All About Cakes

2000

There are four types of cakes. Period. Sponge. Butter. Fruit. And Raised cake.
Every other cake recipe is a variation of these - a change in the amount of an ingredient, a flavor, or even just a change in name.
To be sure the cake is as light as possible: gather all your ingredients before you start. An ignored half-made batter will fall flat while you search that cupboard.
Heat the oven. Grease or otherwise prepare the pans.
Get the utensils.
The bowl for mixing must be large enough but more important, deep enough. I love glass bowls. Stainless bowls. Bowls that clean easily and are not overly heavy to lift.
The spoon for mixing should be a wooden spoon with a slotted bowl. Or, what we all have seen and I fell in love with, a large wire whisk. Fluffs up eggs and sugar very well. Whips up egg white. Whips up gravy too.
Glass measuring cups (2 - 2-cup measures), a metal or hard plastic set of measuring cups (that you can level with a knife edge - for flour and sugar), measuring spoons and wire racks for cooling.
Baking powder is baking soda and cream of tarter with some filler. It is used with sweet milk. Baking powder s used to vary a lot - with a cheap one using alum. This version caused a baking-powder taste. There are about two brands on the market these days and there is no difference between them.
Baking soda is used with sour milk and molasses (which are acidic). One cup fo sweet milk can be turned into sour milk by adding one tablespoon of cider vinegar.
Cake flour is better (and more expensive than) regular (bread) flour. Even the "all purpose" flour is bread flour. If using regular flour, use 2 tablespoonful LESS per cup else the batter will be heavy. Heavy batter cracks as soon as it forms a crust. So, if your cake is cracking, your batter is heavy. Pastry or cake flour has less gluten then bread flour. Cake flour can also be made by mixing one cup of bread flour with two tablespoons of cornstarch. Sift twice before using.
Flour sifters are made with three-levels. Or get a good 1-level sifter and sift three times.
When using sugar and flour in a recipe, mix the sugar and flour together first before adding milk. This prevents lumps. Actually, I mix flour, sugar, baking power (or soda) and salt (and any spices) together and then add the milk (or other liquid). This ensures even distribution of spices and leavening.
Shortening in the 1940s may have been butter, margarine, lard (no longer used), solid vegetable fat (Crisco), vegetable oil or chicken fat, rendered and strained. Today we use applesauce and Canola oil to replace shortening altogether. Margarines are light. Lard is a no-no as is chicken fat. Butter-flavored Crisco came out some years ago. Unsalted butter may require that you add salt to the recipe. (Unless it calls for unsalted butter, in which case, if you use regular butter, you reduce the salt.) You can still find unsalted butter in the grocery store cum supermarket. Unsalted margarine is another story.
When using a solid shortening (like butter or margarine), warm up the mixing bowl.
Never melt solid shortening for a cake. Allow to warm to room temperature unless using a liquid shortening. Liquid and solid shortening have different recipes and do not interchange.
One half cup of applesauce and 1 tablespoon of Canola oil can replace one half cup of solid shortening in many recipes.
Flavoring are varied but real flavoring is preferred over artificial in any recepe. There are the "big three": vanilla, almond and lemon. There are also cherry, pistachio, rose, raspberry, coffee, rum, etc.

If a cake has any fruit, the flavoring should be lemon or orange. Grated orange or lemon peel can enhance the liquid flavoring.
If the cake contains nuts, the best flavoring is vanilla, orange or almond.
For a plain cake, any flavoring can be used.
For a chocolate or cocoa cake, vanilla or cinnamon flavoring can be used.
For a spice or marble cake, a combination of flavors can be used with cinnamon predominating.
If a cake contains dates, use lemon or orange.
If a cake contains coconut, use vanilla or almond.

Don't "double" the flavoring wholesale in a recipe. The result may not be one you like.
Use fresh spices and flavorings. Alcohol-based flavorings can evaporate, leaving a strong residue. Dry spices can age and become weak. It is better to buy small amounts fresh than a large amount you seldom use.
Nuts can also turn rancid and actually do age. Buy what you need when you need it.
Sugar can be granulated (table sugar), powdered (confectioner's sugar), and brown (dark brown or golden).
Powdered sugar makes a smooth cake that dries out quickly. It is best used in special cookie recipes and in icings.
Brown sugar makes a moist cake that keeps well.
Granulated sugars have no variations any longer. Fine granulation is required for cakes.
Honey, crystallized, used to be used for sugar in colonial days. Honey has special recipes that can use it in its natural form. It is very sweet.
Eggs no longer have grades such as "cooking" eggs". (I used to candle eggs as a child.) But the rule that the yolk should "stand up" when you break an egg out of its shell still applies. An egg whose shell has been cracked is no longer fresh. It is subject to bacteria. These days, we know that even whole eggs may carry Salmonella. Do not eat raw eggs.
They do come in sizes. Large eggs are best in most recipes.
Also, now we have egg-whites only and pasteurized whole-egg substitutes. Whole egg substitutes can be used in most recipes. (For egg-white only, look for egg-white recipes.)

A sponge cake is a very delicate cake with a smooth, even texture. It is made light by eggs and beating. It has seven basic ingredients: sugar, eggs, liquid, flour, salt, baking powder, and flavoring.
A butter cake is made rich by the use of shortening and light by eggs and some baking powder. It has eight basic ingredients: sugar, eggs, liquid, flour, salt, baking powder, flavoring and butter.
A butter cake with the addition of flour becomes a loaf cake. Made thinner it is a layer cake. In between, the consistency is good for cup-cakes. Add more baking powder and less eggs and it becomes an "everyday" cake. Add enough flour to be stiff enough to roll out and you have cookies. Egg yolks and white beat together will give one texture while beat separately you will get a different texture.
The richest cake is a pound cake (a pound of this, a pound of that) and it can be kept in a tin. Layer cakes age before cupcakes do.
Fruit cake also stores well (I like to keep it in the refrigerator). Of course, I also keep it moist, with a really good port wine, and well-wrapped , in wax paper and aluminum foil.
Finish a cake by the following methods.
Sprinkle nuts (finely chopped nuts, grated coconut, chopped candied peel or crystallized fruit over the batter before baking. Mini-chocolate chips can also be used this way.
Instead of icing, dust a layer cake with confectioner's sugar.
Serve a cake with whipped cream.
Serve a warm cake with ice cream. (Fudge cake and French Vanilla is a classic combination.)
And there is always frosting or icing. And you can use fillings in-between layers.

References:
(1908 "The New Household Discoveries" by Sidney Morse. The 1917 edition.)
(Mrs. Allen on Cooking (approx. 1940 - I lost the cover.)