On Jun 11, 7:32*pm, " > wrote:
> On Jun 11, 8:27*am, Bigus > wrote:
>
> > Hi
>
> > I made some cupcakes the other day using the ratio of ingredients given
> > in one of my cookery books for the "classic sponge", i.e:
>
> > equal parts fat, sugar, egg and S.R.flour
>
> > (hand beating the fat and sugar then gradually adding the egg followed
> > by mixing in the flour.
>
> That's a pound cake, not a sponge cake. *A sponge cake doesn't have
> any fat in it other than what's in the eggs. *For a traditional sponge
> cake you separate the eggs and beat the yolks with some of the sugar
> until they reach the "ribbon stage". *Next, add salt and flavoring.
> Then, gradually stir in the flour. *Beat the egg whites to soft peaks
> and gently fold in. *A sponge cake gets all it's leavening from the
> air that's trapped in the beaten egg whites. *An angel food cake is a
> sponge cake made with egg whites only. *A chiffon cake is prepared
> like a sponge cake but it has oil added to it to make it moist and
> tender. *If you add melted butter instead of oil, you have a
> genoise. * A butter cake is your typical layer cake. *It has fewer
> eggs than a sponge cake and usually has baking powder and/or baking
> soda in it for leavening. *Of course these definitions aren't written
> in stone. *There are many cases where the definitions overlap.
>
> When it comes to cake, ingredients can be broken into two type of
> groups. One is wet vs. dry. *The other is tenderizers vs. tougheners
> or strengtheners. *Wet vs. dry seems pretty simple but one has to be
> aware of water that may be hiding in certain ingredients such as
> butter. *A cake made with butter is going to come out different from a
> one that's made with all shortening. *So always use the type of fat
> specified in the recipe if it's your first time making it. *Naturally
> there's quite a range in how thick cake batters are. *However,
> generally if the batter is too thick the cake will come out dry and
> heavy, and if it's too thin it won't be able to maintain its structure
> when it rises and it will fall.
> *Also, believe it or not, sugar is considered to be a wet ingredient.
> One way to make brownies *more moist and fudgy without making them
> heavy is to add more sugar. *For a 9"x13" pan of brownies, I use 2 2/3
> cups of sugar.
>
> Flour and eggs provide structure for the cake. *They toughen it or
> strengthen it. *Sugars and fats tenderize a cake. *So you have to have
> the right balance between the two types. *A cake that doesn't have
> enough sugar or fat will be dry and chewy. *A cake that has too much
> will fall apart. *Even though sugar and fat are both tenderizers, they
> don't behave the same way. *An angel food cake is made with all sugar
> and no fat. *It's tender but it doesn't have the same texture that a
> butter cake does.
>
> If you really want to learn about baking cakes, the thing to do is to
> dive right in. *Make a tried and true recipe and then see what happens
> when you change things around. * If you end up with a few flops, well
> then you've learned something about what does and doesn't work. *Also,
> get a good kitchen scale. *For consistant results in baking, you
> should weigh your ingredients rather than relying on measuring cups.
>
> 1 cup all-purpose flour = 125 grams
> 1 cup cake flour = 118 grams
> 1 cup granulated sugar = 200 grams
> 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar *= 228 grams

Sponge type cakes that are leavened with beaten egg whites are also
known as foam cakes. Butter cakes are also known as creamed cakes
because the butter and sugar are creamed together. The creaming traps
air in the butter and helps make the cake light.