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minutes to warm them up. While you don't need to be exact, eggs should be within five degrees of
that optimum temperature for the best emulsion and also for beating egg whites into the highest
foam. A thermometer, of course, is quite helpful until you can estimate a comfortable 70°F (21°C)
room temperature by touch.
Mixing the ingredients
The purpose of creaming is to whip as much air as possible into the softened fat, air that
contributes to a baking a light cake. You can either use an electric mixer or beat vigorously with a
spoon. If you are using the mixer, it takes about half a minute at medium to high speed. Continue
beating at the same speed while slowly adding sugar over another half-minute period. Keep beating
for 4 to 5 minutes (at least twice as long by hand) until the batter changes to a milky color. This is
your signal that you have incorporated the maximum amount of air. Stop occasionally to scrape off
the sides of the bowl to include all the fat in the thorough workout.
The next step is to form the emulsion. Add the beaten eggs, including any liquid flavorings,
very slowly in a thin trickle. Ideally, this should take about 4 minutes. It produces a better emulsion
than adding one egg at a time as most recipes instruct you.
Besides forming an emulsion with the shortening, the egg yolk has 30 percent natural
emulsifier, called lecithin. When you heat the batter in the oven, the natural emulsifier binds
ingredients that helps to build the cake structure. Not only creating volume and tenderness, eggs
also provide a mild but distinctive flavor and plenty of nutrients.
The last thing you add is the dry ingredients. Don't use an electric mixer for this step or you
will wreck the structure you so carefully built, letting most of the trapped air escape. Fold dry
ingredients gently into your batter, half a cup at a time. Most bakers use a sifter that distributes the
flour uniformly over the surface and fold it in with a rubber spatula. Fold just until you cannot see
any more flour. The more you fold and the heavier your hand is in the operation, the more air you
lose.
Baking
In most baked desserts you will find either eggs, flour or both. How does that soft, liquidy
batter becomes solid? It is the oven heat that changes proteins in both eggs and flour proteins to
slowly solidify the structure. Heat also affects the starch in flour—it gelatinizes it. Starch is
basically many glucose sugar molecules linked together to form chains. At a certain temperature,
the molecules absorb water and they become a single gelatinous mass. Watch this gelatinization
process when making a sauce with starch or flour. The point at which the starch gelatinizes is when
the sauce thickens and turns transparent.
Gelatinization happens between 140°and 148°F (60°and 65°C). The starch turning into
gelatin and the proteins solidifying are the two processes that establish the structure in most baked
items—cakes, tortes, muffins, cookies, and so on. But eggs also contribute to the solid structure.
Eggs coagulate between 144°and 158°F (63° and 71°C), and that is when the framework begins to
solidify. Around these critical temperatures, when eggs coagulate and starch gelatinizes, the batter is
highly unstable and it must not be disturbed. That is the time cakes fall if you are not careful.
Correct oven temperature in baking is critical. If you haven't checked your oven thermostat
recently (they do go out of adjustment over time), now is a good time to do it. Slip an oven
thermometer in, turn the oven on and see if the thermometer matches the setting on your
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