What is the formula of a regular cake? This is a biscuit cake, longitudinally cut into three or four parts, which are soaked and smeared with cream. It is with this basis for the cake that the chefs have the most problems. Although, after carefully reading the recipe for a biscuit test, there should not be any difficulties.
In general terms, the process of making cake looks like this. Beat egg whites, grind the yolks with sugar. We combine both masses, stir. Add flour, if desired - vanillin, grated zest. The biscuit dough is ready! Pour it into a greased form and bake. But this is all a theory.
But in practice - then the proteins do not whip, then the dough falls off when kneading. Sometimes everything seems to be in order, but not a magnificent cake, which can be divided into three or four parts, but a flat pancake appears from the oven. Some chefs resort to using a baking powder. But if you go too far with this ingredient, the cake will have an unpleasant soda aftertaste. In this article, we will give a simple and at the same time a win-win recipe for a magnificent biscuit in the oven, with a photo illustrating the process and a detailed description. Guided by it, you will always make delicious cakes and muffins.
Ingredients
To cook the correct, airy, biscuit dough, you need to know a few secrets. Tricks begin already at the stage of product preparation. So, we read the classic recipe for a magnificent biscuit! In the oven, it should rise well, and as a result, you can make a delicious cake that literally melts in your mouth. The list of ingredients is very simple and concise. Five eggs, a glass of flour and sugar, a pinch of vanillin and a little butter to grease the mold. It seems like it's easy and budget friendly. But let's look at each ingredient separately.
- The eggs. They should not be freshest - the protein in them is liquid and does not beat well. Choose those that lie with you for a week. Naturally, all this time the eggs should be kept in the refrigerator. Get them last, just before use. Warm protein does not break, no matter how hard you try. So, the eggs should be well chilled.
- Flour. Necessarily wheat and premium. Measure the glass and sift the flour well. This simple technique will enrich it with oxygen. And due to air bubbles your sponge cake will rise.
- Sugar. It will be better if you turn large crystals into powder. But if you don’t have a coffee grinder to do this, don't be discouraged. Powdered sugar is not a requirement.
The classic recipe for gingerbread cake biscuit
In the gas oven, as you know, pies, alas, are not baked, but dried. This applies to yeast dough, and any other. Owners of an electric appliance are much more likely to get magnificent, airy baking. But do not rush to be upset. If you follow the recommendations of experienced chefs, even if you use gas equipment, it is quite possible to get the desired result at the output. What is needed for this?
It is no exaggeration to say that proteins are the most moody ingredient in the dough. Sometimes they just do not want to beat, no matter how long we have been working as a mixer. What tricks do you need to know for proteins to turn into lush foam, or, as indicated in the classic recipe, become “stable peaks”? First of all, the eggs should be well chilled. Therefore, we first sift the flour, turn sugar into powder, and keep vanillin on hand. By the way, you can already turn on the stove. A magnificent biscuit in the oven is obtained when the dough immediately enters a hot environment.
The second recommendation is to carefully separate the yolks. If at least one drop gets to five proteins, they will not beat. We prepare two containers - larger and smaller. We take into account that whipping proteins will increase in volume. It is better to take a large container high and narrow, so that the mixer can better cope with the work. Experienced chefs advise wiping it dry.
We hit the middle of the egg with a knife. Hold it over a large capacity. We divide the shell into two halves. We roll the yolk from one to the other, while the protein flows into the container. So do with all five eggs. Add the yolks in a smaller container.
Whipping proteins
To get a magnificent biscuit for a cake in a gas oven, we need to make the most airy dough. And since its main ingredient is eggs, you should definitely turn them into a stable foam. How to reach these notorious "solid peaks" mentioned in the recipe? We immerse the whisk of the mixer in proteins and turn on the device first at minimum speed. After a minute, increase the speed. Then again and again, until we reach maximum speed. The whole whipping process can last 7-10 minutes.
