Economy Size

[mixfinder]

Its incredible the savings on spices, flavorings, food color and staples like cake flour at restaurant supply. I was out of cake flour and parchment baking sheets so I made the trek. Softasilk cake flour $3.19 at Safeway. 50 pounds of Cake Flour at Cash and Carry, 17.49.

 

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America's Test Kitchen

On their public television show ATK made the famous Tunnel of Fudge Cake. I decided to modify the recipe by replacing part of the sugar with Poly Dextrose and part of the flour with Resistance Starch and lower the caloric impact.

 

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Warm and Soft

Cakes mix and perform better better when all the ingredients are at room temperature. I put the eggs in a bowl of warm water to temper them while I creamed the butter.

 

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Tricks of the Trade

I have found that pulverizing granulated sugar in the blender cuts down on the time needed to cream and dissolve the sugar into the butter before addition of eggs.

 

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Gently

Eggs create an emulsion and surround the sugar particles. Fully creaming the mixture before adding aggs one at a time adds more air and makes for a finer textured cake. If eggs are added too quickly it can cause the creamed mixture to "break" losing air. If cold eggs are added to the butter it causes the butter to solidify and again the air is lost.

The pictures are reversed for eggs and pulverized sugar

 

[mixfinder]

Time to be Quick

Once dry ingredients are added to creamed mixtures its imperative to work quickly. Over mixing can cause loss of air and volume, develop the gluten in the flour and make it tough In cases of leavening like soda and baking powder they begin to work as soon as they are activated by moisture. [this post was last edited: 6/2/2010-13:05]

 

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Moisture is not your Friend

Moisture activates the leavening ingredients like soda or baking powder. The faster it gets to the oven the more "oven spring" or rise is created.

 

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Gently, Gently

The creaming and proper mixing of cake batter incorporates air. I have seen bakers take the time to properly mix a cake and then bang the pan on the counter to get rid of any "air bubbles". Duh, that's what we want. Butter cakes don't get air pocket like an angel cake or foam imulsion.

 

[mixfinder]

Trust Your Timer

Tunnel of Fudge cake uses no leavening but air and is designed to have a gooey center. There's no way to test it for doneness. At 45 minutes the cake should be have a cracked top and be ready to take from the oven.

 

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Cool Your Jets

The cake needs to cool for the starch to bond and the butter cool down enough to allow the cake to come out in one piece. Let it rest for 20 minutes.

 

[davek]

I've heard that called a pudding cake-one that seems underdone in the middle almost like thickened batter? Sounds nice, because what I'd really prefer to some cake is a bowl of batter, but I don't like to get food poisoning!

 

[retropia]

Yum!

 

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Sinks Like a Rock

After a resting period the cake settles and drops as it cools.

 

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The Gratifying Thud

The cake is inverted on a serving plate and in a perfect world you hear a soft thud as the cake lands in one piece on the cake plate.

 

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Gilding the Lily

A simple glaze of melted chocolate, Karo syrup and cream is spread/drizzled over the cake. A few of the publications of America's test Kitchen including Cook's Magazine.

 

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Cross Cultural Differences

Poly Dextrose replaces the texture and moisture of sugar in a batter sweetened with an artificial substitute. Resistance Starch is not digestable to it reduces the carbs and glycemic index in baked goods. Poly Dextrose makes batters more cake like and brown less. Here is the contrast in one recipe of Haystack Cupcakes made as written and one with Poly dextrose and Resistance Starch. The lighter and cakier cupcakes are with the replacements.

 

[mrb627]

Cut it already!

We wanna see a cross section of your fudge tunnel cake.

 

[gfm8959]

Where can I buy...

Polydextrose and Resistance Starch?

 

[mixfinder]

Already Gone

I cut a piece and was really happy at how gooey it is for mucking with the recipe. I gave it to a neighbor but he won't care if I go get a picture.

Poly Dextrose and High Resistance starch are available on life at Honeyville.com. I use a sugar replacement for sweetness and then replace 2/3 of the sugar in the recipe with Poly Dextrose. I replace 1/3 of the flour with High Resitance starch in most recipes.