Under the warm rays of the Italian sun, which were inviting to infinite pleasure, it was probably difficult not to come up with recipes for sweet cakes - of various shapes, with intricate cream and all kinds of sweets.
“Tortayo” is an Italian word that literally means “cake maker”. Of course, the French have contributed to the art of making cakes, but this sweet invention of mankind is the merit of the Italian confectioners, “tortie”.
Lemon Cake - Basic Technological Principles
The desire of mankind to the infinite diversity, including in the confectionery art, was the cause of the birth of lemon cake. It would seem that the recipe is extremely simple.
Before you start baking a sweet cake with a refreshing sourish flavor, it is still better to test yourself in theory. Overnight to become a master of confectionery is impossible, but we will try to talk briefly about the most basic principles of making cakes.
First you need to drop the fear and the thought that it will not work. And now remember. Cake is a festive, sweet cake. Not so scary anymore, because any hostess can cook a pie. This culinary masterpiece can be of any shape and size, according to the scale of the upcoming celebration. Even if something does not work out, pretend that it was so conceived - no one really knows how it should be. That is how many discoveries in the field of culinary art were made.
Decorating cakes depends not only on the aesthetic taste and imagination of the master, but also on the knowledge of the biochemical composition used for baking products. However, when the cake attracts with its attractive appearance, the question of what it consists of may be of interest only to the most persistent professionals and lovers of the sweet life. Actually, the decoration of cakes is the only unifying feature of all types of this confection. For real masters, it is customary to give names to their exclusive creations. But in the title you rarely see the list of ingredients from which the cake was made. On the contrary, each confectioner values his discovery so much that he tries to disguise the composition or recipe of his pastry with the name. For example, what do the names say: “Fairy Tale”, “White Acacia”, “Southern Night”?
For cakes, all technological aspects matter. For example, sugar can be dissolved, brew, burn, stretch. And if you do not know how this is done, then even the knowledge of the constituent ingredients of the cake does not help duplicate a unique recipe.
Professionals can get confused in abundance of recipes and technologies. Let's try, at least, to briefly list the main types of cakes: this will help expand not only the horizons, but also the range of their own home baking.
Natural (or real) cakes are baked whole. Actually, these are sweet pies: closed or half-closed. The dough for these cakes, as a rule, is prepared with butter, on a dough, as well as for Easter cakes. After baking, the surface of these cakes is decorated with candied fruit, glazed. Dried fruits, nuts and other ingredients are added to the dough as a muffin. This type of cake is considered traditional oriental pastry. The key point in the preparation of cakes in the eastern interpretation is the dough kneading, high-quality dough.
Neapolitan style cakes. Such cakes can be baked from any dough. The main secret of Italian-style cakes is cooking technology. Here the dough can be baked separately in the form of a “basket” for filling with filling and “cover”, or without it. Neapolitan cakes are filled after baking the dough. Sometimes a short secondary treatment is used to connect its parts. As a filling for Italian cakes, use fresh fruits, candied fruits, citrons, creams.
Mixed cake is the most common kind of festive sweet cake. It is this kind of "appropriated" the name "cake" and secured it for itself, as a specific product in modern confectionery production. For assorted cakes, there are no restrictions on the variety of dough, filling and manufacturing techniques themselves.
But for this species there is a certain order in preparation, which consists in the following steps:
Baking semi-finished product: one or several kinds of dough can be used here for one cake at a time.
Preparation of impregnation, creams, glaze, individual decorating elements.
Assembling (shaping) the cake is also carried out in several stages:
impregnation cakes syrup;
creaming layers;
compound cakes (pressing);
decoration - the most interesting and creative work, including a variety of techniques and ingredients for the final stage of preparation.
And that is not all.
Briefly about the types of dough for cakes.
French cake. The invention of biscuit dough is the merit of French confectioners. And one more thing: French cakes have three, not two layers, as is commonly believed in our area.
Biscuits can contain various additives, depending on which the color of the finished biscuit varies: from light, yellow - to dark brown or chestnut. Almonds, cocoa powder and many other natural ingredients are used as additives. As a rule, the biscuit is soaked with various syrups, liqueurs, rum or brandy, and then cut into separate layers, each of which is coated with cream, cream, jam and other pasty, confectionery mixtures, according to the recipe.
