A short article about different ingredients used in cakes.
In this day and age of acute health awareness there are many Commandments for the health conscious. • Thou shalt not eat High Fructose Corn Syrup. • Thou shalt steer clear of Trans Fats. • Thou shalt pore over Food Labels and read the Fine Print. • Thou shalt avoid Partially Hydrogenated Oil. And so …
The term “shortening” technically refers to any type of fat that is solid at room temperature. This includes butter, margarine and lard. But when such a fat is cut into the flour before baking, it coats the gluten strands, retarding the gluten from forming long strands. It “shortens” the gluten and creates a tender, crumbly …
The word Leaven means to cause to rise. A leavener is something that modifies or lightens a baked good. We take light cakes and tender biscuits, springy breads and airy meringues as a given without a thought about the reason for their lightness. And when we do, it’s baking powder or baking soda that come …
Gluten is a collection of proteins (the long amino-acid chains gliadins and glutenins) that make bread rise and give the characteristic chewy texture to baked goods. These proteins are vital to the binding and the rising of baked goods made with wheat based flours. (Read All about flours here). Gluten develops with the addition of …
There are a ton of flours out there—all-purpose, bread, cake, pastry, whole wheat, semolina, self raising. And we’re just talking about wheat based flours right now. They’re all slightly different with slightly different functions. Here are the most common types, what they’re all about, and when you should or shouldn’t use them. All-Purpose or Plain …
Non-dairy toppings, What are they? Non-dairy toppings primarily consist of chemicals, including partially hydrogenated palm kernel oil, high fructose corn syrup, hydroxypropyl methylcellulose, polysorbate 60, salt, polyglycerol esters of fatty acids, soy lecithin, disodium phosphates, sodium citrates, sodium stearoyl lactylate, xantham gum, artificial flavours, etc. Phew! The only words I understood here were soy and …
There are so many different kinds of cream! What cream do I use in my desserts? Shelves in a super markets are stocked with a huge variety of creams. There’s Heavy Cream, Thickened Cream, Double Cream, Single Cream, Pure Cream, Light Cream, Cooking Cream, Whipping Cream and many more. As there’s no standardisation, cream is …