Baking

[dioxide45]

I have never been much of a baker, but we got a Kitchen Aid stand mixer shortly before Christmas and I have been trying out some baking recipes.

Here was my first crack at a simple layer cake. The recipe that I used from the Swan Down Cake Flour box seemed to be very sweet as was the buttercream icing. Not bad for my first attempt at a cake not out of a box. Need to find some better recipes I suppose.

 

[sue1947]

I bought one of these for my mother for Christmas. She has a hard time holding a hand mixer, especially for thick batters. Here's one of her favorites:

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chocolate Chip cookies:

Cream together:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup applesauce
1/2 cup unsalted peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg

Mix together:
1 2/3 Cups whole wheat flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp b soda
1/2 tsp salt

Add dry ingredients to wet (mix them on a piece of parchment paper or foil that you can pick up and funnel into the turning bowl; it will save a mess).

Add 1 cup oatmeal
2 cups choc chips (1 12 oz pkg)
1 cup chopped almonds

Bake at 375 for 8-10 min on greased cookie sheet. These will be sticky so a small ice cream scoop makes things a lot easier. These have no fat so the cookies won't spread. Whatever shape they are when they go into the oven is what you will get. If you want flat cookies, then use a fork dipped in hot water to press them down.

This recipe is revised from one on the back of a bag of whole wheat flour. I added the cup of oatmeal and the almonds. I replaced the 1 cup of butter with the mix of peanut butter and applesauce and I lighten up the sugar as well. The original recipe called for 2 cups of flour and I replace 1/3 cup of it with cocoa to add a chocolate punch. You can make these same substitutions on any recipe. Replace fat with applesauce or peanut butter. If the item is cake-like, you need to keep 1/4 cup of fat or it doesn't work. (I have a carrot cake recipe that called for 1 1/3 cup oil that I replaced with 1 cup applesauce and 1/3 cup oil and it's very tasty). With cookies, there's no problem. I use natural unsalted peanut butter so if you use a 'regular' one, reduce the salt and sugar to counter that salt and sugar in the pb. I've made these with all applesauce or all peanut butter as well and like the 50/50 mix the best.

Sue

 

[Karen G]

Here was my first crack at a simple layer cake.

That looks great! If it tasted as wonderful as it looks, you did a marvelous job.

 

[VegasBella]

I've been baking more recently. I noticed that our new convection oven does a better job than any of my previous ovens (gas or electric). It's just so nice and even.

 

[bjones9942]

I use my kitchenaid for my weekly loaf of bread. Simple white bread recipe, but comes out great every time.

3 cups bread flour
1 1/2 cups water (around 95 deg - I zap in microwave for 40 secs)
1 T active dried yeast
Pinch salt

Throw all the ingredients into the mixing bowl and use a spatula to incorporate. Place on the mixer with the bread hook attachment and knead for 10 minutes at speed 2. Cover and set in a warm place to rise until doubled (about an hour for me).

When almost doubled, put an enameled cast iron dutch oven with the lid on in a 450 degree oven. Heat for 1/2 hour. About 15 minutes into the process, turn the dough out onto a floured surface and shape into a round loaf. Cover with a towel. Get a piece of parchment paper handy. When the 30 minutes is up, remove the towel and slide the parchment paper under the bread (you might need to twist the bread onto the paper). Remove the lid of the dutch oven, drop the bread and parchment paper inside, cover and bake at 450 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and continue to bake for 15 minutes. CAREFULLY remove the bread to a cooling rack and let cool completely before slicing.

This is my base bread recipe. You can add a lot of things to the dough when kneading. A 10 oz. tub of low fat crumbled bleu cheese makes for a very tasty loaf.

 

[dioxide45]

That looks great! If it tasted as wonderful as it looks, you did a marvelous job.

It dose look better than it tastes. Not that it tastes bad, it is just very sweet. Even the sponge is very sweet, unlike other cakes I have had and even sweeter than box cakes. The Swans Down 1234 Cake Recipe called for two cups of sugar. I will have to look up some other recipes for attempt number two.

