Cake-Baking Secrets for Perfect Cakes

By Julia D. Johnson

Everybody loves cake, and it's even better when you can make it yourself. If you're completely new to cooking, learning to bake a cake is a simple and fun project to start your new hobby with. If you get really good at it, you might even make a career out of it. The tips in this article will help improve your cake-baking skills.

Pre-made cake mixes tend to be heavy. This not only makes it difficult to mix them, but can also make the finished cake feel heavy in your stomach. To avoid this undesirable heaviness, simply get some meringue powder. You can buy this powder at a baking goods supply store; some supermarkets also carry it. Mix the powder into the cake mix to lighten the mix's weight.

In addition to wanting your cake mix to be light, you don't want it to be too dry. Here's a secret for making moist cakes: use unsweetened applesauce in place of oil. Unsweetened applesauce is also healthier than oil, making your cake slightly more attractive to guests who are watching their diet.

Many cakes not only call for wet ingredients such as eggs, but sticky ingredients such as honey. Sticky ingredients can be messy and hard to work with. They stick to the measuring spoon, the mixing bowl and your fingers, making it hard to mix your cake batter properly. To avoid a sticky mess, spray measuring cups and spoons with non-stick cooking spray before you start pouring honey or other sticky ingredients into them. You can also spray mixing blades with this spray to make it easier to mix your cake.

In addition to sticky ingredients, you may have to use cold ingredients such as sticks of butter or eggs. Butter sticks can be as difficult to work with as honey if they are too cold; they are stiff, nearly unbreakable and don't mix into your cake batter easily. To avoid problems with butter and other cold ingredients, take them out of the refrigerator before beginning your cake. If your butter is still too cold to work with by the time you're ready for it, put it in the microwave for ten to fifteen seconds to soften it.

An undercooked cake will fall apart, not taste right and may contain bacteria such as salmonella that can make people sick. Sometimes your cake can look baked on the outside but still need to be cooked on the inside. When your oven timer rings, remove the cake from the oven, but don't turn the oven off yet. Check whether the cake is done by inserting a toothpick into it and pulling the toothpick out again. If the toothpick comes out clean, your cake is baked on the inside. You may have to put the cake back for three to five additional minutes before testing it again if your toothpick doesn't come out clean.

Cake baking takes patience. Once the cake comes out of the oven, you've only completed the first step. Now you have to frost it. Frosting cakes allows you to express your creativity; you can use colors and designs to express a mood or simply make something beautiful. However, you can't frost the cake while it's hot; the cake may crumble or the frosting may melt if you try to do so. Wait a couple of hours or even overnight for the cake to cool completely before frosting it.

Baking a cake is a fairly straightforward process. Simply mix the ingredients, bake the cake and frost it once it cools. Once you get used to baking cakes, you can experiment with different types of cakes. You may enjoy baking a cake in a particular shape, such as a Mickey Mouse cake for a child's birthday party, or making layer cakes that have frosting between each layer of cake. Whether you're making your first simple cake or are a cake expert, you're sure to impress your friends and family if you follow the cake-baking tips in this article.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Julia_D._Johnson

Best Wedding Cakes Ideas for Your "Fairy Tale Wedding"

By Elizabeth B Esiguri

Wedding cakes, just like wedding outfits follow styles. Therefore, you need the best ideas to make your wedding fancy enough.

Firstly, you have to settle on a particular theme for your wedding before you can take into account your wedding cake design. The styles and designs are many. For instance, there are tiered, square-shaped, vintage, silver, beach-themed and small wedding cakes, just to name some. Some may even not require toppers.

For a wedding cake to be perfect for your big day, it ought to express your personalities. Besides, it must fit into the theme of your wedding.

Couples are no longer limited to square or round cakes, a particular number of layers and certain tastes. So, you can even opt for no layers at all if you wish. You can have the freedom to have a mix of the things you prefer. For instance, if you decide on a tiered cake, you can have each tier in a diverse savour. In order to make the cake look much taller, you can have the tiers separated by spacers. This will also be useful in helping the lighter layers not to be quashed by the weightier ones.

