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I've just begun my journey as a novice baker, and I've been quite confused regarding the various terminology used for measurements and ingredients. Please share your wealth of baking knowledge here with us who are like chicken running around without heads :lol:

To start off, here's what I've learned today from my favorite healthy cooking website, EatingWell:

Confectioner's sugar = powdered sugar = icing sugar

Substitutes: Mix 1 cup granulated sugar plus 1 tablespoon corn starch in blender until powdery.

Substituting with Splenda (Sucralose): In the EatingWell Test Kitchen, sucralose is the only alternative sweetener we test with when we feel the option is appropriate. For nonbaking recipes, we use Splenda Granular (boxed, not in a packet). For baking, we use Splenda Sugar Blend for Baking, a mix of sugar and sucralose. It can be substituted in recipes (1⁄2 cup of the blend for each 1 cup of sugar) to reduce sugar calories by half while maintaining some of the baking properties of sugar. If you make a similar blend with half sugar and half Splenda Granular, substitute this homemade mixture cup for cup.

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Cake Cooking Tips

Baking with butter: Room-temperature butter for cake batter is one of the biggest culinary missteps. In fact, butter must be below 68°F to trap air molecules and build structure. Otherwise, the fat will be liquefied and the cake will be flat. To get “cool” butter: Cut refrigerated butter into chunks and let them sit in a bowl for 5 minutes before beating.

Baking with Olive Oil: When using olive oil in baking, be sure to choose a light-colored one. You will get all the benefits of olive oil’s monounsaturated fat without the distinctive taste of olives.

Mixing cake batter: Although you cannot overbeat the eggs, sugar and butter, you can overbeat the flour. If you do, youll develop the gluten and create a quick bread rather than a layer cake. Beat the flour just until there are no white grains of undissolved flour visible but not until the batter is completely smooth.

Cake flour: Cake flour is milled from soft wheat that has a lower gluten content and higher starch content than all-purpose flour. It helps ensure a tender crumb in cakes and pastries. To substitute for it in a recipe, use all-purpose flour, but reduce the amount used by 2 tablespoons per cup.

Properly Measuring Flour: Use a spoon to lightly scoop flour from its container into a measuring cup. Once in the measuring cup, use a knife or other straight edge to level the flour with the top of the cup. If the measuring cup is dipped directly into the container—a common mistake—the flour will be packed into the cup and result in extra flour being added to the recipe, yielding tough, dense baked goods.

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A few things I noticed...

TEMPERATURE

Temperature is absolutely crucial. Too hot and your cake will display signs of over-baking - a cracked and brown top instead of the golden crumbly top. Too cold and your cake won't rise, be undercook and look utterly "sick" (pale and flat).

It is always best to work at a temperature of 160 to 180 degrees Celsius unless otherwise specified in the recipe. Some denser cakes call for 200+ temp but remember that a higher temperature will mean the possibility of 1) over-rising, 2) over-baking and 3) shorter time!

Never ever cold-bake!!! A lot of novices make the mistake of dumping their cakes/cookies/muffins/etc into a just-started oven. You need to preheat your oven for a good 5 to 10 minutes minimum to ensure that your cake comes out the way it's supposed to.

SUBSTITUTION

Unless you are pretty adventurous and have a good eye/brain/nose for experiments, please stick to the recipe. Substitutions can be crazy and sometimes even tedious to keep track of.

Remember that every type of flour is different by nature - the most obvious being self-rising and all-purpose flour. When replacing self-rising with all-purpose flour, be sure to double check on how much baking soda to use. Do note that there is a difference between baking soda/bicarbonate soda and baking powder.

When it comes to switching between oils/fats, please remember that butter is at least 80% butterfat, lard is saturated animal fat, margarine is made from vegetable oil, and shortening is vegetable oil that hydrogenated. Each gives a different result and texture to the cake. To maintain the fluid consistency of a cake batter, butter or margarine is recommended. Using oils will give the batter a thinner consistency and make your cake tough/wet.

There are a few different types of cream - stick to what is required because the fat content differs from type to type. Light cream is also known as whipping cream; and heavy is heavy whipping cream.

If you're adding more dry ingredients like nuts and etc, be sure to add a bit tad more butter or milk to keep your cake moist and fragrant but don't overdo it.

Most important thing to keep in mind - be creative when working with substitutions but don't forget that flavour is very important! You don't want to make something that is too out of this world for people to appreciate.

WHEN PREPARING STUFF...

