Skill: Cake Making
Cake making and patisserie is for many chefs a difficult skill to conquer. Baking, unlike cooking, requires not just precise measurements and weighing of ingredients but an intimate understanding of ingredients and how they react during the baking process. It is perhaps for this reason that many chefs find the patisserie section a daunting place.

The secret to baking is simply; a calm mind,matched by diligence and patience. If you have these qualities you cannot go wrong.


Preparing a Cake Tin or Baking Tray:
There are several ways to prepare a cake tin or baking tray

Method: 'Old school'
Grease the cake tin with melted butter, then dust over a layer of sugar and a layer of flour

Method: Baking parchment
Grease the tin with melted butter, line the base with baking parchment, then apply a second layer of grease over the parchment.

Method: 'The mat'
Buy a non-stick, silicone mat and cut it to the required shape. This mat is reusable and doesn't need greasing

Chef Tips for preparing a cake tin: Never use grease proof paper! With prolonged cooking at high heats it tends to deteriorate, breaking into fragments that are a real pain to pick free from a finished cake. Always use baking parchment, it is after all designed for baking.

Tip: Greasing a tin with melted butter will not detract from a cake's flavour. However if you wish to speed the lining process and avoid melting butter you can use a flavourless oil instead. (Do not use olive oil; baked with cakes it has a pungent flavour!)

Tip: If you purchase a pastry brush (or even a regular paint brush) for baking buy one with coloured bristles, which are easier to spot when they shed.

Measuring and Weighing Ingredients:
Remember that successful cake making is reliant upon precise formulas. It is essential to measure and weigh correctly, a moment's lack of concentration can ruin a cake.

Chef Tip: When measuring liquids remember that you can weigh water instead of getting out the measuring jug. 100g of water weighs the same as 100ml

Beating and Whisking:
Beating and whisking are vital methods for incorporating air into cake mix. If you use an mixer always use the correct attachment for the appropriate job. A 'mixing' head for beating butter with sugar. A 'whisking' head for egg whites and yolks.

Method: 'Creaming' the beating of butter and sugar
Always beat until the mix has increased in volume, has become 'fluffy' and is much lighter in colour; almost yellowy-white. This method is known as 'creaming' or 'to cream'

Chef Tip: Using particularly cold butter and find that it sticks to the side of the bowl?
Gently heat the mixing bowl with a blow torch to soften the butter

Method: Beating yolks and sugar
Again beat until the colour lightens and the volume increases. As you continue to beat the yolk and sugar mix it will not only swell but thicken, to test if you have sufficiently beaten the mix lift the whisk and allow the mix to dribble back upon itself. If it can support a 'trail' or 'ribbon' of itself for a few seconds it is done.

Chef Tip: If beating yolks and sugar together by hand do so over a double boiler. The heat, although not enough to scramble the egg will hasten the process of incorporating air bubbles

Method: Beating eggs into sugar and butter
This a regular method found in most 'creamed' cake mixes where eggs are beaten into the sugar and butter mix before the addition of flours. Technically this is the addition of one fat (the eggs) to another (the butter), together these fats combine with the sugar to form a stable emulsion.
However if you continue adding egg to the butter the ratio of sugar dwindles and the two fats will break out of emulsion. This stage is known as 'splitting' or 'to split' and is detrimental to cake baking. A 'split' cake (or cookie) mix will not have a texture that is as light or as smooth as a mix that is stable.
To prevent 'splitting':
Use eggs that have been stored at room temperature (do not add directly from the fridge!)
Lightly beat the eggs before incorporating into the mix.
Add the beaten eggs in small quantities. Do not add all at once and if using an electric mixer use a medium-slow speed.
Add one tablespoon of flour to the butter and sugar before beating in the eggs.
If the mix does split you can 'bring it back together' by adding a little more flour.

Folding in:
'Folding in' is the process of incorporating whisked egg whites into other ingredients. Whisked whites are 'folded' in rather than beaten or stirred in to prevent the loss of the incorporated air bubbles (which means a flat cake!).

Method: 'To fold'
Have the whisked whites in one bowl and the ingredients into which it is to be incorporated in a much larger, wider bowl
Using a spatula or large mixing spoon take a third of the whites and add to the awaiting ingredients. Using broad sweeping motions scoop the whites down into the batter, pull the spatula across the bottom of the mixing bowl then back up to the top of the surface. This movement is one rotation of a 'fold'.
Always use a gentle motion and do not stir vigorously. Mixing a third of the whites into the awaiting ingredients before adding the rest is known as 'to loosen'.
Once you have 'loosened' the ingredients, fold in the remaining two thirds of the egg whites.
Try to 'fold' the whites into the batter with economy of movement, the less agitation to the batter during this process means the less loss of vital air bubbles.
Cakes that do not use flour rely solely upon the egg proteins and incorporated air to produce a successful cake, so ensure that you master this method!

Baking:
Always preheat the oven to the correct temperature before baking. Never place an uncooked batter into an oven that is still warming as it will collapse or rise poorly

Method: Transferring the cake batter to the oven
Once the cake has been successfully mixed gently pour it into the cake tin. Banging a mix around and slamming it into the oven will only result in air being knocked free from the mix (which is a well known error in the making of sponge cakes!). Place the cake tin on the correct shelf:
For cakes that need to be baked at high temperatures for short periods of time (less than 30 minutes) place on the top shelf
For cakes that need longer baking time place on the middle shelf.
(The top shelf, even in fan assisted ovens are always the hottest)

Method: To test if a cake is done
Method: 'The shake'
Gently shake the cake tin, if the mix still wobbles the cake is still in a liquid state and needs longer. If the cake doesn't wobble it is ready for the 'skewer test'

Method: 'The skewer test'
Insert a skewer or sharp knife into the cake, once you pull the skewer or knife free check it for signs of wet batter. If the skewer has uncooked batter across it return the cake to the oven, if it is dry with only a few crumbs upon its surface the cake is done.

Cooling and transferring:
Method: Removing the cake
Once the cake is cooked remove it from the oven, allow the cake to cool for 5-10 minutes before attempting to remove it from its tin.
To release a cake slide a palatte knife between the cake and tin. Push the knife firmly against the tin and not against the cake, hold the knife in place and with the other hand rotate the tin.
Peel the base and baking parchment off the cake and using two palatte knives in conjunction lift the cake onto a wire rack.
Leave until completely cool
(If you don't have a wire rack don't worry, just leave to cool on a plate or board)

Science behind the dish:
An average cake mix is nothing more than a batter that consists of egg proteins, starch granules, gas (air) bubbles, fats and liquids.
As the raw cake mix is heated the gas bubbles begin to expand, the starch granules begin to swell and soak up excess water and the egg proteins begin to unravel into long molecule chains. The cake rises as a result of these reactions.
Once the cake has baked the mix has set into a solid mesh of swollen starch, coagulated proteins and trapped air bubbles.