Varieties of Cake

Varieties of cake
German chocolate cake.
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Cakes are broadly divided into several categories, based primarily on ingredients and cooking techniques.

* Yeast cakes are the oldest, and are very similar to yeast breads. Such cakes are often very traditional in form, and include such pastries as babka and stollen.
* Cheesecakes use mostly some form of cheese (often cream cheese, mascarpone, ricotta or the like), and have very little to no flour component (though it sometimes appears in the form of a (often sweetened) crust). Cheesecakes are also very old, with evidence of honey-sweetened cakes dating back to ancient Greece.
* Sponge cakes are thought to be the first of the non-yeast-based cakes and rely primarily on trapped air in a protein matrix (generally of beaten eggs) to provide leavening, sometimes with a bit of baking powder or other chemical leaven added as insurance. Such cakes include the Italian/Jewish pan di Spagna and the French Génoise.
* Butter cakes, including the pound cake and devil's food cake, rely on the combination of butter, eggs, and sometimes baking powder to provide both lift and a moist texture.

A large cake garnished with strawberries

Beyond these classifications, cakes can be classified based on their appropriate accompaniment (such as coffee cake), contents (e.g. fruitcake or flourless chocolate cake), or occasion (wedding cake, birthday cake, or Passover plava, a type of Jewish sponge cake sometimes made with matzo meal).

Cakes may be small and intended for individual consumption (for example madeleines and cupcakes). Larger cakes may be made with the intention of being sliced and served as part of a meal or social function. The cutting of a wedding cake constitutes a social ceremony in some cultures. The Ancient Roman marriage ritual of confarreatio originated in the sharing of a cake.

Particular types of cake may be associated with particular festivals, such as stollen (at Christmas), babka and simnel cake (at Easter), or mooncake.



Some varieties of cake are widely available in the form of cake mixes, wherein some of the ingredients (usually flour, sugar, flavoring, baking powder, and sometimes some form of fat) are premixed, and the cook needs add only a few extra ingredients, usually eggs, water, and sometimes vegetable oil or butter. Such mixes are available under a number of brand names, including Betty Crocker, Duncan Hines, and Pillsbury; while the diversity of represented styles is limited, cake mixes do provide an easy and readily available homemade option for cooks who are not accomplished bakers.


Source: Wikipedia

Fourth of July Recipe – Flag Cake

By: Jill Seader

1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup ground almonds
6 eggs, separated
1 1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup lemon juice
2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
2 teaspoons confectioner’s sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 pint of fresh strawberries
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Sift the flour and salt together in a medium bowl. Add in the ground almonds and mix well. Put the six egg whites into a big mixing bowl and beat until foamy. Add in 3/4 cup of the sugar slowly. Beat the mixture until soft peaks form. Put the egg yolks into a small bowl and beat until they are very thick and have a lemon color. Slowly add in the rest of the sugar (1/2 cup). Put the lemon juice and lemon peel into the mixture and mix well. Beat the mixture for 1 minute. Fold the flour mixture in just until it is combined. Fold in the egg yolk mixture. Pour the batter into a 9 x 13 inch baking pan. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 35 minutes. Turn the pan upside down onto a wire rack and allow the cake to cool. Put the cooled cake onto a serving platter and cut it in half lengthwise. Put Lemon Filling (recipe follows) onto the bottom half of the cake. Put the top half back on top. Combine the heavy whipping cream with the confectioner’s sugar and vanilla. Take out 1/4 cup of this mixture so you can make the stars. Spread the rest of mixture onto the top and sides of the cake. Cut the strawberries in half and use them to make the stripes for the flag. Use the blueberries to make the area for the star field. Put the 1/4 cup cream mixture into a pastry bag and fit the top with a small star tip. Put stars on top of the blueberries. Use any remaining strawberries to decorate around the base of the cake.

Lemon Filling
1/2 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 egg
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons cornstarch
3/4 cup water
1 teaspoon butter
2 teaspoons grated lemon peel

Source: www.articlecity.com

About cake

Cake is a form of food that is usually sweet and often baked. Cakes normally combine some kind of flour, a sweetening agent (commonly sugar), a binding agent (generally egg, though gluten or starch are often used by vegetarians and vegans), fats (usually butter, shortening, or margarine, although a fruit purée such as applesauce is sometimes substituted to avoid using fat), a liquid (milk, water or fruit juice), flavors and some form of leavening agent (such as yeast or baking powder), though many cakes lack these ingredients and instead rely on air bubbles in the dough to expand and cause the cake to rise. Cake is often frosted with buttercream or marzipan, and finished with piped borders and crystallized fruit.
Cake is often the dessert of choice for meals at ceremonial occasions, particularly weddings, anniversaries and birthdays. There are countless cake recipes; some are bread-like, some rich and elaborate and many are centuries old. Cake making is no longer a complicated procedure; while at one time considerable labor went into cake making (particularly the whisking of egg foams), baking equipment and directions have been simplified that even the most amateur cook may bake a cake.


Source: Wikipedia