This cake does seem to be holding together well and the sponge is very moist. Other from scratch cakes I have tasted tend to be drier and the sponge breaks apart. This has the texture more like a box cake. I think the cake flour helps this over just all purpose.

 

[Rusa]

Looks fabulous. What did you use for icing?

 

[dioxide45]

Looks fabulous. What did you use for icing?

I used this recipe from Serios Eats. Will be trying something different next time. Perhaps a cream cheese icing.

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2014/12/classic-american-buttercream-recipe.html

 

[radmoo]

It dose look better than it tastes. Not that it tastes bad, it is just very sweet. Even the sponge is very sweet, unlike other cakes I have had and even sweeter than box cakes. The Swans Down 1234 Cake Recipe called for two cups of sugar. I will have to look up some other recipes for attempt number two.

This cake does seem to be holding together well and the sponge is very moist. Other from scratch cakes I have tasted tend to be drier and the sponge breaks apart. This has the texture more like a box cake. I think the cake flour helps this over just all purpose.

You should be able to reduce sugar without any change to final product. I would also suggest kicking it up. Notch by adding either grated lemon zest and/or replacing vanilla extract with spirit Ie brandy, bourbon otpr favorite liqueur.

 

[Fern Modena]

Great looking first try! You may want to go to Bettycrocker.com and look around. Until you become used to what you specifically like, their recipes are pretty fail proof. You can set up an online account to store the recipes you think you'd like. And they have different newsletters if you like that sort of think.

Fern

 

[DaveNV]

You all are making my sweet tooth ache.

Beautiful cake, Di. Nice job!

Dave

 

[mav]

WOW! Lovely looking cake... U did wonderful!

 

[RonB]

You might want to check out these sites.

You cake looks very nice. For more recipes, (thousands), and a baking forum, I highly recommend going to the King Arthur Flour site:

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/

If you find that you have questions or need help, there is a very friendly baking forum there also.

For shaping bread, Ciril Hitz has a bunch of videos, but here is one where he does the basic shapes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgqPli_sLLM

And if you get serious about baking, I suggest you get a scale because weighing ingredients is much more accurate than measuring by volume.

Ron

 

[csxjohn]

You should be able to reduce sugar without any change to final product...

I disagree.

I've always know that sugar aided leavening in my baking. Changing the proportion of sugar has to change the final product. I decided to do a little research before posting here.

This is a good article I found.

http://www.sugar.org/all-about-sugar/sugar-in-bakery-foods/

"With the correct proportion of sugar in the recipe, the gluten maintains optimum elasticity, which allows for gases to be held within the dough matrix. These gases, from leavening agents and mixing, expand and allow the batter or dough to rise. By preventing the gluten development, sugar helps give the final baked product tender crumb texture and good volume."

So I contend that putting in less sugar does more than make the product less sweet.

 

[falmouth3]

I was also going to recommend the King Arthur's website. So many good recipes there. And if you get onto their mailing list, they send several out each week.

I was overwhelmed by my mixer when I first got it, but I love it now and use it frequently.

 

[DeniseM]

So I contend that putting in less sugar does more than make the product less sweet.

That is correct, but 2 cups is MORE than the amount of sugar needed for elasticity.

 

[RonB]

I disagree.

I've always know that sugar aided leavening in my baking. Changing the proportion of sugar has to change the final product. I decided to do a little research before posting here.

This is a good article I found.

http://www.sugar.org/all-about-sugar/sugar-in-bakery-foods/

So I contend that putting in less sugar does more than make the product less sweet.

The answer is yes and no. You do not need sugar to make bread as yeast converts starches into the sugar it needs. However, sugar does help in browning bread as it caramelizes. Here's a quote from the King arthur website:

"How much sugar should you use in your machine? If you don’t have any dietary restrictions that preclude sugar entirely, we suggest 1 to 2 teaspoons. Although yeast makes its own food by converting the starch in flour into sugar, a little “fast-food fix” of pure sugar right at the start gives it the quick energy it needs to work. (If you need to avoid sugar, just leave it out; your bread will be just fine, although you may find it doesn’t brown as well)."

