Cake Technical help

Cake Flour

Flour furnishes structure and is used to bind all of the other ingredients together during the cake making process. Soft wheat flour is best suited for use in high ratio layer cakes. Soft wheat flours are generally low in water absorption and do not require harsh mixing or a long mix time. A short patent flour of low ash and protein is ideal. In the milling process, the "extraction" is defined as the portion of the wheat berry as a whole which is milled into actual flour. A normal extraction is approximately 72 percent of the wheat berry. This flo ur which has been extracted is gradually separated into streams consisting of one of the following categories: Extra short or fancy patent flour, short, medium, long, and very long patent flour. The shorter the patent, the more refined (has a lower degree of separation) the flour will be. The following specifications are recommended for a typical cake flour. The protein content should be 8 ± 0.5% with a moisture content of 13 ± 0.5%, an ash level of .35± 0.05% and a particle size of 10±0.5 microns. The flour should be well bleached with chlorine bleach, (not benzyl peroxide) to a pH level of 4.4 - 4.8. Chlorination of flour provides 2 great benefits. First is bleaching, which gives a better crumb color but second and more importantly it lowers the gelatinization temperature of the starch within the flour. This makes it possible for the cake to set faster and therefore reduces the loss of leavening during baking. Bleaching also gives the flour the ability to carry more sugar and shortening as well as water.

Sugar

Sugar is mainly used as a tenderizer in cakes because of the softening effect it has on the protein in the flour (gluten.). Sugar is also used for sweetness, moisture retention, lubrication of other ingredients, and crust color. Other types of sugars used in the bakery include dextrose and brown sugar. Also syrups such as invert sugar, corn syrup, molasses, honey or refiner's syrups are used either for the particular flavor they impart or as a moisture retaining agents. When using these sweetener varieties you must be aware that some do not have the same sweetness as granulated sugar (sucrose) and do contain various levels of water. Sugars of any kind when used in cakes tend to soften the batter and make it thinner. Fine granulated sugar or special baker's sugar gives the best results in cake work.

Shortening

The primary function of shortening in cakes is to incorporate air in the finished cake batter. Any ingredient that incorporates air acts as a tenderizer; therefore shortening is a tenderizing agent. Shortening is also used in lubrication of other ingredients which allows the cake to rise more freely and increases the shelf life by helping to retain moisture in the finished cake. The types of shortenings used today are as follows: All-purpose shortening This is an non-emulsified hydrogenated shortening. This type of shortening can be used successfully in hi-ratio cakes with the addition of emulsifiers (normally 2- 6% of the shortening weight). Cake Shortening or Cake and Icing Shortening This is an all-purpose hydrogenated shortening in which the manufacturer has added one, two or a combination of emulsifiers. These emulsifiers include but are not limited to mono & diglycerides, polysorbate 60, Propylene Glycol monoesters, sodium stearoyl lactylate and lecithin. The emulsifiers, which are blended into the shortening, help to form an emulsion, especially at lower temperatures. This allows the baker to add more water to the cakes and in this way improves the eating qualities of the finished cake by retaining more moisture. Other types of shortening may include fluid shortenings and butter or margarine.

Eggs

One of the main functions of eggs is to build structure (whites and whole eggs). They are used as a tenderizer (yolks - contain lecithin - an emulsifier). They are also used for color, nutrition, flavor and help to retain moisture in the finished cake.

Mixing Methods

Mixing is basically accomplished in 4 steps: 1.) The wetting of ingredients. 2.) Incorporation of air into the batter. 3.) A homogeneous dispersion of air becoming increasingly fine throughout the batter. 4.) Elimination of possible large air pockets and still a finer break down of the air cells. Please note that it is possible to produce a variety of differences in the finished product by changing the formula and/or mixing methods by which the batter is assembled. The two most common cake mixing methods used in the baking industry today are multi-stage mixing and continuous mixing.

Multi Stage Mixing Method

Continuous Mixing Method

Multi Stage Mixing

In this mixing method only partial additions of liquids are made to the dry ingredients. A typical production formula using a KEY MIX cake concentrate is shown below illustrating a typical wholesale lemon cake production formula.

