Plain Sponge Cake the Traditional Way

When it comes to sponge cake making, there are a lot of methods which we can use; some are good, some not so good. But nowadays many bakeries and cake shops are using the familiar premix, which is very handy indeed and just a little faster, but not so much.
In my opinion I still think that when quality is our main concern, the traditional method is still the best. So please find below one very good traditional way to make plain sponge cake.

Below please find my recipe for this plain sponge cake. But I was thinking, after making this sponge cake you will need to decorate it, so I thought that you might need some help. In that regard you could find some very precious help in YummyArts.com, a very good membership online-videos where you will find all the secrets that you need to decorate cakes to remember for all occasions, and much more.

Here are the ingredients needed for around 2 to 3 pieces (6" to 8" diameter):

Egg whole: 510g (around 10 pieces)
Castor sugar: 305g
Plain cake flour: 215g
Corn flour: 65g
Unsalted butter: 15g

As usual we turn the oven on first, with the temperature dial set to 180ºC (356ºF).
After that, we can sieve the flour and corn flour together.
Then we melt the butter and keep it aside near the oven, so it does not set.

Now is the time to place the eggs and castor sugar together in a bowl which can be attached later on to the electric mixer.

Then we start whisking them with a hand whisk on a hot water bath.

We keep whisking all the way through to stop burning occurring on the bottom of the bowl.

When the egg mix starts to become a little hot, say around 45ºC to 50ºC (113ºF to 122ºF) we take the bowl off the heat, and we attach it to the mixer and turn the mixer on at top speed.

When the egg mix starts to become very light and fluffy, it could take 7 to 10 minutes, we turn down the mixer to the 2nd gear, and keep it mixing to let the sponge cake mix cool down nicely.

This is when we have plenty of time to prepare the sponge cake rings or tins. If we are using bottom less rings, we wrap a piece of grease proof paper on the bottom without greasing the rings. If we are using full bottomed cake tins, we just place a round piece of grease proof paper on the bottom of each of them, without greasing them as well.

The reason we do not use grease is because this way the sponge cake mix will stick to the side of the container, keeping a very nice shape, otherwise it will shrink toward the middle. This is just a little trick.

By now the egg mixture should have cooled down enough, so we take the bowl off the mixer and fold in the dry flour mixture slowly mixing with a long spatula. We keep mixing slowly until smooth and last we add the melted butter and combine well.

Then, we fill all sponge cake tins or rings up to 2/3 of their height, and insert them into the hot oven straight away.

If the oven has a ventilation duct, we keep it shut during the 1st half of the baking and then we keep it open for the 2nd half.

The normal baking time should be 30 minutes; this is the standard baking time for plain sponge cakes.

If the sponge cake is not properly baked after 30 minutes, it is because the oven is not hot enough, exception made for super sized rings, of course.

If you are not sure about the baking state, please insert a small knife blade into the sponge cake and if the blade comes out clean, then it is baked.

So now, we take the sponge cake rings out of the oven and let them cool down at room temperature.

When cold, we unmold each cake with the help of a small kitchen knife blade that we pass around slowly between the cake and the ring.

I will now let your imagination run for garnish and decoration.

I really hope you enjoyed this traditional plain sponge cake recipe.

This recipe was first published in: "How to Make Plain Sponge Cake the Traditional Way".

Delicious Vegan Chocolate Cake

The vegan diet, what a drastic diet, isn't it? No animal products whatsoever permitted, including egg, milk, cream and butter also out of the menu. That leaves us with no much to make some appetising and tasty food and what about cakes or pastries.

Imagination is really needed in this situation and imagination is certainly not missing around us judging from what those vegan addicts are able to produce from their kitchens.
With that in my mind and having had to deal a few times in the past with some very nice vegan customers, I came up with a real vegan recipe that I will share in this article.

It is a nice and moist vegan chocolate cake that can be eaten on its own or with some sort of garnish like vegan chocolate or vanilla sauce or even raspberry jam.

Here below are the ingredients needed for around 4 to 5 cakes of this delicious recipe:

Light whole-wheat plain flour: 220g
Plain cake flour: 225g
Sweet potato flour: 100g (to keep the cake moist)
Baking powder: 18g
Bicarbonate soda: 10g
Cocoa powder: 165g
Salt: 5g
Soya milk: 500g (rice or oat milk can also be used instead)
Corn oil: 260g
Rice malt syrup: 1000g
Apple cider vinegar: 7g
Vanilla essence: 10g

Method:

First turn the oven on as always with the temperature dial set to 180ºC (356ºF).
Spray-grease around 4 or 5 cake tins then place a round piece of grease-proof paper on the bottom of each of them.
Then start by sifting the plain flour, sweet potato flour, baking powder and bicarbonate soda together, then add the whole-meal plain four last without sifting it. Mix thoroughly.

