Brooksy
Sous Chef
Having strung 6 bread baking successes together I decided it was time to have a go at something new.
Cakes.
Who first let men into the kitchen?
I was given a "tried & true", "never fail", "Trust me, even a fool can bake this cake" basic cake recipe: equal measures by weight of egg, sugar, AP flour, butter. To this add your flavoring.
As given
3 X 60gm eggs
180gms sugar
Etc
2 tsp vanilla ext
Method
Cream butter, sugar & vanilla, add 1 egg at a time with third of flour ensuring batter doesn't separate, when mixed transfer batter to a greased tin and bake 350 deg (wasn't given a time).
Carried out the above instructions to the 'T', watched and waited.
At the 30 min mark I though it a good idea to do what I do when baking bread, I rotated the pan 180 deg. BIG MISTAKE. It went down so quick I named it 'The Linda Lovelace Cake".
My questions are:
How long should the batter be mixed and at what speed?
As a kid we used to beat it for about 4 mins on high (twin beater) after eggs added, & this time I only gave it about a minute or so & about 75% speed using a single loop/knife type blade.
Temp & time? Is there a formula for total weight, temp & time to ensure a successful bake?
The AP flour I have is almost bread flour - 10.0% (it shocked me too when I read it).
Brooksy