Cake Ingredients

Many times, we are not able to bake a cake to perfection, as we mix up the various cake ingredients. When we go to a supermarket, we are bewildered with the array of flours available on the shelf and we wonder, which one is the right one. The next in the line is the sweetener. Some of us do not consume sugar, then arises the question, "if not sugar, then what?". Different recipes often use different fats and we are confused, which of the fats gives it the right consistency. These are just some of the examples, which come up when a newbie decides to bake a cake.

Basic Cake Ingredients

The first important point to remember when we choose ingredients to make cake, is that the ingredients have to be of good quality and they also necessarily have to be fresh. If you are a supporter of the organic movement, you can make the organic choices, but the other choices that you make will certainly affect the final product.

Flour
This is one of the most basic ingredients. There are different types of flour, which can be used to make cake. You can either make use of wholemeal (also known as wheat flour) or all-purpose flour (commonly known as white flour). As the name suggests, wholemeal flour contains 100% of the wheat grain. When cakes are made with wholemeal, they often have closer texture. If you are making cake to be eaten at home for the family members, then you can certainly use this flour as it contains all the germ and little wheat barn. However, if you are making cake to be eaten by other than family, then you can make use of all-purpose flour. Both the wholemeal as well as white flour is available in plain as well as self-raising forms. If you are going to use self-raising flour, then you will have to strike the right balance of raising agents. The best, however, is to use plain flour and add the required quantity of baking powder. The normal quantity to be used is 2 ½ teaspoons of baking powder for about 8 oz of plain flour. An important point is to sieve the flour before you use it to make cake. Read on

• Whole Wheat Flour Vs White Flour
• Cake Flour Substitute
• Self Rising Flour Substitute
• All Purpose-Flour vs Cake Flour

Fat
The method you are going to use to make cakes, will decide the fat you use. If you are going to make cakes using creaming method, then it is best to use soft margarine. If you are going to use rubbing-in method to make cake, then hard margarine is the option for you. You can also make use of butter as one of the ingredients in cake, but it will add its own distinctive flavor to the cake. While adding butter to make cake is essential, you use butter at room temperature. There are recipes, which also make use of combination of butter or margarine with lard, however, these days this method has fallen out of favor with most of the bakers. Oil is also used in some of the recipes. When it comes to use of oil, there are various options, you can choose from, however, the use of extra virgin olive oil is not recommended, as it has a distinct taste, which can spoil the taste of the cake. At the same time the low-fat spreads are also not recommended, as they are high on water content. Read more on

• Butter Substitute
• Margarine Substitute
• Margarine vs Butter

Sweetener
The best sugar to make sugar is caster sugar, as it has fine texture. However, if you do not have caster sugar, you can also make use of granulated sugar. If you are going to make creamed cakes, then granulated sugar is not recommended, as it has slight grittiness and may cause reduction in volume. The most important point to note, is to never use icing sugar to make cakes, it should strictly be used only for icing.

Brown and unrefined sugar also lend a distinct flavor to the cake. Soft brown sugar can be used to make creamed cakes. If you are going to use the rub-in method, then demerara sugar is the sugar you would want to use. You can make use of other sweeteners as well. The most commonly used sweetener is honey. Read on brown sugar substitute.

Leaveners
The most commonly used leavener are eggs. Both beaten egg whites and yolks are used as leaveners. The other leaveners are baking powder and baking soda. Leaveners are used to expand the air bubbles that are beaten into the batter, but it is important to understand that they do not create new ones. You may want to read on

• Baking Soda vs Baking Powder
• Baking Powder Substitute
• Baking Soda Substitute

Dairy
Milk contains proteins, which set or coagulate from the oven's heat to form the structure of the cake. Milk powder can also be added to strengthen the structure of the cake . The other dairy product, which can also be used include buttermilk, sour cream or cream cheese. They all add more moisture and flavor to a cake and also help to keep them well. The acid present in the buttermilk and sour cream contain acid, that helps in tenderizing the gluten in the recipe. Read on sour cream substitute.

Flavoring
If you are making fruit cake, then you may want to use the fresh fruits for the flavor. The other flavors, which can be used are ground spices, extracts, citrus peels, citrus oil or even liquors. If you are going to use liquors, then it is recommended, you use only small quantities of liquor, as it has a tendency to dry out the cakes. The other possibility is, that it can cause the cake to fall, in case there is too much liquid flavoring in proportion to the other ingredients used to make the cake.

These are basic ingredients, which are used to make cakes in general. The other ingredients to make cake will depend on the specific ingredients mentioned in the recipes. When you are making cake, it is recommended, you do not alter the measurements mentioned in the recipe, else there are chances of you ruining the ultimate product itself.