Opening puff pastry also belongs to French pastry chefs. It is baked quickly, immediately after rolling, in separate sheets.
Layered semi-finished products are not impregnated, but a cream of a more liquid consistency is used to connect the cake layers. The molded puff cake is settled for complete impregnation of at least six hours.
Viennese cake. Unlike French cakes, in the Viennese version, yeast or flaky dough is used. Technological stages of forming - the same, with French cakes. For the impregnation and spreading in Viennese cakes, cream, egg-milk, chocolate-milk creams are used predominantly. English, liquid cake. This type of cake is a tough and concise, British response to French pomp and glamor. In the form with high edges fit a layer of finished sponge dough. On top of it, pieces of any biscuit, muffin, nuts - all that is at hand, are randomly thrown. When the form is filled to 3/4 of the volume with these fragments of different pastries, they are first poured with brandy syrup, then the gaps between the pieces are filled with thick jam or liquid marmalade. Again, a series of different pieces of biscuits and buns, and on top - oil-egg cream. The maximum that the British can make in terms of decorating a branded cake is to sketch candied fruit on top, sprinkle with grated chocolate or nuts. After 24 hours of proofing in the refrigerator, the cake is ready to eat. But the British still condescended to take French biscuit as the basis for their cake.
Let us recall a few more types of the well-known dough for cakes - not patented, but often used for making cakes:
Sand cake. Separately baked shortbread cakes are coated with fruit jams or jam. The top of the cake is coated with icing, and then decorated with butter cream, fruit, applique.
Waffle cake. The easiest, convenient version of cakes is on a waffle basis. Connect wafer plates ganazhevogo mass brewed from chocolate, milk and vanilla.
Curd cake. The basis of the cake is a mixture of cottage cheese and flour with the addition of baking powder, ammonium or soda, quenched with lemon juice. For the coating and decoration used sugar-protein mass with fillers or without them.
Airy cake. The base of the cake is a protein-nut mass. Cakes are combined with cream, without prior impregnation.
A cool way to make cakes.
By analogy with the English technology, prepare cold-made cakes. As a rule, this method is associated with the use of detachable forms, in which various ingredients are placed during the formation of the cake. Cake - ice cream. For the base, a ready-made sponge cake is used, which is placed in a detachable form, and then several layers are laid on it: fruit, ice cream, chocolate, honey, jams, nuts. The top layer can be covered with fruit or chocolate icing and decorated with butter or butter cream, candied fruit.
Cakes without baking. Curd and creamy, sour cream mass, egg soufflé, fruit, nuts, candied fruits in combination with cookies or ready-made sandy, biscuit bases - a great version of the “cold cake”. Sometimes, in recipes instead of thick, dense creamy mass, gelled juice or milk is used.
Now about lemon cake: Lemon is a versatile ingredient that can be used in any kind of dough, cream, syrup or glaze. From here, any cake, having in its composition the specified component, has the right to be called lemon.
Recipe 1. Lemon cake, sand fruit basket
Ingredients for cake:
Shortbread dough:
Egg - 1 piece
Yolk, egg - 2 pcs.
Margarine, cream (or cooking oil) 150 g
Sour cream, thick (25%) 100 g
Flour (as needed)
Salt
Ammonium Powder - 1/2 Bag
Sugar - 100 g
Fruit Frosting:
Medium lemon - 2 pcs.
Dye, natural - saffron
Pectin (confiture) 10 g
Butter, sweet - creamy (soft) - 50 g
Powdered sugar (sifted) - 150 g
For spreading - cream, lemon:
Lemons - 3 pcs.
Egg - 4 pcs.
Flavoring, natural.
Refined Sugar - 125 g
Assorted fruits and berries for decoration and interlayer.