Elegant Wedding Cakes Designs for the Millennial Couples:

In most communities, a wedding cake is regarded as a symbol of a couple's very first banquet shared with their relations and guests to celebrate their new marital status. Every day, there are numerous websites that are offering totally new guidelines on this matter. This is where confusion on the part of the couples can come in as it makes it difficult for them to make a decision on what they actually want.

It is advisable to break down the design and basically categorize it. This way, the task will not be all that overwhelming. Besides, it will help you to incorporate your own ideas in the cake's design. There is nothing as good as a customized cake.

Elegant wedding cake designs do not have to cost you a fortune; what matters most is that each guest gets a bite of the cake irrespective of the size of the slice. Thus, a cake can be simple but nonetheless, totally stylish.

Ensure that you buy a cake that will match with the number of your guests; not too small nor too big.

For further best ideas, you may look at the internet or consult reputable wedding cakes bakers.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Elizabeth_B_Esiguri

The History of Cakes

By Qing Hua

Cake is a dessert that nearly everyone has enjoyed at some point during their life. As a child, getting a slice of chocolate cake from one's parents was more like a gift from the gods. Cake recipes have changed quite a bit over time, but the pleasure they give has stayed intact over the years. Some might say that making a great cake relies on having a great cake recipe, however it is also important to have an understanding of the history and where cake actually comes from. History does not taste quite as good as a fresh chocolate cake, but it is still quite interesting to discover where cake recipes actually came from.

The actual word for cake dates back many centuries ago to the 1200s where European bakers would mix fruits and bread. These "cakes" could stay intact for several months, thus providing food for the village that could be saved without the need for any form of modern refrigeration. It wasn't until much later into the 17th century that the more modern form of the cake came about.

Still in Europe, advances in technology allowed for the first cake with icing to be produced. This came about as the key ingredient of sugar became more and more refined. Likewise, ovens became more reliable, giving bakers more control over what they were actually making. The icing itself was created using the sugar as well as egg whites which was poured onto the cake as it was baking. Once removed from the oven, it would harden quickly, giving the appearance of what we know today as an iced or glazed frosting.

At this time, bread and cake recipes were still being used almost interchangeably, as early cakes were more simply flour based sweets. On the other hand, bread was also flour based, but lacked the sweetening element of the cake. Ancient people would often bake this sweetened flour on a hot stone. In the modern world, this might take shape more in the form of what we call a cookie or even a biscuit.

Even still, many years ago, the first cakes were beginning to take shape. Cakes themselves were often baked for special occasions as the ingredients that were needed were much more expensive than for baking simple bread. In turn, the wealthy people in society were more likely to frequently consume it than the poor. This is where Marie Antoinette's famous line of "let them eat cake" is thought to have originated as the princess had no idea of the actual living conditions of her people.

During the 19th century, the ingredients became more inexpensive allowing for the poor to have their chance to experience cake at a higher rate. It also gave rise to new ingredients being experimented with as people sought cheaper ways to produce a cake.

In modern society, a cake recipe can be found on thousands of websites across the internet as well as on the cake mix box itself. Ancient people surly never would have imagined that today anyone could make a cake using simple ingredients that mostly come in a single box. It is true that Cake recipes have changed for the better and can thankfully be enjoyed by almost everyone today.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Qing_Hua

Birthday Cakes - Why They Are Important and Always Will Be

By Jade Reilly

Birthday cakes are one of the most important things of interest in any birthday celebration. A birthday party with no tasty birthday cake will not make that event complete. Regardless of whether or not you are an adult or a kid, you would always be happy to have a cake around. Children are always full of life when they see cakes around and the more unique your cake is, the more your party becomes unique.

