The pound cake is said to have originated in England as the first ‘butter cake.’ France then adopted this cake and called it quatres-quarts. The American butter cake is a variation of this basic formula.1
Traditional formula relies on the creaming method to incorporate air into the batter to produce the cake’s characteristic dense and moist texture. Current butter cakes make use of chemical leavening in the form of baking soda or baking powder, or a combination of both to reduce mixing times and achieve similar results.
How is a butter cake made?
While the traditional formula may have consisted of equal quantities of flour, fat, sugar and eggs, today’s formulas involve multiple variations.
A typical butter cake formula includes:2
Ingredient
Baker’s %
Chlorinated soft wheat flour (air classified, short patent)
100.0
Table sugar (refined, granulated sucrose)
85.0–90.0
Butter
80.0–85.0
Liquid milk
100.0–110.0
Whole eggs (liquid)
50.0–60.0
Salt
0.5–1.5
Baking powder
3.5–4.0
Vanilla extract
0.5–1.5
Mixing and baking considerations:
Use creaming method to first mix butter and sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy. Then, gradually add the eggs so that incorporation of the added egg portion is complete prior to adding more.
A small portion of the dry ingredients may be added at this stage to ensure that a proper emulsion is formed and to prevent the batter from splitting.
Add the dry ingredients, alternating them with the liquids until all the ingredients are incorporated to form a hom*ogenous batter.
Scrape the walls of the bowl after addition of eggs and dry ingredients.
Baking time and temperature can vary depending on the weight of batter in each pan as well as the shape of the pan. A general rule of thumb is that smaller products would bake for a short time at a higher temperature and vice versa.
Commercial production of butter cakes:
Ingredient scaling/metering.
Mixing (target specific gravity is a function of volume and finished product texture)
Depositing or panning
Splitting or docking with a layer of oil on top of loaf
Baking
Cooling
Finishing (decoration can be optional)
Packaging
Important guidelines for producing Butter Cakes:1,2,3
Care should be taken to ensure consistency of the product if a combination of fast and slow acting leavening agents are used.
The use of chemical leavening requires proper batter temperatures during the mixing process to activate them at the correct times. Batter temperature has a direct effect on the viscosity of the aerated oil-in-water emulsion and rate of chemical leavening reactions.
Specific gravity measurement helps to ensure consistent product quality. This information can help in making adjustments to the mixing process.
Chemical leavening impacts the pH of batter and cake. Incorporating high levels of baking powders should be avoided to avoid the development of undesirable taste and color in the baked cake.
Cake flour imparts tenderness to baked cakes, a result of the flour’s low protein content, thereby shorter mix times. Using chlorinated cake flour provides increased batter stability and improved processing tolerance.
The use of emulsifiers or emulsified shortenings in addition to butter allows for incorporation of higher amounts of sugar, eggs and liquids, with formulations leaning towards high-ratio cakes with increased tenderness and longer shelf-life.
References
Beranbaum, R.L. “Cakes”. The Cake Bible. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 2016, pp. 19–30.
Gisslen, W. “Cake Mixing and Baking” Professional Baking, 7th edition, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey, 2017, pp. 377–417.
Suas, M. “Cake Mixing and Baking” Advanced Bread and Pastry: A Professional Approach, first printing, Delmar, Cengage Learning, 2009, pp. 548–589.
An endothermic reaction absorbs heat. t Heat helps leavening agents produce tiny gas bubbles that make the cake light (by rising). t Heat causes egg proteins to firm, helping to give the cake structure. t Heat dries cake batter (fats are still able to keep the cake moist).
An endothermic reaction absorbs heat. t Heat helps leavening agents produce tiny gas bubbles that make the cake light (by rising). t Heat causes egg proteins to firm, helping to give the cake structure. t Heat dries cake batter (fats are still able to keep the cake moist).
Baking can be broken into three stages: expansion, setting and browning. As the batter temperature rises, the gases in the air cells expand the stretchy gluten from the flour, then the chemical leavening agents release carbon dioxide.
In this method dry ingredients are sieved, placed in the bowl with the other ingredients and blended slowly for two minutes. The mixture is then beaten at medium speed for about four minutes and finally on slow speed for a further two minutes. The finished batter should be thick and smooth but still pourable.
Creaming Method. Of the basic ways to make a cake, the most common is the creaming method. ...
One-Stage Method. Even though you always think of the creaming method as the way to bake a cake, there are many cakes that use the one-stage method. ...
Baking cake is a chemical change. Baking soda and baking powder are key ingredients of cake. The baking soda reacts with the ingredient of the cake to produce bubbles of CO2 gas that get trapped in the batter. The gas bubbles expand in the heat of the oven and rise up as a fluffy cake.
Heat helps baking powder produce tiny bubbles of gas, which makes the cake light and fluffy. Heat causes protein from the egg to change and make the cake firm. Oil keeps the heat from drying out the cake.
Mixing the ingredients and tin preparation is generally about 15 minutes per cake and then there's the washing up. So let's say we have a 6”, 8” and 10” cake to bake that's 45 minutes of mixing batter, preparing tins and 3.5 hours of baking then the washing up that takes about 10minutes.
Address: Suite 769 2454 Marsha Coves, Debbieton, MS 95002
Phone: +813077629322
Job: Real-Estate Executive
Hobby: Archery, Metal detecting, Kitesurfing, Genealogy, Kitesurfing, Calligraphy, Roller skating
Introduction: My name is Gov. Deandrea McKenzie, I am a spotless, clean, glamorous, sparkling, adventurous, nice, brainy person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
We notice you're using an ad blocker
Without advertising income, we can't keep making this site awesome for you.