At this time, we begin to pour sugar in a thin stream and in small portions. Proteins should increase in volume by four to five times. Their surface will become smooth, shiny, like compacted snow. How do you know if your efforts have been successful? When you take the whisk of the mixer out of the bowl, the proteins will form a peak that will not fall. If you tilt the container, the foam will remain stationary. And what if the squirrels do not want to beat? We apply plan "B": we will drop a little lemon juice in them. You can pre-grease them with the walls of a bowl for whipping proteins.
Yolks
Set the squirrels aside and take on a smaller capacity.
- Pour a tablespoon of sugar into the yolks. Rub it first with a spoon.
- Then beat them with a fork or a hand whisk.
- Immerse the mixer in the squirrels again. Turn on the device and add the yolks to the proteins. Not the other way around! Such a culinary mistake will lead to the fact that the foam falls off and the magnificent biscuit in the oven does not work.
- We continue to work with a mixer turned on at maximum speed. Do not be discouraged if the egg mass becomes thinner than before. The main thing is that it did not exfoliate at all.
- The mass will turn slightly yellow, it will become more dense in consistency. Peaks will be softer but not falling. Now we will add flour, slowly, in small portions. This is good to do through a strainer to sift it once again.
- First, we work with a mixer at low speeds, then stir the dough with a wooden spatula.
Kneading
The main secret of such a test is that you should work with it as little as possible. After all, what is a biscuit? This is, in fact, caked egg foam. Unfortunately, no matter how well we beat the squirrels, but if they stand, how they fall. Air bubbles inexorably rush up. So our task is to keep them. Therefore, the batch should be short, but correct. We use only a wooden spatula, preferably flat. We interfere with it not in a circle, and in no case randomly, but from the bottom up. All we need is for the flour to come into contact with the egg mass.
But you should also watch vigilantly so that there are no lumps left. Suppose you decide to flavor the dough with some flavors prescribed by the selected recipe. A magnificent biscuit in the oven will not work if the dough is not made according to the rules. However, when you mix it with additives at the right time, namely at this stage, everything will be in order. Dry the raisins with a towel, as the slightest moisture will lead to the falling of the dough. Sugar crystals also dilute the medium, so it is best to use vanillin in powder. You can do otherwise: grind vanilla sugar with the yolks.
Shape selection
Before proceeding to the preparation of the dough, we must prepare the dishes, which will form the cake. What does a magnificent biscuit recipe prescribe for us? In the oven, the product must be split oven. We will use it for the preparation of the cake. It happens that we want to get a cupcake in the end. Then the chefs recommend using a special form with a through hole in the middle. So the cake is better baked.
You can also use now fashionable and easy to use silicone molds. They do not need to be greased with anything, and cupcakes are easy to get from them. In any case, the shape should be (for a given number of products) not wide, no more than 22 centimeters in diameter. After all, so that the foam of the biscuit dough does not fall, you need to leave it as narrow as possible, through which air bubbles can escape. If the farm does not have such a detachable shape, you can take a small saucepan. The main thing is that it be high enough, because the classic magnificent sponge cake in the oven will rise by about a third.
Form preparation
Many cooks are used to greasing a baking sheet with vegetable oil. But with a biscuit test, such a number will not work. The porous structure of the cake immediately absorbs liquid fat. As a result, the dough will fall, and the cake will tightly stick to the pan. If we use a detachable metal mold, put a piece of culinary parchment on its bottom. We put on and fasten the sides. Cut the excess paper sticking out at the edges with scissors.
In the case of a saucepan, we put on its bottom a circle of culinary parchment equal to its diameter. The walls of the dishes, as well as the rim of the detachable shape, are greased with a piece of cold butter. The fat layer should be thin. We sprinkle butter with flour. For some reason, many recipes are often silent about such a simple technique. The magnificent sponge cake in the oven rises well thanks to the thinnest layer of flour, since it enhances the adhesion of the dough to the walls of the mold. And the fat layer will not let the cake stick.
