Author: joepastry

High Ratio Chocolate Cake Recipe

As with the high ratio yellow cake recipe, emulsification is king here. The recipe is built accordingly, making a process allowance for the cocoa powder. An interesting feature of cocoa powder is that it delivers double the chocolate flavor if you combine it with boiling milk or water before you add it to your mix (another trick from the world of box cake formulators). Since I can’t abide wasting perfectly good chocolate flavor, I’ll be doing that.

I should add that this cake can be made with butter if you wish. As it is it won’t be exactly like a commercial cake because most of us don’t have access to emulsified shortening or high ratio flour, which are usually used to make high ratio cakes. But butter will work here. For more moisture you can substitute oil for some of the fat (olive oil is best since it also adds emulsifiers and tightens the crumb. This recipe will make one 11″ x 14″ x 2″ sheet cake or three 8″ round layers.

READ ON

High Ratio Yellow Cake Recipe

The name of the game in high ratio cake recipes is “emulsification”, which means an extremely smooth and integrated mixture with all the ingredients distributed as finely and uniformly as possible. That’s how the very fine and strong crumb of a commercially made cake layer is achieved. Most people don’t have access to the high ratio flour and emulsified shortening that commercial bakeries use, so I’m adding adding extra emulsifiers in the form of egg yolks. What are emulsifiers? Simply little whatsit molecules that get between other molecules and keep them from forming big clumps. A key to this is making sure all your ingredients are room temperature, since egg yolk emulsifiers don’t work well when they’re cold.

READ ON

Buying That New Mixer

Reader Chana, a reader and prolific baker, has finally worn out her KitchenAid and is in the market for a new machine. I receive requests for mixer recommendations regularly, but haven’t written on the subject for quite some time. It’s time to update!

READ ON

Next Up: High Ratio Cake

So many readers have asked for Joe-tweaked high ratio cake recipes that, well…what can I say? I need to give the people what they want. I’ll do a yellow and a chocolate since there have been tons of requests for both. That kringle really is vanishing in the rear view mirror. Oh well, I tried. […]

READ ON

Tell Me About Cake Mixes

Who knew there was so much interest in high ratio cakes and box cake mixes? Reader Pete wants to know if store bought cake mixes contain high ratio flour, and while I’m on the subject, would I mind telling him how box cake mixes work? Pete, I’ll do my best.

As far as I know most box cakes contain high ratio flour, for reasons that I outlined below. It delivers cake layers with an even crumb that rise high, yet are still moist and flavorful. As for how a cake mix works, that’s an interesting subject.

READ ON

“We don’t make sheet cakes!!!”

Such was the anguished cry of the owners of the bakery where I first trained. They made and still make some of the highest quality cakes in the Chicago area, but they drew the line at sheet cakes, which is to say the broad, flat, rectangular cakes that grocery stores sell for kids’ birthdays. I […]

READ ON

Is high ratio cake what “cake buiders” use?

So asks reader Linda. Sometimes, yes, Linda. However the true cake carvers in the style of, say, Ace of Cakes use so-called “durable cake” which kicks up the firmness another notch (or two). These recipes start with a high ratio formula then add egg whites for structure, even gelatin for extra strength. You can see equivalent recipes by searching “durable cake recipe” on Google. Most of these are souped up box cakes, but they do the job. Would I want to eat any of them? Eh, probably not since layer cake for me is a nice, moist butter cake. However for those who eat with their eyes and can’t resist one of those crazy-creative sculpted cakes, this is your ticket!

READ ON

That was fast!

Reader and ultra-fast test baker Jack writes:

I literally could not wait to try your ratios. I used the quantities you mentioned to keep it simple. That may have been a mistake as sometimes the sum of the parts is the whole; I will try a larger batch size tomorrow. Given the small amount of batter, I made cupcakes. One other comment, I blasted the granulated sugar in the mixer to create superfine sugar, and found it a bit hard to incorporate with the shortening. Second guessing that step! Oh, and I upped the salt.

Results: The taste was fantastic. So good, that I ate the entire batch as fast as I could shove them down. I have not tasted a better yellow cake cupcake. The batter tasted marvelous as well, so for taste, I am good to go. The texture was incredibly soft in non-baker layman’s terms, and very pleasing. The texture/crumb was

READ ON

On High Ratio Cakes

Reader Jack writes:

Joe (actual name?),

I live in Chicago and want to reproduce the Jewel grocery store plain old yellow cake. They sell it by the piece and I want to reproduce the texture and taste. It has a very fine crumb, it is very firm, almost sponge like. It has tiny uniform holes, and would be perfect for a few baking “projects” I have in mind. I have tried a dozen yellow cake recipes from the net and they taste fine, but the crumb is soft, and does not have the sponge-like pores of the Jewel cake. I read your article regarding creaming, but that alone does not convert the existing recipes I have into what I am looking for. I tried separating the eggs, beating the whites, folding in…nope. I deconstructed the Jewel recipe using their ingredients list, but that list flies in the face of all cake science (no yolks, no butter). I am getting fat with all the experimentation!!! Do you have a recipe/technique that will help me achieve the desired results?

READ ON