Birthday cakes are usually of different types, depending on the ingredients used. People of different ages also have different tastes for them. For instance, kids usually like chocolate flavored cakes. The decorations and icing are always unique and striking and many mothers have always been very creative with the preparation of birthday cakes for their children. In the case of teenagers, they are a bit more mature and are not likely to go for a birthday cake with cartoon characters. Therefore, they like cakes which are simple in designs or cakes with styles such as bikes, cars, teen stars, chocolate bar, baseball, cakes, and so on.

Cakes are very important because of the following reasons:

1. A birthday party is not complete without birthday cakes. Organizing a birthday is an opportunity to show love for one another, either to a kid or an adult. An ordinary menu with cake is sufficient to make you have an ideal birthday party. It's not necessary to spend much before people would know you have had a nice birthday party. Birthday cakes make the day complete.
2. People love chocolate cakes and cakes containing chocolate is one of the most important things for any birthday party. Chocolate also symbolizes a lot of things like joy, love and bond between lovers. Therefore, birthday cakes are making people express love to one another.
3. Birthday cakes are also good in making people still hang around after most of the events of a birthday party. In most cases, after eating, singing and playing, cakes are used in keeping the environment lively instead of having an environment which is boring.

Cakes are usually associated with sweetness, especially among children. Kids love sweet things and that is why they always see a birthday or any special event as the time to enjoy. For your birthday cake, you could choose chocolate cake. Children and adult would love that. You could also prepare cake that is not too sweet in case of adult guests who are not too interested in sweet things or who are diabetic. Having this combination ensures that everyone has a nice time at your birthday party.

There are ways you could prepare good cakes which everyone would love. Adults like themes like a diary, a champagne bottle, or things which depict a favorite sports character. Therefore, cakes for adults do not need to be that vibrant. You may just have something simple with the name and good wishes of the person written on it. In the case of cakes for kids, you should consider what kids generally like. In the case of birthday parties for children, you could have designs showing baby blocks, puppies, teddy bears, blue skies, flowers, yellow ducks and the like.

Cake in a Box is a Family run specialized cake maker business.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jade_Reilly

Mackerel Cakes

By Natasha Carmon

Canned mackerel is cheap and can make a great substitute for salmon croquettes. I have also used it for tuna casserole as well. Mackerel is a rich source of omega 3 fatty acids which is good for the heart and cost less than salmon. I like salmon croquettes but salmon is much higher and mackerel is the next best thing to use.

Growing up I couldn't stand to eat croquettes and had to eat them. I would always cover the taste of them with ketchup. Most people use hot sauce but as a child I didn't like hot sauce. I have learned to appreciate the taste of croquettes now that I am grown and like to eat them with tartar sauce mixed with hot sauce. Here's a recipe I made that are just as good as salmon croquettes. This recipe is for mackerel cakes.

Ingredients

1 can mackerel

1 cup bread crumbs (I used a mix of panko and regular bread crumbs)

1 tsp lime juice

½ cup miracle whip

1 tbsp mustard

½ of an onion

½ green pepper

1 potato

4 to 5 cloves of garlic

Canned mackerel have bones in it. The bones are small but are not that difficult to remove. Take mackerel out of the can and remove the bones trying to remove as much as you can. Add the mackerel to a mixing bowl and squeeze the lime juice over the mackerel. Dice a potato and boil until tender. Can potatoes work too; chop the can potatoes and add in the bowl along with the chopped onion and green pepper. Dice the cloves of garlic and mix in with the mackerel mixture. After that you add the ½ cup of miracle whip and mustard and mix all the ingredients in the bowl. Season the mixture with salt and pepper then add in the bread crumbs. For this recipe I used ½ cup of Italian bread crumbs and ½ cup panko bread crumbs but you can use what ever type of bread crumbs you choose just make sure you use enough bread crumbs to make a patty with. After incorporating all the ingredients form the mixture into patties. Heat ¼ cup vegetable oil in skillet on high heat and Brown patty on one side for 5 minutes then flip and brown the other side until golden brown. Remove the cakes from the hot grease and drain on paper towels. This is a good recipe to have with potato salad and green beans.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Natasha_Carmon