On food and cooking the science and lore of the kitchen ( PDFDrive ) 1056

No aeration: Ingredients stirred together with minimal incorporation of air Dissolved-sugar cakes: pain d’épices, spice cake Mixing Cake Batters In cake making, the mixing step doesn’t just combine the ingredients into a homogeneous batter: it has the critical purpose of incorporating air bubbles into the batter, and thereby strongly influencing the final texture of the cake The various ways of aerating the batter help define families of cakes (see box, p 557) They involve beating the sugar and/or the flour into the fat, the eggs, or all the liquid ingredients The fine solid particles carry tiny air pockets on their surfaces, and the particles and beating utensils carry those pockets into the fat or liquid Flour is often added only after the foam is formed, and then by gently folding it in, not beating, to avoid popping a large fraction of the bubbles, and to avoid developing gluten (For folding as a mixing technique, see p 112.) Mixing the dry flour and fat together also prevents the gluten proteins from bonding strongly to each other Preleavened shortening and electric mixers have helped to turn cake making into a far less onerous task than it once was, but the mixing stage can still take 15 minutes or more Bakers often modify or combine elements of these techniques In the “pastry-blend” method, the flour, sometimes with the sugar, is creamed with the fat, then the liquid ingredients are added and mixed long enough to augment the initial aeration Another alternative is a combination of the fat and egg aerations: some of the sugar is used to aerate the fat, some the eggs, and the two foams are then combined Baking Cakes Cake baking can be divided into three stages: expansion, setting, and ... to augment the initial aeration Another alternative is a combination of the fat and egg aerations: some of the sugar is used to aerate the fat, some the eggs, and the two foams are then combined Baking... Bakers often modify or combine elements of these techniques In the “pastry-blend” method, the flour, sometimes with the sugar, is creamed with the fat, then the liquid ingredients are added and mixed long enough to augment the initial aeration...fraction of the bubbles, and to avoid developing gluten (For folding as a mixing technique, see p 112.) Mixing the dry flour and fat together also prevents the gluten proteins from bonding strongly to each other