Preparation:
Cakes:
Combine melted margarine or cooking oil with sour cream and sugar. Beat eggs and yolks into the cooked mass. Flour will need how much dough will take to make it plastic and comfortable when cutting. In flour pour baking powder. Gradually add flour to the liquid base for shortbread dough. First knead the dough with a spatula, and then continue to knead on the silicone mat with your hands. Prepare the dough in the food film for about an hour in the cold. In the meantime, we are preparing a baking pan: it should be greased with cooking oil and drained with flour. If you use a silicone form, then flour can not be used. From the finished dough, you need to roll two cakes: one - even, the diameter of the form (26 cm); the second layer of a larger diameter, in order to form a "basket". That is, the edges of the second cake should fully cover the side of the form. Cakes should be a little thick so that the cake is not too dry. It is convenient to lay them in a form by means of a silicone rug. In addition, from the same dough we make a flagellum (a handle for a “basket”). Two small balls roll out "sausage" and interweave them together. When both cakes are baked and removed from the mold to cool, place the metal mold on the baking tray with the end, fix it in a stable position and place the flagellum on it. It should have a rounded shape, half the diameter of the form. After baking, the flagellum should be immediately fluffed with protein and sprinkled with sugar or powder. Lemon cream:
Remove the rind from the washed lemons, then cut each of them in half, squeeze the juice and put it on the fire with the sugar and rind. Bringing the syrup to a boil, pour it in a thin stream into the beaten egg mass, without stopping to knead the cream with a whisk. Return the cream to the fire again and let it boil with continuous stirring. In a cooling cream, you can pour in lemon juice to flavor or alcohol extract from lemon. If the yolks are not enough intense yellow color, you can use saffron or turmeric (Indian saffron) for the brightness of the cream, adding them at the last stage of the preparation of the cream, at the tip of the knife.
Lemon icing:
Approximately one cup of powder is combined with lemon juice and dried peel. If lemon juice is not enough to make a creamy mass of juice and powdered sugar, you can add a little water. The resulting mixture give boil, stirring, add at the end of pectin. In a warm glaze, for homogeneity and plasticity, add a little cream or a spoonful of soft butter, knead well.
Berries and fruits:
To decorate the “basket” fruits need to prepare. We select the most beautiful berries: strawberries, currants, cherries - any composition is selected at the discretion of the master. Lightly dried fruits are covered with whipped protein, and berries and sugar are sprinkled on top of it. Fruits spread on a napkin and give them time to dry slightly.
The second part of the berries is used for interlayer between the cake layers, and it can be not covered with glaze.
Putting the cake:
In the “basket” with a side lay out unglazed fruits. Cover them with lemon cream on top. Then the sandwich cake is laid, without sides. In this cake, you need to carefully make small grooves on both sides so that you can install the “basket handle”. Top cake covered with icing and prepared berries. It is advisable to hold the cake before serving in the cold for at least five hours.
Recipe 2. Lemon souffle cake, “Ladies Caprice” biscuit-based
For biscuit, cream:
Flour (v / s) - 1.25 cup
Sugar - 180 g
Egg (dietary) - 8 pcs.
Oil - 120 g
Kish Mish - 120 g
Big lemon
Sugar (powder) - 40 g
Cream - soufflé, lemon:
Wheat flour (premium) - 250 g
Rum (to taste) - 30 ml
Lemon - 2 pcs.
Water - 8 tbsp. l
Milk, whole - 0.5 l
Crystalline vanilla powder
Sugar - refined - 280 g
Agar - 40 g
Eggs (diets.) - 8 pcs.
Sweet cream butter (82%) - 150 g
For impregnation from rum syrup:
Water - 150 ml
Sugar - 150 g
Rum - 25 ml
For a layer of jelly, cherry:
Agar - 20 g
Natural juice, cherry - 150 ml
Alcohol extract (essence), cherry
Sugar - 180 g
Frosting to cover:
1st c. Sahara
Cocoa (100%) - 50 g
Vanillin (or other perfume)
Water - 100 ml
For the decor of chocolate, cherries and lemon slices glazed:
Cherry (can be with the stem)
Lemon Slices
Sugar (or powder)
Egg white (or dissolved agar)
Preparation:
We are preparing a creamy lemon sponge cake so that he can soak in 5-6 hours.
Beat the yolks until white. Pour in lemon juice and pour two lemons into the same mass of zest. Grind the white oil. Beat whites to peaks.
The yolks, pounded with sugar and lemon, are combined first with butter, then flour, raisins. We introduce the protein mass into the resulting mass quickly but gently, gently knead. Spread the biscuit dough in the form, oiled, filling it in half. Biscuit immediately sent to the preheated oven and bake (200 - 210 ° C). Readiness biscuit check with a match or a toothpick.
