urmaniac13
Executive Chef
- Joined
- Sep 7, 2005
- Messages
- 4,764
I made this pumpkin-ricotta cake, sort of right off the top of my head late last night. The flavour was gorgeous, but there was a wee bit of problem with consitency. When I pulled it out of the oven it seemed a little too flimsy even though the toothpick came out clean and dry. (I couldn't go on baking it further as the exterior was getting dangerously close to be burnt) A couple of hours later while it was still slightly warm, it seemed still too soggy. I wrapped it in a few layers of papertowel before I went to sleep, but I resigned to the fate that this turned out to be another one of misadventure. However this morning I found, to my surprise, the texture became almost perfect, nicely moist but not soggy or flimsy, only imperfection was a thin layer of dense (heavier and wetter) area near the bottom.
As there are so many baking experts in this forum, I was wondering if someone can offer a suggestion to improve this recipe, the consistency/texture in particular. Is it normal with this type of cake to leave overnight to attain a better texture? What can I do to avoid that dense layer at the bottom? To help you with the idea this was the recipe I invented...
Ingredients:
In this wet mixture I added the already combined dry ingredients, mixed well then poured into a buttered loaf pan, and baked it at 180°C/350F for about 45 minutes.
I suspect the problem might have been the oven temperature, should I have cooked at a slightly lower temperature so the inside would have cooked a little more without the outside getting cooked too soon? I would appreciate any suggestions as it tasted lovely and I think it will worth a retry for new and improved version!!
TIA
As there are so many baking experts in this forum, I was wondering if someone can offer a suggestion to improve this recipe, the consistency/texture in particular. Is it normal with this type of cake to leave overnight to attain a better texture? What can I do to avoid that dense layer at the bottom? To help you with the idea this was the recipe I invented...
Ingredients:
- 160g / 5,5oz of pumpkin, boiled, mashed and well drained(originally it weighed about 450g / 1lb+ before cooking)
- 3 eggs
- 180g / 6oz sugar
- 60g / 2oz+ brown sugar
- 80g / 2,75oz melted butter
- 250g / 8,5oz ricotta
- a few drops of vanilla essence
- 1/2 tea spoonful of cinnamon
- pinch of nutmeg
- 100g / 3,5oz flour
- 50g / 1,7oz potato starch (in Italy it is commonly used for the same purpose as corn flour)
- 8g / 1/3,5oz baking powder
- pinch of salt
In this wet mixture I added the already combined dry ingredients, mixed well then poured into a buttered loaf pan, and baked it at 180°C/350F for about 45 minutes.
I suspect the problem might have been the oven temperature, should I have cooked at a slightly lower temperature so the inside would have cooked a little more without the outside getting cooked too soon? I would appreciate any suggestions as it tasted lovely and I think it will worth a retry for new and improved version!!
TIA