Yellow Cake w/Oil

On Sat 22 Jan 2005 03:39:58a, Davida Chazan - The Chocolate Lady called across the abyss...

Many thanks, Davida! I'm just now on my way to kitchen to begin the cake! Luckily I keep an assortment of grains, flours, etc., in the freezer and have both wheat germ (toasted) and oat bran. We're both looking forward to having this cake for this evening...

Thank you so much!

Wayne

So? How was it?

suspend the sugar. That was the generally accepted way to make such cake nothing else, unless you are aware of industrial cake baking technology. where creaming becomes less important and such cakes can be made with single stage method( all in mixing) which is best suited with vegetable oils. BTW... Yellow layer cake evolution. Tehnically Yellow cake was originially made with butter t hen with oleo margarine then with shortening as the fat base, then as the amount of sugar in the cake was increased as well as the liquid , the use of emulsified shortening comes to picture. Then after world war II the popularitiy of cake mixes carried the yellow cake under its wings and reformulation continued right in the 1960s where there occured a radical change in the perception of batter cakes. the most notable was the employment of the different emulsifying agents to atain the best quality cake. with shortening.. Then the invention of fluid shortening( a mixture of vegetable oil and a few percent of hard fat) in combination with emulsifiers came to the picture. Then further as emulsifier purity was improved as well as its performance, Then by late 1960's to the early 1970[s came the discovery that such batter type cakes ( including white, yellow and chocolate and devils food cake ) can be made with vegetable oil in the combination with special emulsifiers.. This was one of the subject of my cake baking research more than a several years back. .Indeed that is the genuine batter cake of the high ratio category where the quality is superior(, better volume, texture crumb grain, eating quality and cake stability.. Cakes made with such liquid shortening( emulsifers dissolved in soya oil) produced a virtually transfat free cakes! Meanwhile the other forms of batter type cakes( using vegetable oil) commonly made by hobbyist is just and extension of the muffin recipe and the cake is heavier and had higher batter specific gravity than the ordfinary yellow layerr cake made with shortening.. Therrefore technically they cannot be considerred to within the same classification as the yellow layerr o r even white layer nd devils food cake).. In conclusion based on my experience to get the best quality yellow layer cake using vegetable oil is to add cake emulsifer and it will come out really good. A good product to apply would be half a teaspoon Texture Lite emulsifier( per 1-1/2 to 2 cups cake flour and use only vegetable oil at at two thirds of the quantity of solid shortening, add the other ingredients of the yellow cake . and mix altogether unitl combined..Low speed for 2 minutes then high speed for 3-4 mintues then medum speed for 1 -2 minute. , Place the batter on the cake pan and bake. you can also apply any suitable paste type cake emulsifier( a teaspoon of emulsifier) for such flour quantity.

Roy

Roy

On Mon 24 Jan 2005 04:58:45a, Roy wrote in rec.food.baking:

Thanks, Roy. That's a fascinating history and good information.

I did a little checking on Texture Lite and it appears to only be available commercially and in large impractical quantites. Do you know of a source where I might order a rasonable amount?

Failing that, do you know of any other emulsifiers that a home baker could obtain? I have occasionally used lecithin and guar gum when making low-fat ice creams. Would either of these be practical for use in a cake batter?

TIA Wayne

Duh! Wayne ,I am afreid that I got carried away by my memory of industrial cake baking experience, that I did not take into consideration the difficulty of getting such item in small quantities. I am sorry about that. I remember the smallest amount (that I was allowed by the supplier ) to buy from them was a 25 kg bag for pilot scale cake baking trials....and that was several years ago.But during the product evaluation /feasibility tests. I was able to get a series of 500-1000 grams samples for product evaluation for free and they even provided me a 5 kg sample for scaled up baking trials.

I am not sure about that....but if you can find a bakery ingredients supplier near your area you can try contacting them.there are many types of these products. Many of them are willing to retail such item to individual cake makers.Just tell them a cake emulsifer which is suitable for batter type cakes. Be reminded that these cake emulsifiers are specific for a particular cake type; whether foam or batter type cakes. But in recent years there is a multipurpose product that can be used for both type of cakes.Be sure to ask from them for product application brochures on how to effectively apply such ingredient in cake baking. The productgs can come in tubs and packets ranging from a 5 to 50 lb sizes.

Guar gum is a thickener and lecithin is a weak emulsifier. Lecithin will make the cake pore structure a little bit finer due to better dispersion of the fat in the cake batter emulsion in the same line how a mono and diglyceride acts .It also improves cake symmetry by providing better batter flow during the baking process. The principle of using oil in cakes is technically different if compared to using solidified fats; hence the emulsifier types are more functionally important. These can contain either containing Propylene glycol monoesters(PGME),glycerol lactoesters(GLP), Acetylated monoglycerides(Acetem) polyglycerol esters(PGE) some combined with , sorbitan monostearate(SMS), monoglycerides and polysorbate 60. Here ,these emulsifiers tend to disperse the fat and oil globules and coat them with a sub micron thickness of emulsifier to prevent it from affecting the aerating effect of egg proteins in the cake batter during mixing. Hence even if you just dump all ingredients in the bowl and mix the cake batter ,it will still come out satisfactorily( and even better) as if you are using the traditional procedures with multi step methods and solid fats.

Roy

On Mon 24 Jan 2005 04:51:38p, Roy wrote in rec.food.baking:

Thanks, again, Roy. And, again, very informative. I've thought I might even ask at a local bakery if use such a product and if they might be willing to sell me a small amount. Can't hurt to ask.

Wayne

I use 1/4 c. of applesauce in my cake mix instead of oil.