Do not remove the biscuit from the mold until it cools. The cooled cake is soaked with syrup, allowed to stand, and then cut in half, into two disks.
Cooking syrup.
Water and sugar are heated to complete dissolution, give a boil, and leave to cool. Add rum to the cooled syrup and soak the sponge cake.
Cooking cream soufflé and cherry jelly, which will be layered alternately on biscuit cakes. Cream souffle, lemon.
Melt the butter in a saucepan, gradually adding and mixing flour with it. Boil milk with a small pinch of salt and pour it in a thin stream into the butter and flour, add half of the specified amount of sugar. Grind the yolks separately with sugar (100 g) and pour a thin stream into the hot mass, along with the juice of lemons and vanilla. Again, boil, remove and continue stirring for another 2-3 minutes to avoid burning and lumps. Next, beat the proteins in a separate dish until resistant peaks, we introduce into the protein mass of lemon zest and agar. Optionally, add lemon liqueur or other flavoring. Combine both parts of the lemon soufflé, after the first part of the cream has completely cooled, and beat with a mixer until it is white.
Cherry jelly.
Try to use agar for fruit jelly: it is more stable and has no foreign taste.
Combine the juice with sugar and dissolve the agar in it. To enhance the flavor, you can use natural cherry flavor.
Cake assembly:
In the form we put one biscuit cake. Pour a piece of lemon souffle on top. For a quarter of an hour we send the form to the refrigerator. When the cream mass hardens a little, pour out 2/3 volumes of cherry jelly and again - in the fridge to set. The next layer is a lemon soufflé, and again in the fridge. Putting the second cake. At first we pour the remaining cherry jelly on it, letting it cool, pour the remaining soufflé.
Cake is sent to the fridge and proceed to the preparation of glazes and decorations.
Chocolate glaze.
Combine sugar with water and after boiling until thick thread. Add at the end of cooking cocoa powder with vanilla, mix. When cooling and crystallization of sugar, grind the mixture until cooked.
Pour the finished icing on the cake, leveling the surface. Free the cake from the form, icing its side.
Decoration:
Squeeze the melted chocolate on the parchment stencil on the stencil on the pattern and hold the sheet with the chocolate pattern in the refrigerator until it hardens. Carefully separate the finished chocolate patterns from the paper and place them on the cake. Vichy and slices of lemons to put in the dissolved agar, lay on a napkin and drag with powdered sugar. Decorate with glazed berries cake.
Recipe 3. Lemon Cake with Naples Almond
For the cake:
Sugar - 100 g
Lemons - 2 pcs.
Eggs - 7 pcs.
Grated almonds - 150 g
For lubrication:
Yolks - 3 pcs. (80g)
Powder - 160 g
Lemon (medium size) - 1.5 pcs.
Preparation:
Heat the gas oven to 180 ° C, and the electric oven to 200 ° C. Beat yolks with sugar until light cream. In the whipped mass gradually add grated almonds and zest of three lemons. In another container, beat the cooled proteins to a stable foam and gently introduce them into the almond mass. Lubricate the form (22 cm) with oil and flush with flour. Pour dough into it and send to bake. Willingness is checked with a match or toothpick: the wooden stick must be dry.
Ready cake leave to cool in the form. When cool to pierce the cake with a knife, vetch or other sharp objects, making as many holes.
In the meantime, prepare the stuffing.
Pound the yolk with sugar, gradually introduce the juice and lemon zest. Cook the mass until thick. When the filling has cooled to 40-50 ° C, add the butter and beat.
Pour the surface of the cake with lemon filling, decorate with almond flakes.
Recipe 4. Lemon cake glazed with “Mr. Lemon”
For the cake:
Eggs - 4 pcs.
Sugar - 300 g
Lemons - 2 pcs. (large)
Pastry Cream - 200 ml
Flour (Krupchatka) - 300 g
Ammonium
Oils - 120 g
40 ml of rum
For decoration:
Juice and Lemon Slices
Candied Cherries
Chocolate chips
Powder - 100 g
Cooking:
The foundation:
Beat the eggs in a bowl, add sugar, lemon zest, a pinch of salt and cream. Beat until white, gradually increasing speed. When the mass becomes almost white in one spoon, add the sifted flour with baking powder, mixing the dough with a whisk or spatula. Introduce melted butter and, without stopping beating, pour in rum. We bake. When the cake has cooled, remove it from the mold.
