That’s Jasmine’s layer, made with The Creaming Method.
Check back in a day or two for Jasmine’s reflections on the session. They will be available to everyone as they aren’t part of the paid content.
For our first session, I wanted to go over ingredient function, mise en place and weighing ingredients, the two main mixing methods for American-style cakes and the baking process. By the baking process, I mean exactly what is happening in the oven once you put your pan of dough or batter in it.
You’ll find a pdf version of the detailed handout in the paid content section, should you want to download it.
We also had 2 lab sessions, a mini one where Jasmine measured both flour and brown sugar by volume and then weighed them. We did this to illustrate that volumetric measurements, especially when it comes to ingredients that can settle, or pack down, are notoriously inaccurate. It was a pretty impressive lesson, if I do say so myself. Depending on how she measured, the flour weighed either 4 ounces or 6 ounces and the brown sugar weighed Twice as Much when packed tightly versus just spooned into the measuring cup.
For the second lab, we scaled out ingredients for a layer cake–1/2 for one layer made with The Creaming Method, and half for the other layer made with the Two-Stage Method. I made the Two-Stage layer and Jasmine made The Creaming Method layer. Texturally, I expected both to be moist and tasty, with the creamed layer being a bit sturdier than the two-stage layer. I also expected the creamed layer to rise a bit higher than the two-stage layer and have a tighter, velvety crumb as opposed to the slightly more open crumb of a creamed layer.
The top batter is the creamed batter; the bottom, the two-stage batter. Note the difference in color. The creamed batter is a bit more yellow and fluffy. The two-stage batter is whiter and very smooth.
Here I am being an Incredibly Bad Role Model as we gleefully lick our spatulas!
The half on the left is the two-stage layer; the half on the right is the creaming layer. I’m not sure if you can see the subtle difference in color, but believe me, it’s there. There are some rather large holes in the two-stage layer. This was caused when I let my batter sit before adding the final volume of liquid. The baking soda bubbled merrily away while I was helping Jasmine get her layer ready for the oven.
I patted myself on the back when things happened As I Thought They Would, texturally. But, we also noticed a subtle but noticeable difference in the color of the crumb. The best way I can describe it is that the two-stage layer was more opaque than the creamed layer. The two-stage layer was slightly more white in color than the other.
This article is exclusive, use Cleeng to view it in full.
Purchase for more differences between the 2 layers, an easy frosting recipe, and a pdf of the 15page handout.
Since this is Jasmine’s project, I really want her to drive my instruction. After all, she has some specific goals in mind–things she really wants to learn to make, skills she is excited about developing–so I asked her what she’d like to learn how to do the next time we meet. She said “cobbler.” I’m not sure if it’s because she thought it would be an easy lesson or if that really is her Ultimate in desserts (the girl does have good taste, after all), but it’s actually going to be fairly complicated. You know, because I’m designing the lesson! Cobbler covers a very broad range of desserts, so the lesson will cover everything from making pie crust to biscuits to batters mixed using The Muffin Method. We’ll also learn how to make fruit compote for a cooked fruit cobbler, prepare raw fruit for cobbler or pie filling, and look at the importance of balancing fruity sweetness with some acid as well as a bit of…say it with me: Salt!
Mentoring Session #1 by Online Pastry Chef Jenni Field is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