In a saucepan heat the soya milk on low heat. When it is slightly bubbling, add the sifted cocoa powder and whisk well until it is dissolved. Remove from the heat.
Combine the other liquid ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Add the cocoa mixture and combine.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients.
Pour the mixture into the prepared cake moulds. Each cake mould should be filled to around 2/3 of their height.
Insert into the pre-heated oven and bake for around 40 minutes.
If your oven has a ventilation duct, keep it closed during the 1st half of the baking and then open it for the 2nd half.

When a small knife inserted in the chocolate sponge comes out clean, take them out of the oven and let them cool down for a few minutes.
When they have cooled down take them out of the tins and turn them over on cooling wire.
This cake can be eaten as it is or covered with a vegan chocolate icing, rendering it even more attractive and appetising.
I really hope you enjoyed this delicious vegan chocolate cake recipe.
If you need more information about other recipes do not hesitate to contact me.

This recipe was first published in "Delicious Vegan Chocolate Cake".

Wasabi Chocolate Praline

Sushis have almost already become part of our daily food list when eating out or even shopping in the mall. Only 25 years ago they were nowhere to be seen and unheard of, except in Japan of course where they come from. Now we can find them everywhere at an affordable price as well. People have got used to the taste of the wonderful Japanese cuisine and its condiments.

This brings us to the subject of this article which is Wasabi, also known as the “Japanese horseradish”. The Japanese love this condiment and use it extensively with their meal almost in the same way the French use their mustard, except that wasabi is about 10 time stronger than the strongest of the French mustard.

On another subject we also have, in the last few years, been getting used to accommodate chocolate with many kind of condiments or spices like cinnamon, chilly, pepper, nutmeg, ginger and so on. This is why I have tried to venture a little further and add some wasabi to my favourite chocolate ganache filling. The result was quite interesting, the wasabi having such strong taste I was not ready to oppose it with another strong taste like the bitter dark chocolate taste, this is why in my recipe I have chosen to use white chocolate to let wasabi flavour come on top nicely. No need to say that if you don’t like wasabi, better stay away from it, this is the kind of praline we love or hate, there cannot be any compromise.

By the way if you really love chocolate like I do, I thought you might be willing to become a member of the Chocolate University Online where "You will embark on a taste sensation, a journey of chocolate that will enhance your senses and turn you into the chocolate expert you've always wanted to be."

This said for this recipe we can use wasabi paste or if you cannot find it you also can use wasabi powder and make the paste yourself. In this case mix 14g of wasabi powder with 36g of drinking water at room temperature. Mix nicely until smooth with a spoon or a spatula and, here you have your fresh 50g of wasabi paste.
Next prepare some white chocolate shells; I normally use half sphere shape polycarbonate moulds that I finger spread with a little melted and tempered cacao butter, coloured with some green PCB colour powder, to give that kind of marble effect. Keep the shells in the moulds and in a cool place.
Next prepare the wasabi chocolate ganache filling with:

Fresh cream: 100g
Glucose: 33g
Wasabi paste: 50g
Butter: 50g
White chocolate couverture: 233g

As for a normal ganache boil the fresh cream and the glucose together. Mix in the wasabi paste. Add the chopped butter and mix until melted with a spoon or spatula (not a whisk). Then pour onto the finely chopped white chocolate couverture and let rest 2 or 3 minutes before mixing very slowly, until completely smooth, still with a spatula in order to stop any air coming into the filling. Let the filling cool down to less than 28ºC (82°F) before filling the moulds.

When the filling is cool then we can start filling the prepared white chocolate shells still in the moulds with a piping bag up to the top but not over. Then place the moulds in a tempered dry fridge or cooler, at around 10°C (50°F) temperature to let the filling set.
When the filling has completely set, spread the top plane surface of the moulds with some tempered white chocolate couverture to close each praline nicely scraping away any excess of couverture with the scraper.

Place again the moulds in the cooler for around 10 minutes. Then the wasabi praline should be ready to un-mould and....taste of course.

I really hope you enjoyed this recipe.
If you need more information do not hesitate to contact me.
Enjoy!