Decoration (lemon icing):
Juice and powdered sugar to simmer and let cool. Pour the finished icing on the cake and smooth it on the surface with a brush or silicone spatula. Place sugared cherries and lemon slices on top of the glaze. Sprinkle with chocolate chips.
Recipe 5. Lemon cake with nuts and “Amaretto”
For biscuit base:
6 eggs
starch 50 g
lemon
flour
sugar 150 g
To make cream:
100 g cl. Oils
100 g sugar
2 yolks
200 g cream, custard (dry, in packs)
50 ml. “Amaretto”
80 grams of nuts, walnuts.
Cooking:
The foundation.
Separate the cooled whites from the yolks, and pour them into separate bowls. Add sugar and a pinch of salt to the yolks, beat in to get a creamy, almost white mass. Add flour mixed with starch and zest and mix yolk mass. For a better lift, use fresh lemon juice. The finished protein mass to enter into the yolks, one spoon, gently stir the dough from the bottom up. Bake 45 minutes. Put the baked biscuit on the grid until it cools completely.
Cream.
Grind the butter until white, add sugar and yolks to it. In cooked, hot custard, add yolks, sugar, butter. Pour into it also roasted and pounded nuts. When the cream becomes warm, pour “Amaretto” and mix it again.
The finished sponge cake is served in portions on plates. The cream is served separately in sauceboat.
Recipe 6. Lemon Arabesque Cake
For the basics:
eggs (dietary) - 6 pieces
flour, potato - 80 g
oils “Extra” - 150 g
flour, wheat (w / c) - 120 g
200 g of powdered sugar
Salt
For impregnation:
60 ml of wine, white (dessert)
50 ml of water (purified)
75 ml Hawaiian rum
For lubrication:
Lemon Jam 150g
Custard - 250 g
For decorating:
250 g of powdered sugar
75 ml lemon fresch
20 grams of chocolate, bitter (100%)
50 ml of rum
Cooking:
Biscuit.
Combined sifted flour with starch. Separately, beat the yolks, combining them with butter and sugar. . Mix the yolk mass with the butter with the prepared flour and starch, and then lay out one spoonful of proteins, mix and bake immediately in a heated cupboard. Remove the cooled sponge cake from the mold and cut it into three layers. Impregnation.
Water, wine and rum put together and saturate each of the prepared cakes.
Cream for spreading.
Brew 250 g of cream (use ready-made semi-finished product, in packs). Cold custard combine with lemon jam. If desired, you can use any fragrances.
Putting the cake:
We spread the bottom cake on the cake stand and coat it with a creamy mass. Repeat the action with the second layer of cake. We put on the third cake, coat it with cream lightly and remove the excess cream on the sides, leveling them.
Cover the cake with sugar-lemon icing. Powder mixed with juice and give the glaze to boil. When it cools down a little, add rum and cover the surface of the cake.
Decoration:
Melted chocolate squeezed around the circumference of the cake, spiral (or circles). From the center to the edge of the cake with a wooden stick we draw lines, dividing the cake into portions, with the help of a chocolate ornament.
Recipe 7. Swan Lake Lemon Cake
For the base - meringue:
squirrel
50 g sugar (or powder)
3 drops of lemon essence
1/2 lemon
Salt
For lemon mint jelly:
6 lemons
80 g cane sugar
8 drops of mint essence
50 ml of red cabbage juice
(or blue dye, food grade)
gelatin plates (or agar)
For choux pastry:
Water - 1 cup (250 ml)
Flour - 200 g (+/- 50 g, depending on humidity)
Margarine, cream - 300 g
Egg, diet - 6 pcs. (large)
Salt
Cream (for filling):
400 ml cream, pastry
2 cups powdered sugar
Coconut (for decoration)
Cooking:
The foundation.
For the base we prepare the cake meringue. Chilled proteins mix with sugar and salt, begin to beat. When the mixture begins to thicken, pour sifted powder. At the end of whipping add lemon essence. Pour the lemon zest into the finished dough. We lay out the protein mass in the form lined with parchment, pre-oiled, and bake: for five minutes (180 degrees), after about an hour, bring to readiness over medium heat, slightly opening the oven door. It is also not necessary to remove the cake from the mold before the end of cooking. Lemon Mint Jelly:
Fresh citrus juice combined with sugar and zest, bring to a boil, let cool. Into warm juice enter gelatin or agar dissolved in a small amount. Simultaneously aromatize the juice with mint essence and pour in the juice of cabbage (red) or 2 drops of blue dye. It should turn out blue jelly, it will be a “lake”. Pour the prepared liquid into the mold of the same diameter as the cake and put on the cold for solidification.