And the article you quote is from a sugar advocate...

Ron

 

[stmartinfan]

In a cake, sugar does aid in helping form its structure when it's baked, so reducing the sugar might make it less sweet but it could greatly affect the end result, in terms of texture, rising, etc. I would look for a different recipe instead of just trying to fix this one by cutting the sugar, because the structure of a cake is tricky. Sugar's role is different in a cake than in a bread, where it's primary purpose is as food for the yeast.

Here's an excellent blog about baking:
http://www.cookiemadness.net

While the name is cookie madness, she also bakes lots of cakes and experiments with recipes, sharing her observations and tips. She has tested dozens of cake recipes to arrive at her favorites. I also like that she often makes smaller versions of baked good, like a cake in a loaf pan, so you can make more things without having so much to eat up. She also highly recommends using a scale, because the volume of flour can vary greatly when you use a measuring cup.

 

[pedro47]

To the OP, that is one good looking cake and that frosting.Wow!

 

[linpat]

The cake looks great and buttercream frosting is my favorite.

And yea, you do need to check out the King Arthur website - has some yummy mixes and many really good recipes.

Enjoy your Kitchen Aid mixer - mine is 30+ years old and still going strong.

 

[RonB]

More research.

OK - so I did a little more research. Fine Cooking has this info on ingredient amounts for cakes:

http://www.finecooking.com/articles/ratios-for-great-cakes.aspx

Ron

 

[Karen G]

OK - so I did a little more research. Fine Cooking has this info on ingredient amounts for cakes:

http://www.finecooking.com/articles/ratios-for-great-cakes.aspx

Ron

That was a really interesting article. Thanks for posting it.

 

[Lborneke]

Wow, vacationing and baking all in one site! My kind of place. and nice job with the cake. used to be one of my joys, but with chronic fatigue and fibro that I have apparently suffered from for years, and was only just recently diagnosed, I have not been able to do many of the things that I enjoyed. It is good to be able to see someone else having fun with it. You will love that mixer!

 

[dioxide45]

OK - so I did a little more research. Fine Cooking has this info on ingredient amounts for cakes:

http://www.finecooking.com/articles/ratios-for-great-cakes.aspx

Ron

Thanks for this. I have it saved in my recipes favorite folder. Will try to use this next time and make a cake from the ground up, no recipe. For chocolate cake, I suspect you would just substitute cocoa in place of an equal weight of flour?

 

[csxjohn]

That is correct, but 2 cups is MORE than the amount of sugar needed for elasticity.

Since we don't know the amounts of the other ingredients we really don't know that. My point is that you can't just indiscriminately start changing baking recopies without changing the structure of the finished product.

The answer is yes and no. You do not need sugar to make bread as yeast converts starches into the sugar it needs. However, sugar does help in browning bread as it caramelizes. Here's a quote from the King arthur website:

"How much sugar should you use in your machine? If you don’t have any dietary restrictions that preclude sugar entirely, we suggest 1 to 2 teaspoons. Although yeast makes its own food by converting the starch in flour into sugar, a little “fast-food fix” of pure sugar right at the start gives it the quick energy it needs to work. (If you need to avoid sugar, just leave it out; your bread will be just fine, although you may find it doesn’t brown as well)."

And the article you quote is from a sugar advocate...

Ron

A cake and a loaf of bread are two different animals. I know that the article came from the Sugar Association but I chose it because it explained how things work together. It did not promote the use of more sugar in your recipes.

OK - so I did a little more research. Fine Cooking has this info on ingredient amounts for cakes:

http://www.finecooking.com/articles/ratios-for-great-cakes.aspx

Ron

That is a very good article, thanks for finding it.