Have everything ready before you start. Read the recipe (have it by your side) and prepare things. You don't want to rush around like a headless chicken. It leaves room for mistakes and worse of all, forgetting certain ingredients. :

Soft butter is when you are able to leave a fingerprint and slight indentation on your butter. It shouldn't "pool" at the bottom. This is very important when making cookies because a partially melted or "too soft" butter will result in cookies spreading too much during the baking process.

Always do a bain de marie (I think that's what they call it) when melting chocolate. Basically it's this - fill a pot with a fair amount of water (about half), and place your chocolate in a bowl that will sit on top of the pot (but make sure that the bottom of the bowl doesn't touch the water). When the water has boiled, turn off the fire and place the bowl on top. Don't forget to stir. Add butter & cream to give it that smooth and creamy consistency. Once done, voila - you have chocolate ganache! If your melted chocolate looks sticky or solid-y, just add a bit of water, butter/cream and sit it over the water again (make sure the water is boiled!).

Cooking chocolate directly will result in the fat separating...which will end up in weird look chocolate. Have never seen it before so I have no idea what it looks like.

Be careful when melting sugar and water (read: making caramel). After a certain temperature point, caramel burns very fast and easily so keep on eye on your mixture and stir constantly. Also, caramel and sugar mixtures can give you a very nasty burn so be careful!!!! Even the pan you pour the mixture on will heat up!!!! (I experienced this when making my very weird brittle...nearly got a burn on all my fingers!)

PAN WOES

Dark pans means more heat absorption so either cut by on the time (by a few minutes) or temperature (I wouldn't recommend this...) Usually bakers don't use dark pans - shiny pans are always best because they give a very tender, light brown crusts.

Coat your pan with some butter and flour - it'll help when it comes to removing your cake later. Remember that removing a cake from its pan fresh from the oven will give you this - a cake in pieces. Always remove your cake when it has cooled - about 20 to 30 minutes.

CHEESECAKE TIPS

When refrigerating cheesecakes, do so without covering it for the first 3 hours or so and then cover it and leave it to properly chill overnight. If you don't, you'll find moisture on the cover which will end up on top of your cake.

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Some tips I got from a few of the cooking books I have lying around...

SHORTENING CAKES*

The best shortening cakes are...

- High, golden brown

- Slightly rounded, smooth top

- Fine-grained, even textured, not crumbly

- Soft, velvety, slightly moist, light and tender

*Shortening cakes are made with butter/margarine/shortening, flour, eggs, a liquid and baking powder/baking soda (plus other stuff la like chocolate, etc).

What happened and why

Cake was too...

...pale

- too little sugar

- baking time too short

...does not rise properly

- too much liquid

- too much fat

- pan too large

- oven too cool

...peaked or cracked on top

- too much flour

- oven too hot

...rim around edge

- pan sprayed with cooking spray/too much butter on the pan

...coarse grained

- too much shortening

...crumbly

- too much shortening

- too much sugar

- underbeaten

- too little eggs

...dry

- too much baking powder

- baking time too long

- too little liquid

...heavy, too moist

- too much liquid

- too much shortening

- too little flour

...batter overflows

- too much batter in pan

- pan too small

- too much leavening (leavening = rising agent = baking soda/baking powder)

...sticks to pan

- pan not greased enough

- cake left in pan too long before being removed

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Some tips I got from a few of the cooking books I have lying around...

FOAM CAKES*

The best foam cakes are...

- High, golden brown with rounded tops and cracks in the surface

- Soft, moist and delicate

- ANGEL - feathery and fine-textured

- CHIFFON - springy and medium-textured

- SPONGE - springy and fine-textured

*Foam cakes are like angel, sponge or chiffon cake. Angel food cakes have no added leavening, no shortening and no egg yolks. Sponge cake uses both egg whites and yolks and sometimes a little leavening but no shortening. Chiffon cakes are a cross between foam and shortening cakes where they include egg whites as well as the whole works!

What happened and why

Cake was too...

...low and compact

- underbeaten or extremely overbeated egg whites

- overfolded batter

- incorrect cooling (not cooled upside down)

- underbaked

...coarse

- underfolded batter

...tough

- underbeaten egg whites

- overfolded batter

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Some tips I got from a few of the cooking books I have lying around...

PASTRY*

The best pastry crusts are...

- Golden brown and blistered on top

- Crips and brown undercrust

- Tender, cuts easily and holds its shape when served

- Flaky and crisp

What happened and why

Crust was too...

...pale

- baked in shiny pan instead of in a dull pan

- underbaked

...looks smooth

- dough was handled too much

...bottom crust is soggy

- baked in shiny pan instead of a dull pan

- oven temperature too low

...tough

- too much water

- too much flour

- dough was mixed and handled too much

...too tender, falls apart

- too little water

- too much shortening

...dry and mealy, not flaky

- shortening was cut in too finely

- too little water

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Mabel,

I have a question regarding buttercream.

