Banana Chiffon Cake

Category: Cakes > Foam Cakes > Chiffon

A chiffon cake is different from other foam cakes because it contains a fat - vegetable oil. Chiffon cakes usually have light flavoring so rich icings or toppings work well. This is a Banana Chiffon cake with a Banana Buttercream icing.



Recipe (Chiffon Cake):

• 2 cups Flour
  
• 1-1/2 cups Sugar
  
• 1 tbsp. Baking Powder
  
• 1 tsp. Salt
  
• 1 large Ripe Banana
  
• 1/2 cup Vegetable Oil
  
• 7 large Eggs, separated
  
• 1 tsp. Vanilla
  
• 1/2 tsp. Almond Extract
  
• 3/4 cup Cold Water
  
• 1/2 tsp. Cream of Tartar
  

Icing:

• 1 Ripe Banana
  
• 1/2 cup Butter
  
• 1 tsp. Vanilla
  
• 1 pound (4 cups) Powdered Sugar
  
• Milk
  
• Pinch of Salt
  

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt and place in large mixing bowl. Mash the banana and add it to the flour mixture. Next add the oil, egg yolks, vanilla and almond extracts and the cold water. Whisk together until the batter is smooth.

In a different large mixing bowl, beat egg whites and cream of tartar with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form.

With a rubber spatula, gently fold the beaten egg whites into the batter just until combined – it is important not to over-mix at this step. Pour batter into an ungreased 10” angel food cake pan. Bake about 55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Invert pan over a cooling rack. Allow cake to cool completely in this upside down position before removing from the pan.

While the cake is baking you can mix the icing. Add the banana to a mixing bowl and mash. Add vanilla, a pinch of salt and butter. Cream together with the banana. Beat in the powdered sugar. If you need more liquid, add milk a tsp. at a time as needed. However, the banana provided a lot of liquid and you might not need to add any milk.

Once the cake is cool, you can ice it with the banana icing.

Baking Tips:

• Adding the salt to the icing helps cut down on some of the sweetness. You can add less or more to your taste.
  
• When adding salt to icing, you should place the salt in a liquid you need to add to the icing instead of just sprinkling the salt into the icing. That way you make sure to distribute the salt evenly.
  
• You need to start baking the cake as soon as the batter is finished being mixed so the air in the eggs don't start to escape.
  
• Because a chiffon cake is a foam cake, don't bang the batter around or it might not rise properly.
  
• Because of the banana, your icing will be a bit glaze like. You can add a tsp. of meringue powder to the icing to make it a little stiffer.
  

Sponge Cake

Category: Cakes > Foam Cake > Sponge Cake

Okay, I gotta admit that foam cakes are trickier than butter cakes. My first attempt at a sponge cake failed. It was only about 1" high, a little too done on the sides, and, although it tasted okay, was a bit too eggy for my tastes.

I have no clue what went wrong. There are a million different sponge cake recipes out there and they all vary greatly so it is hard for me to pin point where in the process I went wrong. I noted that the large eggs I used seemed a bit larger than normal with a lot of egg white. I might have ended up with too much egg. I might have messed up with combining all the final ingredients and "killed" too much of the air.

But, just like with the Angel Food cake, I was determined to succeed. The next night I tried again after a bunch of research on the net and armed with a different recipe. Victory was mine in the end.



Recipe:

• 4 Eggs, separated
  
• 1 cup Sugar
  
• 4 tbsp. Cold Water-
  
• 1 cup Cake Flour
  
• 1 tsp. Baking Powder
  
• 1 tsp. Vanilla or flavoring of choice
  

Separate your eggs and let them get to room temperature. Preheat oven at 325 degrees. Grease the bottom of your baking pan but not the sides. Place parchment paper on bottom of baking pan. Beat Egg Yolks until thick and lemon colored. Gradually beat in sugar. Sift Cake Flour and Baking Powder together. On low speed, mix in flour mixture alternately with water and vanilla. In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until it forms stiff peaks. Gently fold egg whites into batter. Pour the batter into baking pan. Bake for 30 minutes.

Baking Tips:

• Make sure you don't have any grease that will touch your cake in your baking pan.
  
• Make sure you don't have any grease in the bowl your egg whites will be in.
  
• Fold in a figure 8 pattern.
  
• Place baking strips around your pan for a more evenly cooked cake. The outside of cakes cook faster than the middle. This also causes domed cakes. Baking strips will help prevent this.
  
• If you want, you can add 1 tsp. lemon zest for a lemony flavoring.
  
• Don't use a tester or toothpick to test if cake is done. Poking a hole in the cake, especially if it is not done, will cause it to dry out. Instead lightly press on cake. If it is springy and springs back it is done.
  

The Devil with Angel Food Cake

Category: Cakes > Foam Cakes > Angel Food Cake

I don't really like Angel Food cake. I didn't have it much growing up and prefer richer desserts. The only Angel Food cake I ever had is from the grocery store bakery section so you know it's not the best. My mom and brother tried to bake one once. It didn't come out too well, the top burned somehow and that was the end of Angel Food cake.

However, in my pursuit of learning the culinary arts, I decided it was time to tackle this cake. Two nights ago was my first attempt. When I took it out of the oven it looked okay but after it cooled and I flipped it out I learned it wasn't. It was flat, eggy and just not right. After some research, I figured I put too many egg whites in the cake. What I learned was, when trying a new dish, look at multiple recipes before settling on one.



The next night I was determined to conquer this cake. Luckily for me, my second attempt turned out well. It tasted good but I'm still not a personal fan of Angel Food cake. It is definitely one of those cakes that takes a while to master. Remember kiddies, practice makes perfect. If at first you don't succeed, try again and you will be rewarded with something yummy.





Recipe:

• 1 cup Cake Flour
  
• 3/4 cup Sugar
  
• 1 cup Sugar
  
• 1-1/2 cup Egg Whites (9 to 13 whites)
  
• 1/2 tsp. Salt
  
• 1-1/2 tsp. Cream of Tartar
  
• 1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
  
• 1/2 tsp. Almond Extract
  

Let egg whites get to room temperature. Preheat oven at 350 degrees. Sift together the cake flour and 3/4 cup sugar five times. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl add the egg whites and salt. Beat on high until foamy (about 30 seconds). Add the cream of tartar. Continue beating on high until you get medium peaks. Do not over beat until dry.

Quickly sprinkle in the 1 cup sugar while beating. Scape bowl sides gently towards beaters with rubber spatula. Turn to low and add the vanilla and almond extract.

Quickly sprinkle the sifted flour mixture in evenly. Beat only enough to blend, scraping bowl gently towards beater with a folding motion.

Gently spoon batter into an ungreased 10" tube pan. Cut through batter with spatula going around in widening circles six times without lifting spatula to make sure you don't have any air bubbles. Bake about 30 minutes. Turn pan upside down to cool for at least 1 hour. Loosen sides with spatula and remove.

Baking Tips:

• Use your whip attachment for the mixer.
  
• If you don't have a whip attachment - Instead of using the mixer to fold in your flour mixture, fold in by hand adding 1/4 cup at a time.
  
• Your goal is to have your final batter light and fluffy.
  
• Don't bang the uncooked batter. Be gentle until the cake has had some time to bake and set in the oven. Otherwise your cake could flatten.
  
• You can substitute different flavoring for the vanilla and almond extracts. For example, you can use 1 tsp. orange extract instead.
  
• Making sure your tube pan and all tools are grease free.