Application
Producing and Handling Basic Types
Flat Icings
• Also called water icings.
• Simple mixtures of 10X sugar, water, and sometimes corn syrup
and flavoring.
• Flat icings are warmed to 100°F (38°C) for application and are
handled like fondant.

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Fudge-Type Icings
• Rich, cooked icings.
• Fudge icings are heavy and thick, and may be flavored
with a variety of ingredients.
• Fudge icings are stable and hold up well on cakes and in
storage.
• To use stored fudge icing, warm it in a double boiler until soft
enough to spread.
Icings: Production and Application
Producing and Handling Basic Types
Royal Icing
• Similar to flat icings, but much thicker.
• Made with egg whites, which make it hard and brittle
when dry.
• Also called decorating or decorator’s icing.
• It is used almost exclusively for decorative work.

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Icings: Production and Application
Producing and Handling Basic Types
Glazes
• Thin, glossy, transparent coatings that give shine to
baked products and help prevent drying.
• The simplest glaze is a sugar syrup or diluted corn syrup
brushed onto coffee cakes or Danishes while the glaze is hot.
• Ganache is a mixture of heavy cream and melted
chocolate.
• Though not transparent, it is used like other glazes to give a
thin, shiny coating to cakes and other desserts.

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Icings: Production and Application
Producing and Handling Basic Types
Fillings
• Fruit Fillings
• Fruit fillings may be cooked or uncooked.
• Cream Fillings
• Cream fillings include pastry cream and various pudding-type
preparations.
• Whipped Cream
• Whipped cream is used as a dessert topping, filling, and
frosting.

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FILLINGS
Icings: Production and Application
Assembling and Icing Cakes
Selection of Icing
• In general, use heavy frostings with heavy cakes and
light frostings with light cakes.
• Use the best-quality flavorings, and use them sparingly.
• The flavor of the frosting should not be stronger than that of the
cake.
• Use coloring sparingly.
• Light, pastel shades are more appetizing than loud colors.

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Icings: Production and Application
Assembling and Icing Cakes
Small Cakes
• Cupcakes are iced by dipping the tops in a soft icing.
• Petits fours are tiny cakes cut from sheet cakes.
Sheet Cakes
• Sheet cakes are ideal for volume service because they
require little labor to bake, ice, and decorate.
• They keep well as long as they are uncut.

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