Do you use Wilton's recipe or do you have your own recipe.

I have a recipe that is basically like this:

1 pound Sweetex (shortening)

1 pound margerine

1/2 tsp vanilla flavour

1/2 tsp butter flavour

1 cup evaporated milk

2 pounds powdered sugar

Tastes great, but I think it's kinda grain-y. I hate grain-y frosting. Should I beat longer to get rid of the grain-y taste? Also I heard that:

a. beating buttercream too long will make it too soft --> can I just put it back in the fridge to firm it back?

b. meringue powder tastes funny --> 2 teachers and the bakery supply store owner told me that they don't use meringue powder in their buttercream recipe. What say you?? :unsure:

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I'm still using Wilton's class buttercream recipe below mainly because it holds the piped shapes better - taste-wise, it's quite delish actually!

Recipes here yields 3 cups.

The class buttercream

4 cups of icing sugar (sieved - but not too high, otherwise you'll get heaps of air bubbles in your buttercream)

1 cup of shortening

1 tablespoon of meringue powder

1 teaspoon of flavouring

2 tablespoons of milk/water* (depends on the shortening)

The regular buttercream

4 cups of icing sugar (sieved - but not too high, otherwise you'll get heaps of air bubbles in your buttercream)

1/2 cup of shortening (veg)

1/2 cup of butter/margarine (margarine gives the icing a softer texture compared to butter)

1 teaspoon of flavouring

2 tablespoons of milk/water* (depends on the shortening)

Oddly enough I can't pick up the meringue powder flavour...anyway, meringue powder is used to stabilize the buttercream icing. You can omit if you like but it won't hold piped decorations very well. If you're not going to use it for pipping stuff, it's ok. You can still spread it on cakes and stuff. ^.^

Overbeating buttercream will aerate it so you'll get air bubbles...and naturally if you leave it out for too long, it'll soften and dry up. So yup, you can chuck it into the fridge. Just pack it in an airtight container. It ought to keep for two weeks (if you didn't use milk). Just whip it a few times before using.

I suspect the grainy taste could be from the icing sugar...did you sieve it????

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Hmm.. I'm looking at Class 1's textbook.

No I didn't sift my sugar, because everyone I've asked didn't tell me to do so.

I'll try the Wilton recipe next week. I made one using the recipe I've posted and tastes really good.

I'm not sure if 3 cups is enough. My teacher's recipe yields 6 cups. I'll see after I make mine tomorrow. I am making a 2 layer 8" X 2" butter cake for my class.

Do you use Crisco? I heard that it tastes greasy, that's why people prefer Sweetex here.

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Christine, yes, I've heard of Crisco but it wasn't recommended by my teacher because it tends to be more liquid-y compared to another brand that I've been using (I forgot the brand though. Just simply look and grab sort of thing. HAHAHAHA!). Will put up the name later in the afternoon when I balik. ^.^

Ahhhh...no wonder it's feels a bit tad grainy. Trouble with icing sugar is that if you don't sieve it, the cornstarch gets all lumpy and stuff while you'll beating the whole mix together. So usually I just sieve the buggers out - you'll see all those little balls of cornstach at the end. I've never tried going through any baking without sieving after my first experience - my cakes were more fluffy and fine-textured as compared to without sieving the flour. So even if the recipe doesn't call for sieving, I still sieve anyway but not too high from the bowl...otherwise I'll incorporate too much air into my flour (big no no for certain things!). :)

Two 8x2 inch cakes will need more than 3 cups! Hence why she probably gave you a recipe that doubles up. :P

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Yea, I'm making my cake for class tonight... I've been told to sift my cake mix first (am just gonna make cake from box for the first time, don't wanna get overwhelmed :P )

Hehe, sieve is something else here, it's called colander. A sifter is like a colander but with fine wire mesh instead. Fancy ones have crankable handles too. Colander has bigger holes...

Stuff I have to differentiate when I'm in North America... the different terminologies drive me nuts!! :P

BG,

I need to learn a lot from sifus like Mabel and Simonne, so I created this thread lor :)

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OHHA...yes...the different terms...it's crazy, really!!!! Nah...me no sifu. I learn from cook books! :P Last KDU had a whole stack of them - office was next to the library and KDU has hotel & management courses so I did some part-time "studying". (Basically lepak at the library lor!)

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CL, no lah i'm not a baking sifu (paiseh...)I am still working on my egg tart.