Continuous Mixing

The basic equipment required for continuous cake batter mixing consists of a pre-mixer, a holding tank and the continuous mixer. The two most common are the Glen Oaks and Good Way systems. The preparation of the slurry is a relatively simple process and is usually accomplished in an automatic mixer into which all the wet and dry ingredients are automatically metered, followed by the manual addition of the shortening and minor ingredients. The actual mixing is accomplished in a mixing head which has only one moving part called a "rotor". This rotor revolves at high speeds between places (or stators) carrying a very large number of rods. The emulsifying action in this head is accomplished by "liquid sheer". Depending on the size of the mixing head, there is a relatively small amount of batter passing into and through at any time. If the output was 3500 -4000 pounds of batter per hour, the material would remain in the head only @ 3 seconds. The density (specific gravity) is controlled by a small valve on a "flowrator" which is a meter used to measure the volume of air being pumped into the mix. Using this system the batch size and production speed can be greatly increased. This is due to the fact the mixing time in the premix to the depositor is very short, (@1 - 3 minutes in the premix and only seconds in the actual mixing head). Also there is little or no aeration of the batter in the pre-mix stage (the specific gravity stalling at @ 1.100), so there is no need to make an allowance for any rise of the batter in the bowl.

Batter Temperatures

The temperature of finished cake batter is very important. This is due to the batter temperature's affect on the viscosity which in turn affects both the stability of the batter and its ability to incorporate air. The table listed below can be used as a guide line for temperatures and specific gravity in various cake batters.

If the cake batter is too cold, it will take a longer amount of time for the vapor pressure to be developed (The vapor pressure is what allows the cake to rise). This gives the cake time to crust over and set on top before expansion really takes place. This will produce cracking and result in a poor looking top on finished cake. The optimum temperature should be between 68 - 72F for a finished cake batter

Specific Gravity

Specific gravity is recorded as the degree of aeration in the batter and is directly related to the final cake volume. This also affects the symmetry, texture and grain. Whenever changes are made in ingredients, mixing operation, or equipment design, the aeration of the batter will most likely vary. Specific gravity is the ratio between the weight of a given volume of any substance (i.e. the cake batter) and the weight of the same volume of water. You can use virtually any container available in the bakery following the formula below to determine the specific gravity of any batter.

Specific gravity=THE WEIGHT OF THE VOLUME OF CAKE BATTER
                         THE WEIGHT OF AN EQUAL VOLUME OF WATER

Listed below are a few basic ranges of specific gravities for various types of cakes, but a KEY MIX representative will help determine the exact and proper specific gravity to fit your particular shop conditions.

Scaling

The proper scaling weights of each cake variety can be determined by first actually test baking a cake and then determining the optimum amount of batter for that size pan. Once this determination is made all other pan sizes can be determined using the following formula: First you must find out the volume of the cake pan which was used

VOLUME IN CUBIC INCHES=3.14 x radius x height i.e. 3.14 x 16 x 1 =75 cubic inches

If it was experimentally determined that an 8" round cake pan with a 1 " side properly held 12 oz of cake batter, then 75 cubic inches would be equal to 6.25 inches per ounce of batter.

Volume of cubic inches=CUBIC INCHES / OUNCE

exp.determined batter wt.
I.e. 75 cu. In.=6.25 cu. In./ounce 12 oz The value 6.25 is referred to as a "factor".

Now you can divide the factor into any cake pan volume to determine the proper scaling weight of that particular batter in that specific pan size.

I.e. a 10" round cake pan with a 1 " side would hold:
3.14 x 5 2 x 1 =117.75
117.75=18.84ozs scaling weight
6.25

Floor Time

Once the cake batter has been mixed it should be deposited into the cake pans and conveyed into the oven with a "minimum" loss of time. This is because once the batter has been mixed the leavening agents have gone into solution and begun to interact. In more fluid batters such as cake batters, the gas tends to rise towards the surface with the small bubbles coalescing in the process into larger cells. There is an inevitable escape of leavening gas from the batter which is held on the floor in bowls or an open hopper as well as a coarsening of the cell structure over extended periods of time.

Baking

The optimum baking conditions for cakes are determined by such factors as the richness or leanness of the formula, the flow and density of the batter, pan size etc. Cakes which are larger in size and / or are richer in formulation generally are baked at lower oven temperatures for longer periods of time when compared with leaner formulations and/or smaller size cakes.

Here is a list of representative cake baking times and temperatures for a conventional oven. The ranges of bake times and temperatures for each variety provide the needed margins for adjustment in both factors to conform to the particular scaling weight of the product. In all instances the maximum internal temperature of the finished cakes is 208-210F.

pH

In chemically leavened baked products, pH plays an important role in determining the color and texture of the finished goods. For example the color of a devils food cake may range from a light brown at pH 7.0 - 7.5, to a dark mahogany red at pH 8.8 or 9.0. At the same time, the texture tends to become finer as the pH level increases. However an excessively high pH must be avoided an it may produce an objectionable soapy taste. In white layer cakes the color tends to change from white to a dull yellow as the pH increases and the product at the same time becomes more crumbly. Each product has an optimal pH value for the best keeping quality. The pH ranges which have been found most suitable for certain types of baked cakes (not batters) are listed below.

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