Choux dough:
Dissolve the margarine in hot water, lightly salt and pour the sifted flour, while still stirring the dough over low heat, boil and remove from the stove. Put eggs into the dough, one by one, with constant beating. But the baking sheet lined with parchment from the pastry bag is set aside 3/4 of the choux pastry, in the form of an oval (2x4cm). We bake, without opening the oven, on medium heat. When choux blanks cool, each cut the top, and the top half is cut along, in half. From 1/4 part of the dough on a baking sheet from a pastry bag with a thin and round nozzle we extrude the “swans' necks”, in the form of the number 2. We bake them for 2-3 minutes. “Neck” lubricates the egg white, immediately sprinkle with coconut flakes, combined with powdered sugar.
Butter cream.
Pastry cream with powder, beat until a homogeneous, stable texture. You can add a perfume.
Putting the cake:
The basis is shifted to a dish decorated with mint leaves (or fresh, young leaves of black currant). We coat with meringue cake with half cream. Lay a layer of blue jelly on top of it. We collect the "swans" from the custard tortillas:
Fill the bottom oval of the blank with the remaining cream. The halves of the upper part, as well as the “swans' necks,” are coated with protein and sprinkled with white shavings and powder. The upper halves of the ovals are “the wings of the swans”. They are inserted into the cream as if the "swans" are going to take off. Also set on the bottom of the custard, filled with cream “neck”. We put the finished swans on the blue surface of the cake.
Recipe 8. “Polar Bear” Lemon Ice Cream Cake
For biscuit base:
Eggs - 3 pcs.
Flour, wheat - 3/4 cup (125 g)
Sugar - 75 g
Vanilla
Salt
Lemon juice (fresh) - 25 ml
For lemon ice cream:
large lemons
Sugar - 350 g
Egg - 1 pc.
For decorating:
Mint (fresh leaves)
Red berries (any)
Lemon peel
Melted white chocolate
Cooking:
Biscuit base.
Beat yolks until fluffy, with sugar (or powder). Enter the small portions of flour with vanilla, in small portions continuously kneading the dough with a spatula. Make sure that the lumps of flour are not formed. In another bowl whip proteins at high speed. Gently and quickly combine the whites with the yolk mass and immediately bake the biscuit in the prepared detachable form. After cooling, we do not get the sponge cake before the end of the cake preparation.
Lemon ice cream:
Remove the washed lemons with a small grater or a special knife zest, cut them across and squeeze the juice, which we combine with sugar and cook until large bubbles form. Juice should get 750 ml. If there is not enough volume, add water. In the process of boiling syrup need to continuously stir. Cool, remove the zest (small particles can be left). Pour the mixture into the ice cream maker and prepare the protein foam: separate the protein from one egg, beat with a mixer. Put the prepared mass into soft ice cream and mix it thoroughly.
Putting the cake:
Spread ready-made, still soft ice cream on the sponge cake, line its surface and cover it with a layer of white melted chocolate. Cool until ready ice cream in the freezer. Before serving, take the cake out of the mold and lay it on the stand. We decorate with candied berries, grated lemon peel and fresh mint leaves.
Lemon Cake - Tips and Tips
- With an excess of sugar, the confectionery quickly burns without baking inside.
- Sand dough should have more fat and less liquid. In this case, ready-made sand cookies or cakes will crumble and melt in your mouth.
- Sand dough will be elastic and comfortable when cutting, if it is cooled and yolks are added, stirring in the cold.
- When laying the icing on the cake, pre-heat the metal spatula or knife in hot water, this will help to make the surface even and smooth.
- Sugar icing can be painted with juice of beets, spinach, carrots, red cabbage, so that it is multi-colored.
- Before coating the torus with the icing, sprinkle the surface with starch to prevent the icing from slipping.
- Let branded recipes from professionals help our readers create their own masterpiece of confectionery art!
