All about Cakes

Cheese cake, angel food cake, Devil’s food cake, chiffon cake … …

There are so MANY variety of cakes out there in the market that sometimes we get lost just by looking at it. Different cakes have different taste and textures and this is due to the difference in composition of flour and eggs. But one thing is for sure is that all cakes, or most cakes, taste good 🙂

There are only TWO basic cake types. They are:

Butter cake
Melt in your mouth cake made up of some form of fat (butter, oil, shortening). Start off by creaming together butter and sugar to incorporate air into the batter. This makes the cake lighter. Next, add in eggs to add moisture to the cake. To complete the batter, add the liquid (if any) and dry ingredients.
Sometimes, all the ingredients are added together in a bowl, skipping the creaming method. This would result in a denser cake but otherwise still delicious 🙂

Foam cakes
Foam cakes are like sponge cakes which contain no or very little fats. This makes foam cakes lighter and airier compared to butter cakes. Foam cakes also have no or little leaveners(baking powder, baking soda) added. Instead, the cake rises due to the presence of egg whites that are beaten till stiff peaks form.
Some foam cakes (example Genoise and biscuit sponge cake) require soaking syrup to be added to add moisture to the cake.

Below is a list of some of the different kind of cakes available 😉

Angel food cake
Texture: Airy, light and melts in your mouth
Descriptions:

• Made with no or little fats( therefore low in cholesterol)
• The sides of the pan are not greased and the cake is turned upside down to cool

Biscuit sponge cake
Texture: Dry at first but is moist and tender once soaking syrup is added
Description:

• Contains no or  little fat
• Mostly made up of eggs therefore it has a lighter texture compared to a biscuit

Charlotte
Texture: light
Description:

• Made by filling the baking tin with layers of sponge cake and whipped cream/ mousse/ fruit mixture
• Served chilled so it needs to be refrigerated at least four hours in advance

Cheesecake
Texture: Rich, smooth and creamy
Description:

• Baked in a water bath to keep the cake creamy.
• Usually have a biscuit/ cookie/ pastry crust

Chiffon cake
Texture: Tender, moist and rich
Description:

• Made with eggs, fats, flour, leaveners and sugar