This recipe was first published in "Wasabi Chocolate Praline" and "Wasabi Chocolate Delight"

Introduction to Frozen Dough Technology

After working many years in a frozen dough factory supplying frozen products to bakeries, cafes and restaurants, I had the chance and the pleasure to get quite a lot of experience in the production of good quality frozen dough. A good quality frozen dough product is a product which, after having been frozen for up to 6 months, still comes out of the oven as beautiful, appetising, attractive to the eyes and tasty as a fresh product. So it gives me a great pleasure to share with you some of the secrets about frozen dough production.
First don't get mixed up with "Retarded Dough System" and "Frozen Dough Technology". Those are two different ways of processing the dough, the first one is very simple and the second one is very much more elaborate.
- The Retarded Dough System is just normal dough that we place in a normal freezer, to be used up at a later time, may be 1, 2, or 3 days later. This dough loses some of its performance capability during the freezing process and cannot be kept frozen for more than a few days only. This is just a convenient process that we can use in some short term situations.
- The Frozen Dough Technology on the other hand is a very detailed and specific way of processing the dough, that enable the user to get the optimum performance out of the dough which has been frozen for a longer period of time. This period of time could be from just a few weeks to a few months; 6 months being regarded as a maximum for a live dough containing yeast. This is exactly what this article is all about.


• First, how many kinds of frozen dough processes can we differentiate?

1) Ready to Prove Frozen Dough, good for most yeast dough and puff pastry as well.

2) Ready to Bake Frozen Dough, recommended especially for croissant and Danish pastry items.

3) Part Baked Frozen Dough, good for bread items, not recommended for croissant, Danish pastry items, and sweet bread and bun items.

4) Full Baked Frozen Dough, good for sweet bread/bun and soft roll, not recommended for bread, croissant, Danish pastry and puff pastry items.

5) Raw Frozen Dough Ready to Bake (Proving in the oven), not available yet, new technology still under intense research and development.


• Critical points to succeed in frozen dough preparation

1) Make sure that the fermentation process does not start at any stage during the production.
To achieve that: one must control the temperature of the dough during all the different stages of the process, from the very beginning (mixing) to the very end (proving – baking).
Ideally dough temperature must not exceed 16°C (61°F) during the mixing, dividing and filling of the products.
After the blast freezing procedure the ideal storage temperature is from -18°C (64°F) TO -22°C (72°F).

2) To keep the dough temperature under 16°C (61°F), at all time during processing, is the most difficult part and to achieve this goal we need to:

a) Keep the room temperature at between 16°C (61°F) and 20°C (68°F).

b) Use cold flour. Before use, the flour should be stored in a chiller (+4°C) (39°F).

c) Use cold water from a chiller or a water cooler.

d) Replace 25% of the liquid used (water/milk) with ice flakes. Or if ice flakes are not available the use of icy cold water (+2°C) (35°F) is recommended.

e) Work the dough straight away from the mixer without or with as little rest as possible between the different stages.

f) Freeze the dough, after shaping and filling, as fast as possible and this is when we need a blast freezer to freeze the product very fast up to the core. Why do we need to freeze the dough as fast as possible? The answer is: To bring the temperature deep inside the products to around -8°C (17°F) to -15°C (5°F) very fast, around 10 to 30 minutes, depending of the size of the products. This way the ice crystals formed during the freezing process are very small and do not damage the dough structure. If the freezing process is too long (from 3 to 6 hours with a conventional freezer) the crystals formed inside the dough are very big and will damage the yeast and the gluten structure. Then in this case the product will be very long to prove and will not rise to its maximum desired size, this is typically a low quality frozen dough.


Now looking at each kind of frozen dough processes one by one, we can say that for bread items the part baked system is the best and gives very good results. For croissant and Danish pastry items (as well as bread items) the ready to bake system gives outstanding results, but demands strict supervision, good equipment and premise.

Regarding the ingredients used in the production of frozen dough, they are almost the same as for the normal type of dough except two slight differences.

• First, the yeast. Instant yeast and fresh yeast are both good to use but we always have better results with fresh yeast, products are faster to prove with more oven spring as well. Also when it comes to the quantity of yeast used, we have to increase it quite a lot (up to 2 to 3 times the normal quantity) to compensate of the yeast dying during the freezing process.

• Second, the dough/bread improver used should be a special kind of improver for frozen dough only. There are many brands available on the market.

Hopefully this article has given you some useful things to think about before you start mixing the dough and I really hope you enjoyed this introduction to the process of frozen production.

If you need more information do not hesitate to contact me.

Enjoy your baking!