For buttercream i have tried Wilton's, easy to pipe out. Yes you can keep the extra in the fridge, when you need it, bring it out and whip it gentle b4 using.

1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening ( i use Krimwell as recommended by my bakery supplier)

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened

1 teaspoon Clear Vanilla Extract

4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar (approx. 1 lb.)

2 tablespoons milk

meiteoh your teacher say Crisco a bit liquid ah ? I 'm using normal shortening for my egg tart. Never use Crisco before (coz more $$$) maybe i try crisco next time and see how the result.

Apart from ingredients, method of mixing also important . This is what i learn from my baking journey :

Mixing Cakes Method

When recipe call for oil

-Beat Egg and sugar for at least 2 minutes or until color changes and thicken

-Add oil, continue beating

-Fold in flour ( alternate with liquid if any, start and end with flour)

When recipe call for butter

-Beat Butter and sugar until light and fluffy (for 2 minutes)

-Add in eggs (continue beating for another 1 minute)

-Fold in flour ( alternate with liquid if any, start and end with flour)

For eggless recipe

- Normally this type of recipe uses liquid to replace the egg .

-What i do is mixing all the liquid ingredients together (for at least 2 minutes)

-Fold in flour

The reason to mix ingredients for certain amount of time is to make sure we in cooperate as much air into the batter to create "soft and fluffy" cakes

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Thanks for the sharing your baking wisdom!! Keep them coming :)

I just baked my first yellow cake out of the box, OMG u should smell the yumminess waft through the apartment now :P

I should be ashamed that I'm baking out of the box but I just want to make sure that I'm not jinxed or cursed with no baking luck... :lol: OK I'm superstitious, but you know what I mean, some ppl just don't hv the luck with certain things, like gardening, etc...

Looks pretty good out of the oven, gonna let it chill overnight before I frost them ....

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Actually it's good to start from boxes...that way you get to learn the art of beating, preparing your oven, and basic steps before moving on to trying your own recipes. A lot of people go crazy in the beginning because they have to pick up so many things related to before mixing stuff. :)

I started from boxes and mixes as well. Still do actually. :P

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Ya i am one of those crazy people, bought so many pans, cupcakes liner, spatula and so many baking stuff..

For ready cake mix, i love to use Betty Crocker's

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When I'm short of time I also use ready cake mix but just add a little lemon peel, nuts, raisins, chocolate syrup (for marble) or coffee powder to give it a little more tang. Drizzle with a teeny bit of glazing and voila people can't tell the difference. hehe...

I've a book called "The Cake Doctor" that teaches how to modify cake mix into realy yummylicious cakes. Anyone heard of it?

I also have a cabinet full of baking stuff... I even shipped my whole cabinet of baking tools and books back from US when I came back here. I'm so addicted to the smell of freshly baked cakes or pastries wafting from the oven.

Simonne, I went through your baking diary and find your experiments really delicious!! Going to curi some of your recipes to try out!

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I have the Cake Doctor book for cupcakes, I started reading a few pages then I skipped straight to the cupcakes that I want to make :P Haven't made anything yet so far, but am planning to this weekend. My other book is Vegan Cupcakes Has Taken Over the World. Looks promising, we'll see :lol:

For boxed mix, the local favorite here is Duncan Hine's. I made my yellow cake last night, and now I know why it's so popular among the bakers in my office and at the bakery stores :P

Simonne, Mabel:

Thanks for the reassurance! I can't wait to frost my cake tonight :D I used Wilton's Cake Ease but didn't have a pastry brush to apply them onto the pan, just rubbed it in with paper towel, I hope my cake comes out though :unsure:

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For boxed mixes, I would recommend Betty Crockers and Plisbery (sp)...taste-wise, it's heaps better than the other brand(s) out there.

As for cookbooks, a basic intro to baking is good enough. I have Betty Crocker's Cookbook which is a general cookbook with information on tools, ingredients and methods.

9780471753087.jpg

Then I bought a wide variety of books with recipes from Women's Weekly or BBC on cakes, cookies, cheesecakes, desserts and even ice cream. I'm always on the lookout for books with not just recipes but information on ingredients because recipes can be enhance or tweaked (you just need a basic recipe, that's all).

Christine, I bought that as well together with a flat revolving stand (didn't want to get the huge arse one coz of transport problems) plus a cake caddy and additional colours!

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I usually put half, if it's self-rising flour in the recipe. I tried 2/3 and it overflowed. Bleh. Need to find a more accurate way of measuring like using ice cream scoops or something (which I see on TV a lot of the time)

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