So check this out, which will be very interesting to all of you baking geeks out there. Ok, it's interesting to just me, but I'm going to blog about it anyway!
See...the problem I've been having with my chocolate cake is that it's been rising way too high, and then cracking. Bad news. I decided to start tweaking with the leavening, and as I posted below, I didn't add any at all in this cake, and just relied on the bubbles in the Guinness beer to do the leavening work.
The result? The cake rose more than it ever has before. Whoa, right? (OK...at least a "whoa" from me). As I was pulling the cake from the oven and observed this continuing debacle once more, I was struck by something said by one of the gurus I am continually studying. Often, when a cake doesn't rise, it's because there's too much leavening. Now what gives with that? Well, it seems that what happens when there is too much leavening is that the bubbles that are formed grow immense and then pop, essentially deflating the cake. As I pondered this curiosity, it dawned on me that perhaps I could use this little datum to my advantage, since without leavening, my cakes are still rising too much. I think I could use an overdose of leavening to even things out, and burst some of those beer bubbles, thus keeping the cake from volcanoeing up above the rim of the pan. It was one of those "Eureka" moments, that I hoped would work.
I decided it was time to go back to the source, and look at some tried and true cake recipes, as well as to tap into the Nordicware cake book and make a proven recipe for a change. I thought that perhaps my cake's cracks would show up in other cakes as well, and that I was fretting over nothing. Upon doing some more research, I discovered two things: as it stands right now, I think I've formulated the perfect pound cake, since pound cakes should be dense...and cracked on the surface. In fact, you know the cake is done when it's cracked--it says so right in all of the recipes. If I had the cake in a pound cake loaf pan, I'd have a winner already (and I think I'll keep this current recipe for that use). Secondly, in one recipe for a chocolate cake, the recipe calls for a tablespoon of baking powder. My next batch is going to use that much--maybe more, and I bet I'll have solved the problem.
It's 9:30 at night, and it's looking like it's going to be a two cake day. Crazy man, I know, but I'm like a pit bull with this stuff. Off to the store to get some more ingredients. Though I don't need anymore cocoa powder, since I bought a five pound bag earlier today.
That should get me through to the end of the month.
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4 comments:
YOU are a MADMAN!
If I can't fit into any of my clothing I'll have your obsessions and my flagging self control to blame.
So am I understanding you correctly that cracks are good? You know I've always been for them, especially when a glaze fills and covers them.
I think you could have also commented thusly:
You ARE a madman!
Cracks are good...if it's a pound cake, and if the cracks stay on top of the cake...cracks not so good on the bottom, but for some reason, we all have one there.
Off to go whip up another cake...it has to be in the oven for an hour and a half, which means this one's coming out of the oven at 1:00. And I'll be taking a midnight walk, in order to allow me to keep baking these blasted cakes.
Mmm, beer.
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