This recipe was first published in "Introduction to Frozen Dough"

Coffee Cappuccino Muffin

Muffins, this delicacy originally from the United States are decidedly now everywhere to be found around the planet, for the very pleasure of consumers and cafe goers. Is this the result of globalisation? I would think so. This sweet, soft and moist spongy snack can now be purchased in an infinite kind of flavours even so that every single day of the week could get its special dedicated flavour.
Because of its size, shape and texture the popular muffin can be carried around everywhere, ideal for a welcome hunger break while travelling around the country or in the middle of a traffic jam in the city. But most welcome while sipping a hot drink in the corner coffee shop while on date or even in meeting.

So the familiar muffin is the subject of this article.The chosen flavour for today is coffee cappuccino or more precisely coffee and cream muffin.Please find below the list of ingredients needed followed by the method of preparation and baking last but not least!

The quantity below should be enough for around 15 muffins at 100g each:

Eggs: 210g (around 4 big eggs)
Castor sugar: 345g
Salt: 2.5g
Unsalted Butter: 260g
Plain Yogurt: 55g
Fresh cream: 140g
Drinking water: 60g
Instant coffee: 10g
Cake plain flour: 485g
Baking powder: 21g

Method:

There are usually 2 main methods used to make muffins, one of them is what we call the pound cake method, where we mix up first the softened butter and sugar together and add the eggs slowly.
Then there is also the sponge method, where we mix up first the eggs and sugar like a sponge. This is the sponge method that we are going to use today as I noticed the result was slightly better using this method.

As usual the first thing to do is to turn on the oven and for this recipe we adjust the temperature dial to 220ºC (428ºF). This is for a deck oven, so with a different kind of oven temperature may differ.
First boil the water then dissolve the instant coffee in it like for a normal coffee. Otherwise if you have some very strong espresso coffee on hand it is possible to use it instead. Place it in the fridge to cool down.
Sift the flour together with the baking powder and mix thoroughly.

Melt the butter slowly, preferably on a water bath as the butter should absolutely not boil. When completely melted leave it to cool down on the table at room temperature as we need to use it this way cooled down but not set.
Now whisk the eggs, sugar and salt together with an electric mixer on top gear until light and fluffy as for a sponge. That could take around 7 to 10 minutes depending of the quantities.
While waiting, when the coffee is already cold mix it with the cream and yogurt slowly with a spatula.
When the egg mix is ready, turn down the mixer to first gear and pour in the melted butter first, followed up by the coffee cream mixture slowly as well. Mix until the mixture look smooth, do not over mix
Then take the bowl off the mixer and fold in the sifted flour and baking powder mixing delicately with a spatula or even by hand (if you feel like it). Mix until smooth.

Now I will give you a good trick: If you want a better result and bigger muffing just give the mix a good rest for at least 1 hour in the fridge. So cover the bowl with some plastic wrap and place it in the fridge for 1 hour or more. The result is quite significant this way, with muffins bigger in size after baking.

This gives you time to prepare your muffin trays. If you use the standard size trays there should be 12 cups per tray. Of course if you have some, you can also use individual muffin moulds instead.
Grease-spray the trays or moulds first and then insert a paper cup in each of them. Prepare a piping bag for the filling process or you can instead use a spoon.

After the hour has passed you can start filling the muffin cups. Usually the muffins that we see in the coffee shops are around 100g to 150g, even bigger sometimes, and then they are really mega muffins. A reasonable size I would say is between 100g to 130g each, always depending of the size of the mould, as we do not want to overfill and see the dough coming out of the cups in the oven. A good rule of thumb is to fill the mould flat up to the rim.
Once you have all your cups filled with the muffin mix, they are ready to bake.
But before, if you feel like it, you can still add some garnish on the top, which will render the muffins even more attractive. Something like a few crunched nuts or sesame seeds or chocolate chips or anything else you think will look good, will do the job.
Then it is time to insert the trays inside the hot oven and adjust the temperature down to 200ºC (392ºF).

Bake for 25minutes to 30 minutes or until a small knife inserted in the muffins comes out clean.
If your oven has a ventilation duct, keep it closed during the 1st half of the baking and then open it for the 2nd half.

When the muffins are baked, take them out of the oven and let them cool down 5 minutes as they are on the tray.
Then take them out of the moulds and place them upside down back on top of (not inside) the moulds until they are completely cold, this is a way to stop them becoming dry on the top.

Now your muffins are ready, please enjoy! I really hope you enjoyed this coffee cappuccino muffin recipe. If you need more information about other recipes do not hesitate to contact me.

This recipe was first plublished in this Coffee Cappuccino Muffin Article.