Product Formation
Before you begin to separate the squirrels from the yolks, prepare the form (grease it with oil and powder with flour), and also turn on the oven. The recipe for a fluffy biscuit usually indicates that the temperature in the oven should be 180 degrees. As soon as you completely grind the flour lumps, without stirring, pour the dough into the prepared form. It should flow out with a wide ribbon, showing a smooth, uniform texture.
If the dough falls out in flakes or streams like liquid sour cream, then something went wrong. In this case, it is necessary to apply Plan B, which we will report below. It should be remembered that the biscuit during baking will rise one and a half to two times. Therefore, we fill out the form with a test of only two-thirds. And immediately put in a preheated oven.
Test rescue plan
Cooking is a kind of magic. Even if you strictly follow the recipe, the product may for some reason fail. Therefore, the chef should always have in stock options for correcting the situation. How to bake a magnificent biscuit in the oven, if the dough turned out to be too dense, “jammed”? Here we will not analyze the causes of such failure, there are many of them (stale eggs, long kneading, etc.). Just take another protein (1-2 pieces) and beat them with a pinch of citric acid. Carefully introduce this foam into the dough.
If, on the contrary, the base for the cake turned out to be too liquid, we again use the mixer. Sift a little flour, mix with baking powder batter. Without stopping whipping, pour the powder mass into the liquid. If necessary, you can change the nozzle of the mixer (from corollas to spirals).
Baking
As the recipe for a simple and magnificent biscuit prescribes, the oven must not be opened for the first twenty minutes of cooking the cake. Foam dough is so tender that it can fall due to temperature contrast. You can’t even slam the doors to the kitchen. After all, a concussion also badly affects a biscuit. What to do to those cooks whose oven is not equipped with a transparent door? It is impossible to name the exact time for preparing the cake, since it depends on the shape, fire power, size of the oven and many other factors. After 20 minutes, you can carefully open the door and look inside. If the edges of the biscuit are browned, but the middle remains white, reduce the heat. But do it in several steps, as a sharp change in temperature will cause the cake to settle.
Usually it takes 45 minutes to an hour to bake a large biscuit, and it takes significantly less time for small muffins. To check the cake for readiness, we take a toothpick or a matchstick and pierce it with the middle of the product. The wooden stick should come out dry. If particles of dough are found on it, bake the cake further.
Proper cooling
Novice cooks inadvertently pull the product out of the oven immediately after turning it off. And the capricious cake for five minutes shrinks like shagreen skin. It would be more correct to leave a magnificent biscuit in the oven. Photos with a beautiful cake can be put on social networks and later. Turn off the oven and open the door. The lower the temperature difference, the higher the guarantee that the cake will not fall.
When the biscuit is barely warm, carefully pull out the detachable form or saucepan. Take a long and narrow knife and walk a blade along the walls of the dishes. This is done in order to separate the caked sections of the dough from the metal mold. Now we take a flat cover from the big dishes. We cover it with cakes in a saucepan. Turn the whole structure upside down. The cake should lower under its own weight onto the lid. And then we turn it over again - this time on a platter. With a detachable shape it will be even easier to remove the cake. Just remove the sides and transfer the biscuit to the dish.
Cake making
So, you have learned how to make a magnificent biscuit in the oven. But do not rush to immediately cut the cake into layers to soak them and smear with cream. Recipes are often silent about the fact that the biscuit needs to “lie down” for at least eight hours. So bake cakes should be on the eve of the celebration. If you cut a slightly cooled biscuit, it will crumble. And if you infiltrate the layers, then the non-reclaimed dough will soften.
So it is better to cover the cooled cake with a napkin or towel and leave it overnight at room temperature. And in the morning already start building the cake. Cakes can be divided into layers with a knife or a harsh thread. Another thing is if you baked a cupcake. Then you need to sprinkle the biscuit with powdered sugar and immediately serve.