No one will probably not argue that no matter how beautiful the Wedding Cake is, the main thing is that it tastes good!
Imagine the disappointment of guests: when a masterpiece of confectionary art, it will taste like cotton candy.
And that can happen if you let the choice of cake on its own. We’re not going to do that, and we’ll try to pay due attention to this issue.
What’s inside the cake?
The basis of any cake are the crusts. It is they who give the product form and determine the taste. And then there are the fillings: the “centerpiece” of each cake, which makes the base of the pastry play something new every time, and spurs the imagination of the confectioner to new combinations of flavor, color, and texture.
Remember Verochka from “A Service Novel” and her masterpiece phrase: “You see, what’s important here, Ludmila Prokofievna, is such a thing as combinability. You know, combination…” …..
Perhaps you couldn’t have said it better: it’s the right combination of the dough base and the filling that gives the cake its individual, unique and bright flavor.
And to make the right choice, you need to know what to choose from.
Cakes for the cake. What are they?
The wedding cake is exactly the case where you should show all your imagination and talent as a pastry chef. Like a wedding dress, the pinnacle of creativity couturier, so the wedding cake – should be a striking embodiment of all the professional skills of the confectioner. An experienced pastry chef will never experiment on such an important order. He will use only proven recipes for cakes and fillings. And here in their correct combination will be the real skill.
There are a few basic basics that can be used to create more and more combinations. It is with the bases that we will get acquainted today. All the rest are variations, and there are endless variations.
Biscuit
The most common variation for the base of a cake. It has a high porosity and calorie content. Airy dough is easily impregnated with filling, which improves its taste. Pretty easy to make and is a success with both professionals and homemakers.
The ingredients for a classic biscuit are simple and accessible:
- flour;
- eggs;
- sugar.
To get a fluffy biscuit, the yolks are separated from the whites and whipped with sugar. The substance should increase in volume at least twice. Combine with flour to form a homogeneous liquid dough and add whites whipped into a foam. Bake in a greased with butter until ready.
What is good about biscuits in a cake? Its neutral flavor! Classic sponge cake, without additional additives, has a fairly simple taste: it’s just sweet. To call it delicious is very difficult. And this is a definite advantage, because its porous structure perfectly absorbs even complex creamy fillings.
Accentuating and improving. The cake turns out juicy, bright and very tasty.
And additional additions such as chocolate or nuts, for example, give an endless number of variations.
Shortcrust pastry (saber)
This is the second most popular, honorary pastry. The classic version (sable) has a dense, homogeneous texture, easy and quick to make. The composition is also simple and accessible: flour, butter, sugar and water. And the butter is not melted, but rubbed frozen on a grater and mixed with flour into a homogeneous mass, and water is added ice-cold. The finished dough has a crumbly structure, for which it is called “shortbread”.
There are three types of shortbread dough:
- Breeze is a dough without the use of sugar. It is used to make meat, vegetable, cheese, and mushroom pies.
- Sable is a classic version of a shortbread dough. There is a formula of ingredients for making sabre:
- Flour – 3 parts.
- Butter – 2 parts.
- Sugar – one part.
- Ice water – 1-2 tablespoons.
A great base for cakes.
- Sucre is very sweet and very fatty. Because of the large amount of sugar is very fragile to work with. Used mainly for making tarts and tartlets.
Cake is assembled from thin, brittle crusts, stapled together with a filling. Under the influence of the filling, the cakes soften and soak. The more time you give the cake to infuse, the tastier and juicier it will be.
Protein
Recently, protein dough has been gaining in popularity. In fact, it is not a dough as such. Since the classic version has no flour at all. It is an airy, foamy mass of whipped whites and sugar. But since the result is a confectionery product – then it is customary to call it dough. If you have no idea what it is: Cake “Kiev” is a classic example of a dessert made with protein dough.
There are a lot of recipes for making it. I, for example, like “Food of Angels” – snow-white, airy and light as a cloud biscuit with a delicate flavor.
I have intentionally given only the classic variants of the basics, because there are really a lot of recipes. And professionals also have signature recipes, which are brands and are kept strictly secret. But knowing the classics, it’s not hard to imagine the flavor variations and make a choice based on your preferences.